Below I have listed some basic CL facts regarding posting and account creation. I have substantial experience with Craiglist to say the least. I’ve seen most of what they can throw at you and to my knowledge this stuff all fits the bill.

Obviously this will be old news to some people, but I'm finally back here and I got to show some noob love

1. Flagging
Do you find that your ADS are constantly being flagged off of CL? The first misconception that I often see it people mistakenly believing that their Ads being flagged has something to do with their IP address or their CL account. This is not the case.

CL Users flag Ads, not CL itself. Your ad is being flagged for one of several reasons:
A. You’re posting what are obvious spam Ads. In terms of content, posting frequency or posting locations.

B. You have scum bag competitors that are selling / promoting the same thing you are. They will simply flag you off to remove the competition. There are literally teams of people that roll 20 deep and just flag stuff for each other. Their numbers ensure that your AD will be down in no time. Just ask an experience Erotic Service poster.


2. Ghosting
Nothing sucks more than creating your content and just getting started on your posting campaign only to realize that your Ads will not show up on CL. This is another circumstance where I often see folks blaming their IP address / CL accounts. In almost all cases this ghosting is strictly an AD content issue.

Something in your AD is causing the CL filters to ghost your AD. The best way to beat this is by using pure trial and error. Just keep changing suspect words in your title and body until you can get an AD to stick. Try omitting URLS or words that you would associate with heavily spammed Ads.

The best way to tell if it is indeed your AD content is to simply post a completely unrelated AD in a random section. If it sticks… than you know that you have the ability to post.


3. Account suspension
So your PVA just got put on hold? Don’t blame me just yet, lol.
Account suspension can be caused by too many factors to list here; however, I can touch on the most common reasons that the poster will get their accounts put on hold.

This ties into what was going to be my next section (Posting Guidelines). When you are posting to CL with a PVA there are some things that you need to know.

You will want to make sure that you have the ability to make your posts using unique IP address for each post. To accomplish this you can use dial up, reset your dynamic IP, use a wireless air card or pay for proxies. Any of those methods will work, so use whatever suits you the best.

Now once you have the IP issue worked out you will need to make sure that you are not posting more than 1 AD per 24 hours per IP. This is assuming you are using a PVA. Non-PVA posting can sustain anywhere from one to roughly six or seven posts per day without running too high of a risk of getting blacklisted/blocked.

I repeat: If you want your accounts to last, post 1 AD per 24 hours per account each with a unique IP address. If you do that, you should be golden.

4. IP address related issues
This is a topic that has been recently discussed here on BHW. This is information that I can tell you is true from my in depth personal experience with CL.

1. If you post too many ADs from one IP address PVA or non-PVA; your IP address will be blocked from using CL without having a PVA for every post. People call this the soft block, as you are not really blocked... just restricted to having to use a PVA for everything (good for my business, lol).

Just how many posts does it take? Similar to the owl and the Tootsie Pop, the world may never know. Any number above 10 posts in a single day from one IP and you are running a very high risk of being blocked.

2. When posting with a PVA make certain to post 1 AD per IP per 24 hours. PVAs require much more strict posting guidelines than do NON-PVA posts.

3. When creating accounts you need not worry about matching IP's, phones and posting locations. As I have previously mentioned; one can use a San Diego IP Address, make their PVA with a New York phone number and post ADs in Las Vegas CL. There is no GEO matching for this stuff... not yet at least. Like Mack mentioned in a recent thread, the only geo ip filtering is done on a country of origin level.

This is certainly not everything that I could list here; however, my fingers hurt and I think I have gotten my point across. Feel free to ask any questions in this thread. I will do my best to answer anything I can.

If this helps you - Show some Rep love
Back to the PVA game - out!
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10 posts per 24 hours daily it's way to much. I tell the guys who are posting with my proxies never post more then 3 ads 24 hours per ip and I never had a problem.

Anyway generally a good post I have vast experiance on CL also and I basically have the same opinions as tommy.

Nice post Tommy. Good info.

You'd be surprised... my GF drives around daily and picks up wireless internet from Panera's and APT complexes. She posts 10 ADs per each IP per day and we haven't been blocked on one yet. I think its a case by case thing... but you can certainly throw 5 or 6 ADs up in a NON-PVA section on a single IP and be fine.

Just think... many legit posters that are just trying to clean house and sell some stuff on CL would need to post 5 or so ADs sequentially. Now if using a PVA this is obviously a different story all together.

Now you sell proxies so it is definitely a smart thing to suggest 3-4 per day. I wouldn't want to sell them and be on the hook for 10 posts per day, I'm just saying I see it happen almost daily. So while it does push the envelope - it can work.


Thanks Cali - appreciate it. Cali definitely knows whats up in regards to CL. He and I have done some good stuff together. Hopefully in 09 we can PowerHouse it up buddy!

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edited for some good reasons

great post tommy thanks .... its good to have an experienced cl person here .... But by the way suppose if i can manage 10 ips a day ....So can I post 10 ads a day each using a separate IP with just 1 pva ?
Thanks again
Regards

No worries buddy, glad I could help.

As for your question - No, you would need 10 PVAs in that case. It would be 1 PVA and 1 IP = 1 POST. So you would need equal numbers of everything. 20 pvas, 20 ips = 20 posts per day. etc...

This ties into the old "It takes money to make money" saying that I love so much. These guys that do huge posting volumes on CL must first buy/obtain the amount of PVAs = the amount of posts they want to do daily.

So 500-1,000 posts a day can get expensive; however, it's the people who are willing to take it that far that have the most success and longevity on CL.
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Another good post with info that should help anyone needing it. I might even say that you could do more than one PVA post (different PVAs of course) per IP each day but doing this obviously increases the risk. 1 post per IP is the best way but not everyone has as many IPs as they'd like to do just do 1 post on each day with. Start out small and test and see how things go.

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Flagging- Something else I know for a fact. Is that if you are using the same account and being flagged on a regular basis chances are they set that specific account to have a lower flag threshold. When it took 15 flags to remove a previous post now may only take 5 to trigger the removers...

I learned this from the people who do the removing of flagged items.

You can learn alot about what techniques and reasons an ad was flagged or removed by visiting the CL > discussion forums > cl - flag help

It will also help give you info for getting your ads to stick.. They will tell you what needs to be changed...

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http://www.tubepromote.com

This is correct as well. I should have included it in the post.

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Uuugh I am in CL hell right now. My outsourcer was a champ and we were posting 50 per day. (3 posts per PVA once every 3 days) and switching IP's after 9 posts ( I think it should be shorter) but it was working for about 30 days in a row. He is in the phillipines with a dynamic IP and unplugs etc. to get a new IP.

He was on vacation so I picked up another VA in the phillipines and 12 of 13 were ghosted.

My orginal guy is back this morning (Thank God) and every ad was ghosted.

I just went to the local starbucks and contiued where he left off and I succesfully posted 5 of 6 ads (1 ghosted wtf?)

I need to post 90 per day every day. We are an offline business and making profit but I need to keep CL going.

Kreztor seems to have a cool thing going where you set up your own private network.

Someone Pm'd me an offered to rent me Proxies for $2 a month.

I have 90 PVA's which are all legit.

Help. I am losing out on cash each day we are down. I am not driving around to Paneras either that is not an option I have 2 many other responsibilities with the business.

Anyone have an idea.

I want to set up a private network right?

Help I need to get up and running like yesterday.

Thanks Tommy for this info.

Do you have any advice on posting methods (or someone you could refer me to if you are outsourcing it)? I was using Admaster, but their server is down, which I'm sure is a result of getting sued, and I don't really want to buy another software since CL is suing everyone. (You can PM if need be.)

Oh and how do you feel about posting with aircards? Ever heard of anyone getting into trouble using them?

Outsourcing is probably the way to go - unless CL sue india that'll probably work for years

I completely agree. I don't post much now, but I never used an auto poster.

Guys in India with lots of IPs are the way to go.
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Will posting images instead of text stop the ghosting ?

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CPA Iframes $5 Each | Looking For A Good Programmer To JV/COLOR] - PM ME

Probably - but then you'll be flagged to death

This is great information thanks for the share.
I know him and Tommy is a stand up guy for sure.

I have bought PVA accounts from Tommy in the past and he helped me out tremendously. I was sort of new to CL and so many questions it was embarrassing. He took the time to help me and walk me through everything. If only this thread was around back them!

post images or NOT has got nothing to do with ghosting.

I know what you are trying to say, but it's not entirely true.

Posting images will not lead to anymore more or less ghosting than posting text ADs (albeit it will likely lead to increased flagging by users)... so in that sense you are correct. The images themselves don't have anything to do with the ghost.

However, when posting the image ADs CL can pick up on your image file, image link, html code and other things of that nature to find similarities in your posts and ghost them based on that.

There are ways around this though; any good CL poster can tell ya that. It's all just really about keeping each component as unique as possible.
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Tommy,

Great post, I'm glad you cleared it up a little bit for those of us who sell PVA's.

I will say Tommy is a great guy, and knows his stuff. I've read his method and it's top notch
-E

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Remember; we are eternal, all this pain is an illusion.

Thanks Real - appreciate the kind words on the advice. Although if I knew it was gonna help the competition, I would have listed all mis-information and incorrect facts... in fact, I've heard you can post 50 ADs a day per PVA - LOL. JK
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This may be a dumb question but in order to keep ghosting to a minimum, should I be posting text ADs or making them into images and posting that?

I can do it either way but am wondering which would be more effective in terms of getting the AD to stick. Thanks in advance.

It's all good man, everyone has questions... we all had to start on CL at some time.

Personally I would use text ADs. With text ADs you have more opportunity to make the AD copy itself unique per each AD. You can AD random characters to an image AD - but I have personally had more success just going with text.

Also, if you are using an image that is hosted online you will be entering the URL in the code to show the image. It's an old trick, but if you do go w/ images just make sure to upload your AD a ton of different times. Each time you upload it - change the name of the JPG file so that you are getting a unique URL each time. This will cut down on ghosting caused by the filter recognition of your URL.

I do find that image ADs tend to be flagged more often by users than straight text does. They just seem/look more "spammy" Ya know?

Hope this helps
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Hey Tommy...thanks for this thread. Could you elaborate on maybe just a few text filters for the job section. Or just point me to where I could find some specific spammy words to stay away from.

Thanks again...

Well the filters on the jobs section are now tighter than Rosie O'Donald's size 34 waist pants. It's getting tough to say the least.

I have spent the last two hours talking with BHW members via Gmail trying to help them get ADs to stick in JOBs. I have also talked to a few big time posters that are all but moving to new sections due to this.

There are so many tigger words I couldn't begin to list them here. If you want to send me your AD body and title I can take a look at it and give you suggestions --> TommysCLverify@gmail.com

Hope I can help.
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OK...I will continue to play with it myself by altering the text and seeing what I come up with. If I can't get any to stick I might then send you an Ad body.

Since you mentioned you are a seasoned vet at CL maybe you can answer this. Have you had success in the service section...for example small biz ads. Is this as hard to crack as Jobs?

Thanks...and thanks added

Wish I could be of more help; I actually don't post ADs on CL anymore. Haven't for a while actually...
While I do know about the filter updates, I'm not sure how they currently are in that section specifically.

Someone else here will know for sure. Anyone?
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Baller, have you got any update on this? (sucks that no one replied) - I am working with some folks that are getting heavy into the small biz section and was wondering if you have had success.

Post in here or PM me details if you can. I'll make it worth your while for some good info
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I'd like to add about CL posting. It seems if you use cable internet (without proxies) you are dead to rights. Anyone experience anything different with cable internet?

Thanks for great write up!

Cheers

Do ads posted with pva s last longer than ads posted with regular accounts?
Or does it take the same amount of flagging to take them down?

Greetz

smetten

I use both my air card and cable line to post on CL. With my cable IP, I can post to many different sections without needing a CL account.

Freaking sweet!

Although it's probably not recommended, I've posted 10 ads in one day under my 1 cable IP address. All of the ads went live with no problem...

Hey everyone,
This is my first day in this forum....so, hello! I am brand new to posting on craigslist and could use a little help/info. I would like to post approx. 10 ads a day on CL. I have set up 10 CL accounts. Questions:

1. My posts will be in "community"-"general", and do I understand correctly that general community posts do not require PVA's?

2. If I post one ad per CL account (non PVA) daily (there's my 10 ads) sitting at my desktop, should I be ok? This is where the IP address issue confuses me. I'm assuming all my 10 ads are from the same IP address since its only one computer I'm using, correct?

3. If so, how do I change or "reset" the IP address for each ad/account?

4. Finally, when I start to beef up my efforts, will posting 5 ads per day for each CL account (total of 50 ads) be ok or will I run the risk of being flagged or banned? If so, any solutions to this?

Thanks for listening and any and all responses will be much appreciated!

Regards,

Brian

1. If you are posting in the community general section you will not need a PVA as long as your IP is not blocked.

2. You can likely squeeze out all 10 of these posts (non PVA) on one IP. You would run the risk of getting said IP soft-blocked and thus being required to have a PVA to post. To be safe, I would just use 2 IPs... 5 and 5. Non PVA posting has much less strict posting guidelines than when posting with a PVA.

3. If you want to just change your IP one time, than go into your router setting and change your MAC address to "this PC", than reboot the modem / router. That should get you 1 new IP. Otherwise - just get one proxy, no big deal.

4. You'll be OK. Flagging has nothing to do w/ your IP or account.
Also, since these are non-PVA - it matters not if the accounts themselves get banned. Just make a new one... it would be free and take 1 minute.

Essentially these strict posting guidelines that you are reading about all have to do with posting with PVAs. The only issue you have to worry about when posting non-PVAs is posting too many each day from one IP and getting that specific IP soft blocked.
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great post, thanks for the info.

I have to disagree, I use one account and post more than 300 per day for months now and nothing has happened to me.

Thanks tommysc, awesome and extremely valuable information.
Success to all!!!

Brian

I post in Jobs in Craigslist with no problems....Well, okay, the flaggers are flagging my share of the ads....But my ads stick.....how?

Easy.....First of all, do not use any email address within the ad, and make sure you use a craigslist email address......Okay, most of you know this but some of the ads out there that I see do not follow this simple rule and sure enough they get flagged......Posting an ad with a gmail address within the ad screams FLAG ME!

Ok, more importantly, you need to have a template in place for your ad......

So for jobs you have 4 sections to develop your template.....

1) INTRO
2) DUTIES
3) REQUIREMENTS
4) CONCLUSION

What I do is have 10 different text write ups for each section......10X10X10X10 = 10,000 combinations


I let the software spin the text layout within my tempalte and PRESTO! A different ad for each posting......

That's really all you need to do.

Craigslist does not filter out "key phrases" BUT they will filter out ads that show at least 50% repetitive content......Again, use a template and spin your ads.

You will be amazed at how your ads will stick (Crezstor/Cresztor [Sorry, long day!] has a good video on how to spin your ad, you can find his video on the forum).

It'll probably take you 1 hour to setup your template but you don't even have to reinvent the wheel. Look at ad copy on craigslist and reword it slightly and break it down into the four parts for your template....Do this 10 times and you're done!

Good Luck!

Good post for sure. Can I ask what section of jobs your posting in?

Everything you posted is correct and will absolutely help to get and stay in the jobs section; however, I have figured out a few key words that will guarantee to keep your AD out.

Basically there seem to be certain words that if placed in your AD body, regardless of 100 other unique words, will cause the AD to hit the filters and not go live.
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Yes that might be possible. Some keywords are banned on cl.

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Get Your Private Proxy right now - http://www.yourprivateproxy.com

I am posting mainly in admin and customer service


Hmmm.....honestly I must not have hit those words in my ad yet. What I do is take live ads in craigslist and spin them a little for my template. If I'm using context from live ads then obviously there's no "trigger" words in play.

Which words specifically have you found this to be true for?

At this point, any part of the jobs sections is difficult. I've said it before but... the filters in the CL JOBs section are now officially tighter than Rosie O'donald's belt.

You've got a solid idea in just slightly spinning ADs that are already on CL as this will obviously ensure that no trig words are present... unless you add them during the spin; however, that is unlikely.

I can't really give away the specific filter words that I know about as it would expose too much of an offer that I can't let become public... yet
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Heres my situation....up until 48 hrs ago, I was posting in CE and relationships with regular, non pva CL accts using ad master with no issues and good success....after these recent CL changes, ad master no longer works and I fing this free the bots poster to be a total POS.......I was posting 10 and even 20 ads on 1 IP and they were getting up no problem.....they were flagged quickly but that is due to users in the CE and relationship sections....not cl deleations or ghosting

Based on this, i needed to post a good volume of ads over a long period of time to catch the eyeballs and it was working as I was earning pretty good bank every day

without ad master I am currently screwed as this free the bots thing just isnt doing the same job

Anyone have any suggestions???

Thanks for the great post tommysc! It really cleared my doubts about IP addresses playing a role in getting the ads flagged. I am very new to CL and just beginning to post ads. I have a few beginner questions and it would be nice if you could answer them to get me started on the right foot:

1. Is it possible to post on an US city from a non-US country? I am from India and no matter where I try to post (for example on los angeles), they require a PVA! Any ideas?

2. If I get PVA accounts, can I use non-US IPs to post on US cities? I noticed someone said its good to outsource to Indians with multiple IPs, does that mean I can post on any US city from India by just resetting my DSL modem or I really need an US IP?

3. What is the best route to post 100 or more ads a day? 100 PVAs+100 IPs? Any software that you recommend? I also plan to offer CL posting services, what kind of setup would I need for that?

Thanks in advance! I have added you to my gmail, please let me know if you can chat with me for a few minutes.

At this point I wouldn't say that ip plays no role due to CL blocking many aircard IP addresses and whatnot.

1. You can post but it is again all about the IP. I suspect that whatever proxy you are using is somewhat public and has already been over used and thus softblocked by CL.

2. While some IPs from other countries will work - you will want a US ip if you are planning on spots any good number of ADs on CL in US cities.

3. You got it. I don't use software to change my IP so I am not really familiar with anything that I could specifically recommend.
If you wanted to be a CL poster you would need access to many US ips and a method to use them. You could buy PVAs and provide them to you customers or you could require the customers to already have accounts... whichever makes more sense to you.

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