Cargigi

[yagoparamo]

ECURB,

Cargigi = low price = must use shortcuts to do it = results are much lower than what they could be.

Let me show you a couple things.


For what I can see here they are posting just a few cars per day hartford cars & trucks - by dealer classifieds "terryville" - craigslist= (10-12 a day?). Imagine if you posted your entire inventory every single day. You can do that if you also delete your inventory every next day, so you comply with CL rules by not spamming their system with a unit that is already posted.

Cargigi post as an image 2008 Chevrolet Malibu Sedan 4 Dr. LS w/1LS so no text is searcheable by the customers. They add some key words (some times) at the bottom of the ad but, imagine if the whole ad it just text and images so customers can search for your name, we finance, payments, etc.

Your ads also link to Cargigi's websystem, but I would rather link to your own website. While Carigigis pages look great, you have been working on your site for years, so that is better. Remember that you can deep link the ads so you can link to this https://gmdealersecureforms.com/ter...Y9n6J045hyNLRMVhpbKTqhywkTFxJyLdnLJPcdCv02MTR or to this for new Terryville Chevrolet LLC – Special deals, offers, discounts and incentives on new and used Chevrolet vehicles in Terryville, or to this Terryville Chevrolet | New and used cars in Terryville, CT | Serving Terryville, Bristol Chevrolet, Hartford, Waterbury, Torrington Chevrolet, New Britain and Farmington Chevrolet customers. You can check with analitics what link works best for your customers. Within a few weeks you can fine tune this to be a deal maker.

Another think to check is the posting times, the last posting you had on July 4th was at 529pm 2007 GMC Acadia 4 Dr. Wagon SLT. So you lost being on top of the searches for peak search times at the end of the day.

There is a lot of extra little things I can keep writing about, but CL is not just the postings, or how many, etc but there is quite a bit of thought behind this and you can make it rock.

 

[Jason-]

Here's one reason not to use a service to post to craigslist for you:

Craigslist Terms of Use forbids the use of posting agents: you will be charged $100 PER AD if you are caught using a third party posting service.

"A Posting Agent will also be deemed an agent of the party engaging the Posting Agent to access the Service (the "Principal"), and the Principal (by engaging the Posting Agent in violation of the TOU) agrees to pay craigslist an additional one hundred dollars ($100) for each Item posted by the Posting Agent"

craigslist terms of use

And they have won million dollar settlements (one guy recently lost a law suit for $2.8 million, just for setting up CL user accounts for people). Their law firm (Perkins & Coie) is agresssive.

This is one reason we post in-house... just something to think about...

 

[Alex Snyder]

Thanks Jason. #8 and parts of #19 are where you can find this. Craigslist does reserve the rights in their Terms of Use (TOU) to make sure a "Posting Agent" is using their services appropriately.

It doesn't necessarily mean companies who offer Craigslist services are in violation (only without permission), but this is good stuff to know. Thanks for posting it :thumbup:

 

[Billfred]

It doesn't necessarily mean companies who offer Craigslist services are in violation (only without permission)...

Which brings up the next question: Has anyone encountered a posting agent that has received written permission from Craigslist? Lots of folks seem to claim it, but nobody's showing the proof. (If I were running a posting agent and got that permission, I'd have that letter scanned and plastered all over my website to serve as a selling point...but that's just me.)

 

[Jason-]

Since nobody publicly discloses that they even post to craigslist on their websites anymore (they just use generic "classifieds" verbage), I'm thinking that they aren't authorized. I have yet to hear of anyone, in any industry, get this approval. That doesn't mean it doesn't exist - but it seems to indicate it.

No vendor has ever produced any proof of authorization to me - and considering the legal liability they would be placing us all in, it concerns me.

 

[yagoparamo]

I'm not an attorney not I'm offering legal advice but;

First off all the entire premise is false; nobody at the dealer can post since the owner of the cars is the bank. A salesperson at the dealer still a posting agent...

But more important, so if my company does postings and you hire me as an employee then I'm OK?

To top off this nonsense, what CL is doing here is regulating the employment relationship between a dealer and a vendor?

What CL needs to do is realize that things have changed from when they did the TOU and adap it to the new needs of the market.

 

[Billfred]

What CL needs to do is realize that things have changed from when they did the TOU and adap it to the new needs of the market.

I agree that there's some room for extra clarity and latitude in the TOU (under the current ones, I can't flag competitors even if they're in clear breach--dealers posting from Charlotte and beyond, which is clearly out of bounds).

That said, I recall this feature in Wired about Craigslist. These guys are not your average business, so you have to plan accordingly. Takeaway quote:

"Companies looking to maximize revenue need to throw as many revenue-generating opportunities at users as they will tolerate," Buckmaster says. "We have absolutely no interest in doing that, which I think has been instrumental to the success of craigslist."

 

[yagoparamo]

Bill,

That is true but, there is no exchange of money between the dealer and CL. This is not a revenue sharing opportunity, it is a growing the website's traffic (from CL side of things) opportunity. CL works to grow their website reach and the auto biz has ben instrumental on that.

I also disagree that the posting areas should restricted, to a certain degree. I have a MB dealer in a blue collar area (Fife, WA) with a $300K MB Mclaren that needs that car posted in CA, NY, etc (higuer end areas). That shouldn't break the TOU.

 

[Billfred]

Bill,

That is true but, there is no exchange of money between the dealer and CL. This is not a revenue sharing opportunity, it is a growing the website's traffic (from CL side of things) opportunity. CL works to grow their website reach and the auto biz has ben instrumental on that.

I think we're saying the same thing--Craigslist doesn't want to maximize its revenue unlike most other sites out there and presents a tremendous opportunity. (Fun fact: Over the past 30 days, Craigslist shoppers have spent a combined 11 hours on our main website--that's 11 hours they're NOT shopping our competitors.) But with great power comes great responsibility--and Craigslist is taking great pains to ensure that those responsibilities are upheld.

I also disagree that the posting areas should restricted, to a certain degree. I have a MB dealer in a blue collar area (Fife, WA) with a $300K MB Mclaren that needs that car posted in CA, NY, etc (higuer end areas). That shouldn't break the TOU.

Craigslist is an inherently local website. Some special cases just aren't going to do well under that doctrine--you wouldn't list that in the local auto shopper magazine, would you?--but this is the nature of the site. If they start making exceptions for high-dollar hardware, how long until we all start listing $300,000 Pontiac Azteks with a special coupon offer for Craigslist customers just so we can blast them everywhere for 300 miles?

 

[yagoparamo]

Yes, our ideas are pretty close. This goes back to the the: "Great, it's free" when in reality you are better off paying and therefore getting support, attention, etc.

The local Vs. national is interesting. It needs to be local mainly because there is no other way to then control what people do. It also needs to be national for certain items that only apply to small segments of the population like that expensive MB. As an inetersting note; if CL finds a way to promote ads nationally--lets say you can pay for an add that will show in all markets under a cathegory--then eBay is really toasted.