I think I've read all of the FAQs that are applicable, and I scrolled through the posts the best I could to see if this has been addressed elsewhere.

I understand why vendors can't post prices in the forums unless they're the exclusive makers and sellers of a product. That makes sense. What drives me crazy are the dozens of posts that people put in the threads asking for pricing of the items, followed by a dozen more posts by the vendors telling people they've received a PM reply.

WHY? Why don't people simply send a PM to the vendor requesting the pricing they're looking for, and is it really necessary for the vendor to post that the user has received a PM? When I log in or refresh, I'm notified that I have a PM, it's in bold at the top of the page, etc.

Why does this bother me? Maybe I'm easily annoyed (probably true), but more than that...when I see there's a new post in a thread I'm watching because I'm interested in the item, I'm awaiting new news about it's availability, etc...I log in and hop to it to see what's up. Instead, I'm greeted by a dozen posts like the ones above and nothing new about the item. Unsubscribe from the thread, and I'm afraid I'll miss news about the product's availability, a price change, etc.

So, why can't it be handled in PMs?