I just heard about the same Craig's List challenge in Arizona and New Mexico also so don't feel singled out.

I get contacted from my Craigs List postings.  As long as the contacts keep coming, we will keep posting.  We use our own html flyer on their.  My personal opinion is that using postlets or vflyer, something like that will show more professionalsim, and people will remember that style.  Good Luck!

I had that same issue here in Salem.  I just do a regular post on Craigslist, rather than the postlets. I used classifiedflyerads.com and they were compliant with the rules as well.  They can flag you for "being too commercial."

That just seems like a waste of time to go through and single out ads.

Hi Megan~ How are often are your postings getting flagged..? Is this a person from Craigslist or a competitor? I would seriously consider lodging a complaint with Craigslist, if you feel your are following all the TOA. 

I think Craigslist is too good of a resource to pass up, my clients all use it and swear by it. Keep us posted, ok?

Basically anything that has been posted by a Realtor in the last week in Santa Fe is being flagged and removed.

This is what I am facing there: http://santafe.craigslist.org/rfs/529079852.html.  And there seems to be a group of them running a campaign. 

wow, that is amazing! I just flagged that post. I've never seen anything like it. I would discuss it with your client and let them know what's going on, as you can't really spend your billable hours re-posting what gets removed. But I would be inclined to flag their posts right back.

We've not had that problem here, though I understand California has a lot of people who are flag happy (and, for that matter, like to hang out on the Texas craigslist housing forum just to pan Texas - don't know why they would care or what they get out of it, but they're clearly very unhappy people and want everyone else to join them in their misery).   

Here, thusfar, anyway, we're not so much into that and more into a live and let live mentality (we do believe in individualism!).  I get responses form the ads, more and better when I use v-flyer, for what that's worth in answering your question.  vlyer does work with craigslist to be complaint and has made changes at craigslist's request, which would seem to indicate that the PTB at craigslist don't think realtors are against the craigslist TOS (which I did read, as requested, the first few times I posted something there, to make sure I was in compliance).  

Perhaps you could complain to craiglist themselves about these specific people and point them to the postings where the person states that they have taken it upon themselves to do this.  Also, you could ask the person to point you to the specific provision in the TOS that they are using to justify their actions. 

Laura- You're right, it is really not worth spending their billable hours on something like this. It's unfortunate, but I am about the throw in the towell on CL in Santa Fe.

Tricia- I am having a hard time finding a place to complain to Craig's list.  They offer contact emails and numbers to report harassment, but not for something like this.  Still looking into it.

Hello Megan - this has been an ongoing issue with CL over the past few months.  The Craigslist community is flag happy.  It is very evident in FL, CA and AZ.  This is the major down fall of allowing the community (user base) to control your directory.  Ads that tend not to get flagged are ads that don't have too much HTML and make sure to use the Craigslist image uploads to add images.  Embedding images within your HTML will increase your chance of being flagged.  We have recently modified the Craigslist HTML version we provide to our customers so it uses a lot less HTML, doesn't look too commercial and requires you to upload your images using Craigslist upload tool.  If this continues with CL - Realtors will stop using them and their real estate section will suffer, so hopefully someone over there see's the light and is willing to cater to Realtors more.

Side note - we just had a customer inform us today that he sold a million dollar home from his ClassifiedFlyerAds.com flyer he posted to Backpage.  Backpage allows you to post HTML and we have seen a major increase in traffic from listings posted to Backpage.

Thanks for the feedback Misty.  I'm pretty much ready to throw in the towel on CL posting in that reason. It is not worth my time and my client's billable time. 

But your products look interesting and I am going to definitely check them out.  I am always looking for cool new vendor solutions for my clients.

You are getting flagged because you are violating the terms of service to use the site. Posting on CL is supposed to be for the little guy, or non-commercial people. For the dimwitted among you, that means you! You all have the MLS at your disposal, monthly or weekly flyers, radio, tv and newspaper ads, but that is not enough. You must all post hundreds of your listing every day, which also violates the CL terms of service. Most people I know have given up even looking in the real estate section because of the rampant abuse and misuse from realtors.

 One thing is for sure, with the housing meltdown many realtors will be forced out of the business. Good riddance!

>k) that constitutes or contains  "affiliate marketing," "link referral code,"
"junk mail," "spam," "chain letters," "pyramid schemes," or unsolicited
commercial advertisement;

l)<u> that constitutes or contains any form of advertising or solicitation if:
posted in areas of the craigslist sites which are not designated for such
purposes; or emailed to craigslist users who have not indicated in writing that
it is ok to contact them about other services, products or commercial interests.

m) that includes links to commercial services or web sites, except as allowed
in "services";

http://www.craigslist.org/about/terms.of.use.html

Craigslist is a great resource and used quite a bit in Oregon.  The problem is when people abuse it.  Flagging for no reason is definitely ridiculous.

  Smitty: You sound like a very angry & bitter person. Take a spoonful of sugar and sweeten up.

  Tricia J: Stop trashing Californians. You don't know for sure its us out here in Calif having the time to flag your Texas properties. We are too busy getting Botox, Boob Lifts, surfing, climbing trees to save them and of course trying to get a hold of the loss/mit rep on our short sale and repo properties. I do believe you owe us in Calif an apology

This is a problem for all of us who wants to be on Craigslist.

Windy, I stand corrected.  Now, could you pop over to the Austin housing forum of craigslist and explain to those folks that they don't have TIME for what they're doing when they trash Texas? ;-) 

Smitty, I've read the craigslist TOS (I read everything, including boilerplate, an old habit from my days as a legal assistant), and, more to the point, craigslist has worked with various companies (and NAR) specifically directing their service to real estate agents.  Since I suspect that Craig himself has a better handle on the meaning of the craigslist TOS than either you or I, I'm going to go by what he says/does, okay?  

My dear Smitty, you are so very wrong, where do I begin? Thank you very much for posting the excerpt and the link from the guidelines. I have in fact read and reread them many times, and that passage in particular. That is a passage many of you like to quote to somehow strengthen your case. But really, it shows how misinformed you are. 

For the record, none of my agents' ads have ever violated the TOS at any time. They were not promoting an unsolicited commercial interest, they were advertising a house for sale. The ads were posted in the correct designated areas ("real estate for sale" is where houses for sale get posted, is it not?), and did not send unsolicited emails to craig's list users. And the ads had no links to any commercial site or interest of any kind.  They simply advertised a house with pictures and contact information. All falling within the TOS.

Many of my clients use vendors like vFlyer and Postlets, companies who have worked directly with Craig's List to make sure their ads were in compliance with their TOS. In fact, it is know that Craig himself, has show up to speak National Association of Realtors events. Doesn't sound like Craig's List is so anti-Realtor or anti-commercial as you think.

Smitty, you my friend are the dimwitted one. Will you listen? Probably not. You are too blinded by your outright hatred for Realtors. Please do not bring your battle to my blog or to active rain. We don't need your misinformation and bitterness here.

Megan

good luck with all that CL stuff - I'd be looking for a more friendly and welcoming medium if I were you - Smitty appears to be hell bent on flagging!!!  lol.

Megan, I guess the area on your site that says "leave a response" was meant for everybody that drinks from the realtor kool-aid bowl. You don't like it? Ban me!

 I really fail to see how anybody with a grasp of the English language could interpret the CL TOS service to mean that realtors are welcome. Almost everything that realtors do there violates the rules.

You are a commercial entity that means you can post in the SERVICES section of CL, nowhere else.

You are not allowed to advertise, you all do that too.

You are not allowed to multiple post. That means that you post, then wait until your post expires. Then you post again. Posting the same house every day or every other day clearly violates the TOS.

If you have proof that Craig himself says it's fine for realtors to muck up the site I will apologize and never flag again, until then I will flag away! 

Spend a few minutes reading and you'll find I'm not the only one pissed off.

http://seattle.craigslist.org/forums/?SQ=realtors&act=RSR&searchAID=&forumID=8

Craig Newmark being interviewed during his attendance at Inman connect in NYC this year (2008)

Hi Megan~ Poor Smitty. What a life this person must lead, and has really way too much time on his/her hands. This really isn't your problem anyway, its not your clients, its the people with nothing better to do. Sorry its been brought here to AR.

Hi Laura, don't feel sorry for me. The beauty of CL is that it empowers the users to remove ads that violate the terms of service. I love CL and will be damned if I watch it ruined by a few selfish self-important blow hards. Did you bother to read through the link I posted? If you had you'd see I'm hardly the only one that despises realtors abusing CL. 

Can you imagine if the shoe was on the other foot? Can you imagine hundreds of FSBO people spamming "your" MLS with their listings day after day? Wouldn't you be resentful of their abuse?

Smitty, did YOU follow the link I posted above to the interview of Craig (you know, craigslist) being interviewed at Inman Connect this year?

When all is said and done, I think, more than you, more than I, more than any of us, Craig himself has the handle on what's appropriate and what's not on craigslist and, thus, if he says it's okay and you say it's not, all due respect to your opinion, I have to go with his.  It is, after all, his creation.  

Hi Tricia, I did follow the link. Nowhere did Craig say it was okay for one group of CL users to break the TOS that all other users must follow. Realtors are commercial services, they are supposed to post in the SERVICES section of the website. And just like everybody else overposting, and top posting violates the TOS, as is advertising and including links to your website or real estate office.

There's nothing wrong with realtors using the website, as long as it's not abused and posts are placed in the correct section. Unfortunately 90% of the realtors I see posting are not following these rules. 

Make your own rules and create your own destiny is my advice:

If you understand Craigslist then you'll understand and see the potential of this. Here's the deal: if you don't have a craigslist in your local community then odds are you are in a small town or between two bigger cities that get a platform from Craig.

We live in between Ocala and Tampa and have 150,000 population 600 active Realtors here in Citrus County, anyway, I have built and Advertising & Marketing platform called http://CitrusCountyClassifieds.com and I'll tell ya, it's fun to run. It constantly challenges me to understand the natures of other businesses so that I can market them, it also keeps me in touch with real estate agents as well.

Take a look at the site and if you think you aren't being represented the way you would like to be by Craigslist then you might consider running your own licensed classifieds platform in your local county.

I built it and would like to give other potential operators a shot at having one for themselves as well!

I have been a huge fan of CL for some time. I posted ads even before I started using Postlets, and Sawitonline. My issue in my area is that agents post listings like a FSBO. They make no reference to themselves, or their company. You call thinking it's a FSBO and get an agent. This, may I add, is a very fineable offense. But if you tell them that they usually give some excuse like their secretary did it or something. If I were a buyer and called one of these, I would be upset. Anyway, for the most part, I have had several GOOD calls and possible closings from posting my listings. I would keep doing it, it's free and pretty easy.