Any Craigslist Marketers Here?

by 97 replies
115
I have a question regarding PVA's.

I have had good success marketing in my local area, but I need to go nationwide. Obviously that presents a problem.

For the past 5 days (Fri-Tue), each day that I posted I was required to reverify my number. I have been posting for about 3-4 weeks before this started happening. Is this normal?

If I just post every 48 hours, which is the min amount of time CL requires to pass, how often may I be required to reverify a number?

Also, Fri-Sun, all my posts were being ghosted. So I skipped trying to post yesterday and then was able to post today with out being ghosted.

Why would I be ghosted? For the past 10 days I have been reposting every 48 hours per CL requirements. Prior to that I was posting every 24 hours, sometimes 48. So there was period where I was over posting.

In the past 30 days I was flagged one time. I think it was just because I was using some characters in front of the subject that really made the post stick out from all the rest.

If it matters, every time I repost, I delete the old one. Lately I just use the renew feature to renew the post, which automatically deletes the old post and repost it.

Thoughts on all this?

My big concern is that if I use multiple PVA's, if there comes a point that I have to reverify the numbers everyday, this is going to kill everything.
#main internet marketing discussion forum #craigslist #marketers
  • You can get around the reverifying by purchasing landline numbers that are forwarded to your cell phone. I won't say where due to Rules here. A simple google search will help. Also your ads could be getting ghosted due to the fact that your IP don't match the post region. Try getting a vpn service.
    • [ 1 ] Thanks
  • Thanks for that blillard I was wondering how I could get around the phone verifying.
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  • I did some searching and eventually found some companies that offered forwarding numbers specifically for CL phone verification. The companies offering the numbers specifically for CL are also the cheapest. Funny thing is that I already have come across some companies before when search for PVA's. They mainly advertised their PVA's and not the numbers.

    So I have a couple more questions to anyone marketing on a large scale on CL.

    1. How important is it that the area code of the number you use to do the phone verification be local to the area you are posting in.

    2. How important is it that the IP you are using be local to the area you are posting in?
    • [1] reply
    • it is very important that the phone numbers are your local area code or the area code close to the location of the IP on your computer, if not you won't get the call from craigslist with the code to verify the account
  • I also have a question about this: Can't you just have one CL account, and use it to post on many cities (given that the ads are all different, of course).
    • [1] reply
    • I have only been marketing on CL for a month and only in my area, but the way I see it is this...

      Their Terms of Service says you can only post in your area.

      If you have an account and log into it, you can pull up a listing of all your posts for the last 180 days and it lists the city for each post. So I have to imagine it wouldn't be hard for them to tell that you are posting in multiple cities.

      Even if you don't have an account, you still have to enter in your email address, so they still know what is being posted. Even if you use multiple emails, it's just a matter of time before they will ask you to verify your phone number and any one phone number can only be associated with a single email address.
      • [2] replies
  • I recently tried a CL heavy wso and with me being in the UK, CL has fallen out with me big time. Not a predictable traffic source for me at all.
    • [1] reply
    • Hi I am trying to promote on craigslist in Canada and am having a very tough time.. I have CLAD but i need numbers and a reasonble proxy source or solution..

      If you could help with any of this maybe we can work something out.

      Thanks
      Adam
      • [1] reply
  • I personally think craigslist is a waste of time. I devoted alot of time and dedication into both direct mail and craigslist. I'd probably consider trying it again, but blah. I was closing about 1 to 1.5% of the applications I got (meaning for 100 applications I was enrolling 1 or 1 1/2). For comparison, SEO leads get me about 13% (100 apps 13 enrollments). So ive been working more into SEO. But blah to cl.
    • [1] reply
    • If I thought that I would be missing out on 3-5K a month with just a couple hours put into it.

      To the OP, your ads are ghosting because you have too many flags and because you are using too similar ads to those that have already been flagged.

      Prepaid phones are great... I post about 50 ads a day, and when I double that with emails, I can make more sales in 3 days than most people can in a month.

      Craigslist is a gold mine, if you guys want to give up on it, that is cool with me, more action for me!
      • [2] replies
  • A major pain with Craigslist is that anyone can flag your posts even if it is completely within TOS. For example, my friend was trying to post his pit bull for sale and every single time, it would get taken down. We suspected it was being flagged by people trying to ban the breed after a quick search yielded no pit bulls at all in the area or surrounding areas.
    • [1] reply
    • Yeah this is a major problem. It also doesn't help if you are trying to offer a service, you get your competitors wanting to flag everybody lol.
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  • i have wonderful ips that dont even require pvas to post each post gets a new ip every 10 mins its so awesome. been using them for months and months now
    • [1] reply
    • You still need a number to verify, at least when posting in the services section.
      • [1] reply
  • since my post count isnt 50 or more i cant respond to any pms about my ips add me to skype if you want granzow76
    • [1] reply
    • Yes in services section and personals section obviously the no pva needed statement dont apply.
  • Ouch. So I may have ruined a couple of accounts for good? And if I read it right, the sign up / activation IP is the important one, then it doesn't matter if the accounts have your home one? Or can you get your home IP blocked too? Anyway to tell if a proxy is level 1 or 2?

    Too bad my smart phone doesn't like connecting lol.

    And thanks, for giving out as much as you are.
    • [1] reply
    • Its possible you have a couple ruined for good. I have a few where I have done everything "right" and they're still dead. The sign up, email verification, first ad... that is ideal for being a different IP. I still have accounts where my same, home IP has worked, never doing any other fancy stuff, so who knows?

      As for knowing what lvl a proxy is, I have no idea. That is outside my realm. I know there are 3 levels of proxies, and if you ever use a proxy you want a lvl 1 as far as posting goes, but they are also the least secure! Other than that, sorry, I have no clue!
  • Oooohh... so level 1 proxies are the least secure. Thanks, not my realm of expertise too.

    Noticed something funny, I have an ad that has been up a long time, seemed to get ghosted when I renewed it. But people are replying to it. So.. ghosted from just me seeing it? LOL
    • [1] reply
    • Well coincidentally level 1 is what you want for craigslist, but at the same time, the least secure.

      There are classified scrapers online, maybe the post id mail setup was scraped too? Is it spam that you're getting? Thats very strange!
  • I did a google search and a website was calling Level 1, ELITE PROXIESOMG!!

    Real people actually. For laughs I tried to post another ad with the account, it showed up right away and is getting replies. I think CL just likes to mess around with us lol.
    • [1] reply
    • Same city same ad? That would be strange. I know there are multiple levels of ghosting. Account wide ghosting, and city specific ghosting.
  • Same city, different ad. The account is over a year old and has a long history, has some flags, but non-flagged ads as well. So maybe that is taken in to account.
  • I sometimes post at least 15-25 ads a day on craigslist and Im getting 125-280 hits on the traffic side, but I do get some good sales from it. I also get some of my posts flagged sometimes or people emailing me talking trash "thinking" Im spamming but I only do 3 post per city and thats nothing at all really.

    I WISH there was some craigslist auto posters out there that were reasonably priced because I would buy it in a heart beat. Im DYING to try CLAD but last time I checked it was 1500-1600 bucks and Im nervous to invest in it only to find out its not gonna be working anymore.
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  • CL, if you are going to quote someone asking questions, you answer the questions, you don't shrill your business. And with only 4 posts, you make yourself look like a spammer. Not a good way to get started on a forum if you plan to have a lasting presence.
  • The accounts I thought were dead, are actually living again. Last night, I accidentally switched cities though.. but CL didn't seem to mind. And posting limit, I see it is 3 a day, but the max can be more. My other account that I thought was never going to live again, also was able to post... and got flagged. Tried posting something I thought would be left to help the account, LOL.

    Generally, best to keep each account posting in only one city, right? Both accounts currently have ads running in two cities.

    And the offers I mentioned to you in the PM, just stopped converting.. so trying to think up something more creative now. At least I'm getting posts to stick again.
    • [1] reply
    • The posting limit is 3 max. If you go more than that, you will have a message that says posting limit has been exceeded, and from there you have problems soon.

      It doesn't matter if your account is used in 1 city or 10. You just need to avoid some of the common triggers in getting ghosted.
      • [ 1 ] Thanks
      • [2] replies
  • Avoid using any software programs that say they can do autoposting and run on autopilot. Craigslist is a goldmine when used properly as already described above. Set up a proper account and just don't post more than 3 ads per day and be sure to mix up your headlines and ads a bit so they aren't duplicates.

    With the shear volume of traffic craigslist gets everyday you don't need hundreds of ads in order to get a good amount of eyeballs on your website links. 3 posts per day consistently each month is roughly 90 ads. They add up fast and can be a great source of some extra traffic. Not the most targeted traffic by any means, but traffic nonetheless.
  • Hahah... whoops, my main CL account, has 8 ads currently running. Oldest one is from 10/6. So would be best to get that number down to 3? At least if there is a ratio for flag / unflag, this account has a good one. Erm, if this is good lol.

    14 expired, 12 deleted, 11 flagged (most of them shouldn't have been), and 8 active. Had been at 9 last night, not ghosted, LOL.
    • [1] reply
    • I'm referring to posting, 3 ads a day max. More than that could be, and SHOULD be active. Your ad from 10/6 can be deleted. Are you posting all in one city?
      • [1] reply
  • Yeah same city (besides 1 ad), that was on my main account. Different ads on different subjects. Some ads I had forgotten about. Actually, killed most of them, since they weren't relevant anymore. Okay or better to let them expire?

    Thinking now, just post 3 daily, in different cities and build from there. Just uncertain at the moment what to try offering next that would be worth the time.
  • Learning CL as well. Bought the system you see in my sig. Good for newbies like myself. Biggest mistake I made was moving to fast and got greedy. Thought everything was going smooth so I kept posting and then noticed no more ads from ghosting. One Issue I continue to have is that I'm in a small market area and getting into the big cities has been a challenge. Slow and steady - test the waters and see what sticks.
  • Wow. CL is now being mental to me.

    One account posted 3 ads, one got flagged (idiot people, it was legit), today I try to post an ad with the account and CL tells me I am extending the posting limit so can't post. Only two active posts!! Ad was about 80% different than the other two.

    Switch to my other account, only has 1 up. Post, ghosted, delete it, wait 30 minutes, try a new post, about 95% different, and I get warned for over posting.

    I had freaking 9 active before! Now I can't do 2-3?

    Been playing by their messed up rules, geez.
    • [1] reply
    • You CAN post 3 in the same city, but in my opinion this increases your possibility on ghosting.

      I am guessing you deleted one of your ads, that is why you have exceeded the posting limit. Deleting an ad, still counts as an action of some sort.

      Don't ever delete ads unless they are already ghosted or unable to be renewed any longer.
  • I deleted them yesterday? And I never got the over post warning before. It makes zero sense, and doesn't go along with what I thought I knew and what you've shared. I know, you don't disclose everything.

    This account. Posted once yesterday, ghosted / deleted. Restored a deleted ad (different city) it stuck. Today, tried to post in a different city (ghosted, so deleted). Tried to post the new ad in another city (over posting). Not a lot of activity? And when I didn't know any better, I was doing a lot more than that in one day.
    • [1] reply
    • For the most part, I think the posting 3 ads a day in different cities would be the safer bet Then again, I just started on the CL stuff a week ago and read an article from the Entrepreneur about posting 3 ads per day, so I don't really know a lot yet...just followed what they said about it :\
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    • [1] reply
    • I am familiar with that technique as well, I am also familiar with the 30 people who have got arrested in the last 3 weeks by using the same technique you're thinking of. They're cracking down, you better be careful, also be careful who you buy pva's from.
      • [3] replies
  • I was getting a little too Frustrated, LOL.

    Believe the problem was, I found a company that I actually really believe in, that does peer 2 peer loaning. So I was putting up ads for them, and most likely "loan" is a key word you can only have in 1 or 2 posts at a time.

    Got an ad to go up without the word loan in it, but flagged right away. So either it looked fishy without loan or some CL idiots / bankers don't want peer 2 peer lending posted. I wonder if there are bots to vote your post "best" to keep the scam flaggers from taking down your ads?

    Next test would be posting an image, that holds the words CL seems to detest, to get around it.
    • [1] reply
    • Really? Been doing it for past 3 months straight and did it years ago as well.

      Works if you can hire the right people. Id rather pay .50 a live post than worry about posting myself its annoying. Best thing I could do for my biz is outsource the posting. Just getting ads live is a pain.

      I'm considering building my own team with my own PVA and IP solutions so I have more control. But as a beginner not being able to get the ads up in volume myself, outsourcing is the best way to get volume of posts up.


      Outsource it to workers. Best way to get it down ASAP and you wont be paying 1000s.

      You will need multiple hosting accounts. CL blocks image ads from the same image hosting acct that violates there guidlines.
      • [1] reply
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  • Craigslist has certainly been going flat out to stop folks abusing the system, unfortunately there doesn't seem to be any site to compete with Craigslist and make it a healthy competition all round (at least in the US)
  • where are you finding 50/cents a post. can find anything close to that?
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  • You can actually post in the romance section without having a verified account. For giggles I put up an in there this morning, stuck, and got about 200 emails so far. Yikes. Too bad I'm focused on real work, and no idea what to do with these kind of leads that wouldn't be spammy. Funny how it works, so much trouble trying to post for a company I believe in, and then that is so easy, LOL.
  • I posted a link to a site of mine a couple of times with some art I was trying to sell. It did not sell, but I got about 1,600 visitors in a matter of days, if my memory serves me.
  • For what it's worth, my experience with Craigslist is this..

    I posted in the job sections in every single Craigslist region of the United States, and some regions in Canada. I linked to my blog where I asked people to opt-in for more information on how they could work with me (through an MLM company).

    It was working great for a year and then my account was just recently disabled. In the meantime I got over 1000 leads and have done some decent business out of it. I could open a new account with a different phone number, but in the end I'm thinking I have better uses for my time personally. Although if I could hire someone to do the posting for me at a reasonable price, it might just be a perfect fit to my marketing mix.

    I'm guessing the reason it took so long to shut down my account was because CL is just frickin huge and they don't have time to watch over everything.

    I've also tried posting in the CL forums but have never had any luck there driving traffic, only from the job postings.
  • Are there sections that do not require PVA, nor require geoIP?
    • [1] reply
    • A friend of mine posts tons of ads in the real estate section with no problems but he had to submit his broker license to Craigslist.
  • If anyone needs forwarded numbers for CL feel free to contact me on skype at anthony111414.
  • I was getting 4 out of 5 ads to go live in jobs section per account, was changing IP, running a pc cleaner, posting 5 ads to the same account all in jobs section and getting 4 out of 5 to show up. I was posting all over the eastern half of the US. After the first of the year craigslist has done something to stop me, even with brand new accounts I can only get 1 ad to go live. sucks. anyone have any suggestions
  • You need VPS with extra IPs to successfuly post in different cities on craigslist. Get 10 virtual private servers with each 150 additional IPs and there you go, you can post in 10 cities 150 times a day. Its pretty simple if you have the money. I used to do it and made some good money with it. But CL is just a pain in the but thats why I stopped...

    Alen
    • [1] reply
    • How about 15 cities and 2 ips. More realistic being you can't get ips like water anymore. Post a couple times per city and keep posting because you are not attracting attention to yourself by slamming 150 ads on Craigslist.
      • [1] reply
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  • Do you realise that CL posts get listed in Google results? By doing Keyword Research you can find Keywords that will rank on the first page of Google results. So find the Keywords and put in h1 tags in body of post plus put keywords in live anchor text link in post. Include at least 100 words of text in post for good code to text ratio which Google likes. Submit and take a look in Google later in day or next day and see if you are on first page of Google for your CL post. This is all down to good Keyword Research. No need to post in different Cities as you will be on first page of Google for the world!
    • [ 2 ] Thanks
  • hello i supply forwarded phone numbers 100% guarenteed to work when creating a PVA ...willing to offer 1 free number to prove i am legit..

    talk to me on SKY:FORWARDEDPHONE
  • hello i supply forwarded phone numbers 100% to work when creating a PVA. also willing to offer 1 free number to show i am legit ...

    contact me on skype forwardedphone

    sam p
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  • Very interesting/informative discussion here... :-)

    Thanks Nameless & Koolsteve.

    (And the fella who mentioned the "bread crumbs.")
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