About Active and Waiting Lists
Postcodes are assigned on a "first come, first served" basis, and the list is nominally split into two parts: Active and Waiting List.
The objective of the Active and Waiting List system is to ensure that site users receive a representative selection of results, and surveyors receive a fair share of leads for any given postcode.
The Active list is not limited to five, but is a larger Active "pool" of surveyors from which the five search results will be drawn randomly, thereby sharing referrals evenly amongst the surveyors on the Active list. However there are exceptions to this: if the postcode district for the search is the same as an office postcode district, that office will be given priority and included in the results and the remaining spaces selected randomly.
Also, because not all surveyors offer the same services within the active pool, the frequency that you might be returned within the results and receive referrals will vary service by service.
When you add a postcode to your account you are automatically added to the Waiting List for that postcode. For each search in that postcode the Waiting List is reviewed and any eligible offices are promoted into the Active list. In the unlikely event of the Active pool for the postcode being oversubscribed the office will remain on the Waiting List until a slot becomes available.
The Active and Waiting List statuses are only general indicators of the status of the office on the list, as surveyors may be temporarily promoted to the Active list from the Waiting list at any time to suit the needs of a particular search. This is because not all surveyors offer all services. Consequently if there are not enough surveyors in the Active pool to deliver enough results for a particular service, then an office may be temporarily promoted from the Waiting List into the Active pool for the purposes of fulfilling the requirements of that search.
Thus being assigned nominally to the Waiting list for a postcode district does not necessarily mean that you will not receive any leads, but that you may receive fewer leads than a surveyor on the Active list.