The three major property managers who post on CL in Central Virginia are now using our Craigslist HTML export from our HomeRentals.net web sites property listings when posting our rental ads. These ads have watermarks on the photos and prospects just have to click to our website to view additional photos. I don't put in an e-mail so anyone interested contacts me through my website or my office phone #.
It works GREAT!! It is FASTER to post and SCAMMERS are not hijacking my listings anymore so I am not getting "do you know?" calls and having to spend my time to re-check local CL ads daily to see if my listings are being used in a SCAM so I can have them flagged for removal.
Unfortunately, many property owners who post individual ads may not know that their ads are being hijacked so they don't check and don't know how to respond to get them removed.
http://charlottesville.craigslist.org/apa/1115497266.html
I want to thank Bob Machado for his post on watermarking his listing photos....it started me thinking about how to build my "better mousetrap"!!
Wallace S. Gibson, CPM * GIBSON MANAGEMENT GROUP, Ltd.
View our available rental homes online with photos and floor plans
"...to be a Virginian, either by Birth, Marriage, Adoption, or even on one's Mother's side, is an Introduction to any State in the Union, a Passport to any Foreign Country, and a Benediction from the Almighty God...." Anonymous
I see you are always kind to small furry foxes and will probably give them a ride to their next home. Thanks for the update on CraigsList.Do you have another advertizing siteto replace Craigslist?
Annie - I continue to use CL, *I just use an HTML code that is HARDER to hijack....our area CL now has reproductions of the posts with SCAM in the title; however, frequent users of the site know that there is a way to get to CL and request that the SCAM posts be removed...It's there, just buried in some FAQ/Help options.
I'm in Virginia Hunt Country so foxes AND horses are EVERYWHERE~!
Wallace - Hijacking on Craigs List is a real problem across the country. We had our first ad hijacked recently and discovered that it actually came from another 'free' site we also post to. We use HomeRentals as well and employ the watermarking for photos. We continue to use the other free sites, but now download the 'watermarked' pics from HR.net to use. Time consuming but I feel better that the pics are watermarked.
Betty - you should be using the Craigslist EXPORT feature on HomeRentals....it does not work EXACTLY like their Beta version suggests - I just copy the HTML to my CL listing with both sites being open....the auto export feature still does not work with or without CL being open and me logged into my CL account. It is FASTER than postlets and the photos are all watermarked!!
I change the titles as I don't like the default ones from HR and I want to USE ALL THE SPACE of the title.
Once we started watermarking our photos the scammers left us alone. I think important to put the watermark in the middle so it cannot be cropped off.
Bob * HR watermark does the entire photo and think the scammers are too lazy to find other photos on our website . I have one exterior photo without watermark at the end of my listing photos - 35 to 40 photos down or at the end of the slide show
This property owner got her property SCAMMED and her residents had people knocking on their door asking about the availability. She did not know that her original ad had been scammed.....
http://charlottesville.craigslist.org/apa/1135962392.html
Thanks Wallace, This has happened to us too.
I feel it is important to "police" for these scams as much as for my own listings being scammed. Craigslist is a WONDERFUL and FREE resource and we need to keep it that way by being diligent users and reporting abuse!!