Has anyone tried any of the third party Craigslist automated software programs? I know there are a couple out there (different programs that is). I’m wondering if anyone here has experience with this and which one you would recommend. Thanks!
Why would you need an automated poster?
Real estate is somewhat local and you would think that posting in the local section would give you better prospects.
Thomas
There are a few programs out there. You can buy one from $35 all the way up to $500. When you spend the larger about of money you get the option of placing ads to other sites.
If you are looking for motivated seller leads in your local area I don’t think any of these automated ad posting programs is worth the time and money. It is very easy to post to these sites.
If you ads are being flagged by other users then you are not using the site correctly. If you are trying to get motivated sellers contacting you from local areas, post in the real estate services section, or commercial real estate section.
My ads stay on the sites for weeks at a time. I also have special html and marketing ads that go to the top of Google for key word search phrases.
Automated ad programs are for companies who want to post to multiple areas with multiple ads.
Experthomeoffers-
I know Keith has edited links to your ads before and you know it is not welcome. Do it again and I’ll recommend to the administrator that your account be removed. This is your final warning.
My purpose is not to fish for motivated sellers. It’s for another thing entirely. Not REI. I only asked here because I can see a use for this software for people in REI. I thought I might get some feedback from someone with first hand experience.
I have reason to want to post a craigslist ad on behalf of others each day. It doesn’t mean I want to post to other cities. It’s still local. The ads would vary (not duplicates) and the goal is to be seen on the current day’s ads. I am aware of how to use Craigslist; I am not getting flagged. Having an automated software would be most useful to me as a way to manage ads and to be able to track which ads were placed when, an archive if you will. Thanks for the input.
I heard Ezadsuite was the best. I haven’t used any of them, just heard great things about that one.
Thomas
Auto posters and robots violate the Terms of Use (TOU).
http://www.craigslist.org/about/terms.of.use.html
See section 7.u and 7.y under CONDUCT.
You also agree to pay liquidated damages specified in section 19. VIOLATION OF TERMS AND LIQUIDATED DAMAGES for violations of the TOU when you post. Most of these infractions are $100 a pop, but can be as high as $1000.
I guess the philosophical and ethical question is, "if you’re going to honor terms in your real estate contracts, why wouldn’t you honor Craigslists’ TOU. And, if you expect to collect specified liquidated damages in your favor as spelled out in your contracts, then would you fork over money if Craigslist fines you for TOU violations?
HOWEVER…
if you’re ok with violating the TOU, then your software options are limited anyway. What constitutes a good auto poster? Automation.
The problem with many of these programs is that they aren’t fully automated. You must deal with the CAPTCHA issues (those graphic letters and numbers that you must enter in manually to post). I’ve only seen on program even claim to automate entering the captcha code, and I’d be highly suspicious as to how well it can do it. At over $300, I’m not willing to find out.
Most software Craigslist autoposters get the content of the ad in up to the point of entering the captcha, leaving it up to you to complete that last step. That’s not fully automated in my book.
If you just want to duplicate the same ad in the same category (say a daily posting of a property listing), how much time does it take you to click on a link that you’ve saved (the one that takes you directly to the posting page for that category) and cut and paste plain text (or HTML markup if you’re formatting our posts), enter in the captcha code, and post it yourself? If posting to multiple categories, create links to each posting page for each category and do the same thing. I save my in a folder for posting listings. So it takes you 5 seconds more to let your web browser auto complete the ad headline, and takes you 10 more seconds to click the right choices for contact email, etc. If you’re only posting a couple of ads in their proper categories–not cross postings as the TOU mandates–then how much time can you really save with an automation tool?
Now, if your goal is to spam Craigslist by posting the same ad (slightly modified = same) to multiple categories in multiple geographies, then I guess an automated tool makes more sense for you. However, you’ll still have that captcha to deal with, as well as getting flagged, or even banned.
If you want to automate these very simple tasks, then consider that Craigslist is a simply designed website and the posting pages are just HTML web forms. Why not purchase a useful web form completion tool, such as the top-rated Roboform that you can use not only on Craigslist, but on other sites as well for tasks such as securely entering in your name and address when purchasing things online.
That’s what I’d do… If I were going to do it.
Jimbo
Ezadsuite is suppose to fill in the captcha for you.
The captcha isn’t the only problem. Craigslist keeps updating their sites which makes the software useless unless the programmers update the software. That is if they are able to update and bypass Craigslist’s update. It seems like a constant fight.
I would just concentrate on particular areas. You can post images to help bypass some of the restrictions. In the images you can have the same ad.
Just some ideas.
Thomas
I would be careful about buying auto poster programs. craigslist changes its software so much by the time you download your version it may be outdated.
I have tried in the past and it has not worked. What has worked is to get 10 email addresses and post your ad that way. Change your headline a little
I bet you can come up with 10 headlines that say:
WE BUY HOUSES
WE SELL HOUSES
FREE RENT
etc
I agree with you and would not recommend software. Instead of using different ads you can use images with your advertisment in them. Just a thought.
Thomas