unless outdated names still have nameservers pointed to sedo, then any visitors would likely come from those already on sedo, who used the search function.
Correct, there wouldn't be any direct traffic coming into the marketplace in that case. But there are other ways to utilize outdated listings for lead gen. E.g.:
1. Marketplace Search: When potential buyers are searching names and an outdated listing pops up that they like, they will contact the marketplace to purchase it. That presents an opportunity for the marketplace to either (a) sell them another name or (b) contact the current owner of the outdated listing to see if they want to sell.
2. Search Engines: The outdated listings will still appear in search engines like Google where potential buyers could still come from.
3. Inventory: Marketplaces can brag about the number of listings across all their marketing collateral. As you yourself pointed out to me earlier, a lot of people correlate big numbers with success.
i doubt any company would intentionally or purposely maintain outdated listings for marketing purposes, because that would reduce the credibility of them,
thus resulting in lower sales.... which would affect the business and industry credibility.
i think they are smarter than that.
With all due respect, that's your opinion. If that's the case then why not remove the outdated listings right away? They can be removed instantly from a technical standpoint. Or even if they have to do it manually, why not do it ASAP if it will hurt their reputation?
IMO, it's all about pros and cons. If the pros outweigh the cons, it's worth keeping them. Every marketplace is run by different people so it's up to them to decide what's more important to them and act accordingly.
Another thing to consider is that every marketplace has its own set of priorities. It could easily be that they want to remove outdated listings but they just don't have enough resources to allocate to it because of other priorities higher up their list.
All that said, obviously these are all speculations and we may never truly know the reason behind it so let's give the marketplaces the benefit of the doubt.
Nevertheless, this is a great thought-provoking conversation!