I think in the majority of cases it is innocent mistakes being made. People do not understand what "hiding" really means, and so may, even if they know one fur is dominant to the other, believe the more dominant fur is "hidden". However, there are certainly a few who consistently, and some for years, suggest a cat can hide something it just does not. Some of this minority most certainly do it in order to sell a cat, sometimes for much higher than normal based upon the faux claim it hides some new and shiny new trait which they are fully aware it does not or even CANNOT, based on rec/dom info. In the most extreme case I encountered, a seller was regularly making claims about cats hiding new traits when there was absolutely zero evidence to prove or suggest they did. I spoke to them, nicely, and they 100% acknowledged they merely hoped the cat hid it, but there was no proof. Even so, they refused to change the cat names to different ones, in full knowledge and admission that what we discussed was true. I guess it just doesn't bother some people as long as they sell the cat, which is a shame, but how it can go
I think it will always happen... unfortunately... and all we can really do is to look thoroughly before we make a purchase and try to educate newer breeders about things, which I hope the forums do. Thankfully it is the minority who do anything negative, and most cat folks are lovely and honest, and very happy to show pedigrees
Watch out for Impossible claims about what is hidden
