Read the source code - most of those dialogues ("only X left!") are hard-coded random numbers and are in no way correlated to actual inventory or demand information. Said another way, they are lies [1].
Re:Subverted Design
by abritinthebay on Saturday January 20, 2018 @04:47AM
(#16192787)
That’s an implementation detail tho - not a design one. So my point about the complaint still stands.
The AirBnB and Etsy ones in particular - they show there is demand and a limited number of spaces/inventory/etc. That's useful information to me!
How annoying is it to find the perfect place to stay but when you go to book they're sold out... and you just missed the last spot? Same thing for buying something.
Now you can argue they could communicate those differently but it's a good feature.