Why doesn't Craigslist enforce their reposting policy?

[Brian Elfert]

I have been looking on Craigslist for a kitchen table for a while now. I just finished looking today and I bet 50% were reposts. I believe Craigslist has a policy that you can't post the same item more than every 48 hours, but I see the same items posted every day or multiple times a day. They obviously don't enforce it.

One lady ticked me off because she kept re-posting her kitchen table as sale pending multiple times a day. If your item has a sale pending then quit posting it! After four or five days of this I emailed her to see if the item might be back up for grabs since she was posting it over and over again. She had such a snippy attitude in her reply I told here I was no longer interested if it did come back on the market.

[Jim Koepke]

After four or five days of this I emailed her to see if the item might be back up for grabs since she was posting it over and over again. She had such a snippy attitude in her reply I told here I was no longer interested if it did come back on the market.

People get ornery when their logic or methods are challenged.

Over my time of working with people only a few would respond pleasantly, even if you are careful and ask if they would like to see an easier way of doing something.

jtk

[Matt Day]

I've noticed that double and triple and quadruple, etc posts are getting more and more prevalent as well. There are so many of the same exact item from the same seller posted at least twice in a row. Some 4-5 times posted in a row.

I can't repost an ad within 48 hrs so I'm not sure how people do it. Multiples of the same ad I guess, but I thought CL had a policy against that and an auto checker comparing it to other ads.

[Phil Thien]

To give the illusion that the site is busier than it actually is?

I suspect that in cities where there is more new post activity, that the algorithms that prevent frequent reposting are much more diligent.

[Kevin Bourque]

I was wondering about this subject myself. Some guy in the tools section reposts his stuff 4-5 times a day.

[Moses Yoder]

You are complaining about a free service. Last weekend was a Craigslist weekend for me. Saturday morning I sold my shaper, got cash for it, and in the afternoon made a deal to sell my air compressor and made a different deal to buy some Coleman lanterns. I got 5 pieces for $50, and the one piece by itself is worth $50, a 511A700 heater with original box and all the original paperwork. I fired it up today and it works great. Sunday after picking up the COleman stuff I helped a couple guys load my compressor, cash on the barrel head. Man I am loving Craigslist! Yes, there are minor detractions, but you have to keep in mind you are dealing with the general public and it is for the most part a free service.

[Brian Elfert]

Sure, it is free, but at some point people will quit using it if they have to see the same items posted over and over again.

Traffic volume is not an issue on the Minneapolis Craigslist. There are currently over 300,000 items listed for sale. The tools section has over 6,000 listings. The tools section had about 600 listings on Friday alone.

[Myk Rian]

I have been looking on Craigslist for a kitchen table for a while now. I just finished looking today and I bet 50% were reposts. I believe Craigslist has a policy that you can't post the same item more than every 48 hours, but I see the same items posted every day or multiple times a day. They obviously don't enforce it.
I recently advertised on CL. For some reason it let me run the same ad in multiple areas. I think the software is broken.
The problem I found with those listings is none of them were searchable.

[Brian Elfert]

I recently advertised on CL. For some reason it let me run the same ad in multiple areas. I think the software is broken.
The problem I found with those listings is none of them were searchable.

Did you wait at least 15 minutes? At least in the past they gave you a warning that your item might not be searchable for up to 15 minutes.

I don't know that there is any mechanism that stops someone from posting the same ad multiple times as long as each ad is entered separately. I saw the same tool ad posted five times today in the the tools section. A number of them were posted one after the other.

[Mike Chance in Iowa]

There used to be a check set up so you couldn't post duplicate ads. People got around it by making a slight change in their post or used hidden html text in their post to make it appear different to the system that was looking for exact duplicates.

If you find a post that is inappropriate, you should be able to select "Prohibited" at the top of the page and it will flag it as spam, miscategorized or prohibited. If enough people flag it, it will be deleted. (I've seen car ads flagged as spam by other people selling the same type of car, so that can get abused too!)

We use CL on a regular basis. It can work well as long as you use caution and common sense. Not only are you dealing with the general public, but you are also dealing with robots scanning the listings and spamming contact info if they can find it.

[Matt Day]

I Thought there used to be something that popped up saying the ad was too much like an existing ad so it couldn't be posted.

[Judson Green]

I don't use CL a ton but have found it to be great tool and the price just can't be beat.

[roger wiegand]

Craigslist only has 40 employees, they depend on users to flag inappropriate posts. If you're not flagging the repeat posts they won't go away.

[Chris Padilla]

I renew my posts as they near expiring but that is only on average about once a week.

[Todd Willhoit]

Craigslist only has 40 employees, they depend on users to flag inappropriate posts. If you're not flagging the repeat posts they won't go away.

+10. Start flagging.

[Mel Miller]

I flag duplicate listers regularly. It's easy to do, and helps keep CL in good shape. It takes several flags to get a listing removed.