---
issue: "034"
title: "SellerOffer 'active' status does not exist in schema — saves with this value throw ValidationError"
severity: major
domain: seller-offer
labels: [backend, bug]
status: open
created: 2026-05-29
source: Doc vs Code Audit 2026-05-29
---

# 🟠 SellerOffer 'active' status does not exist in schema — saves with this value throw ValidationError

**Severity:** major
**Domain:** seller-offer
**Labels:** backend, bug

## Description

The Seller Offer Flow doc lists `'active'` as a valid `SellerOffer.status`. The Mongoose schema and TypeScript interface only enumerate:
```
'pending' | 'accepted' | 'rejected' | 'withdrawn'
```

Any code path that attempts to set `SellerOffer.status = 'active'` will throw a Mongoose `ValidationError`. The `createOffer()` service correctly checks `PurchaseRequest.status === 'active'` (a different model's status), but `SellerOffer.status = 'active'` is never valid.

## Current Behavior

`SellerOffer.save()` with `status: 'active'` → Mongoose ValidationError. (Currently no code path actually tries to do this — the bug is latent but would be triggered by misreading the documentation.)

## Expected Behavior

Remove `'active'` from all `SellerOffer` status documentation. The valid states are `pending | accepted | rejected | withdrawn`.

## Affected Files

- Doc file updated: `04 - Flows/Seller Offer Flow.md` and `02 - Data Models/SellerOffer.md`

## References

- [Doc vs Code Audit Report](../09%20-%20Audits/Doc%20vs%20Code%20Audit%20Report%20-%202026-05-29.md) — Finding M22