Craigslist Automated Posting API?

Question

I looked through the craigslist bulk posting section, and to send it to the server, I need to send an rss channel to automatically publish the site addition found in

http://www.craigslist.org/about/bulk_posting_interface

I looked up and down on a php class sample, but can't find out. Does anyone know of any class that exists? thank

Answer 1

I was just checking the terms of use of the CL, and he explicitly mentions that any automatic publishing is illegal. So, if this is a general commercial idea that you want to increase, note that:

It is strongly forbidden to publish content to Craigslist using any automated means. Users must publish all content in person and manually using all steps of the publishing process. In addition, it is expressly forbidden for any user to prohibit the development, offer, sale, sale, distribution or provision of automated tools to perform any stage of the posting process (in whole or in part). Any user who develops, offers, sells, sells, distributes or provides automated tools to carry out any stage of the publishing process (in whole or in part) is responsible and is responsible for the CL for each instance of access to Craigslist (by any user or other third party) using these automated tools.

Answer 2

I searched for this for you, and found the same results. There are currently no existing freely accessible PHP classes for handling Craigslist Bulk Uploads.

I also found that others, looking for the same thing, resort to posting jobs on freelance boards such as Freelancer.com to attract developers to create them for them.

It looks like you have to write this code yourself or pay someone for it. Unfortunately.

APPENDUM:

Referring to the Craigslist Bulk Posting Interface help page, there is an example Perl script included at the end of the page, along with examples of XML / RSS formats needed for bulk posting.

The easiest way to achieve what you want is to create an RSS file to create RSS / XML files, and then run a Perl script to load and write the results to the second file (or go back to the script).

Answer 3

I found an example PHP script for bulk CL messages. Not sure if you are still looking for a PHP shell for this or not.

Here is the code I found from this topic open-reality.org: Source: http://support.open-realty.org/showthread.php?23764-Bulk-posting-in-Craigslist

<?php class cURL { var $headers; var $user_agent; function cURL() { $this->headers[] = 'Connection: Keep-Alive'; $this->headers[] = 'Content-type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded;charset=UTF-8'; $this->user_agent = 'Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 7.0; Windows NT 5.1; .NET CLR 1.0.3705; .NET CLR 1.1.4322; Media Center PC 4.0)'; } function post($url,$data) { $process = curl_init($url); curl_setopt($process, CURLOPT_HTTPHEADER, $this->headers); curl_setopt($process, CURLOPT_HEADER, 1); curl_setopt($process, CURLOPT_USERAGENT, $this->user_agent); curl_setopt($process, CURLOPT_TIMEOUT, 30); curl_setopt($process, CURLOPT_POSTFIELDS, $data); curl_setopt($process, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, 1); curl_setopt($process, CURLOPT_FOLLOWLOCATION, 1); curl_setopt($process, CURLOPT_POST, 1); $return = curl_exec($process); $info = curl_getinfo($process); curl_close($process); return $info; } } $postdata = " <?xml version=\"1.0\" encoding=\"utf-8\"?>\n <rdf:RDF xmlns=\"http://purl.org/rss/1.0/\" xmlns:rdf=\"http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#\" xmlns:cl=\"http://www.craigslist.org/about/cl-bulk-ns/1.0\"> <channel> <items> <rdf:li rdf:resource=\"NYCBrokerHousingSample1\"/> <rdf:li rdf:resource=\"NYCBrokerHousingSample2\"/> </items> <cl:auth username=\"****\" password=\"****\" </channel> <item rdf:about=\"NYCBrokerHousingSample1\"> <cl:category>apa</cl:category> <cl:area>chi</cl:area> <cl:subarea>chc</cl:subarea> <cl:neighborhood>Lakeview</cl:neighborhood> <cl:housingInfo price=\"1450\" bedrooms=\"0\" sqft=\"600\"/> <cl:replyEmail privacy=\"C\">[e-mail]</cl:replyEmail> <cl:brokerInfo companyName=\"Joe Sample and Associates\" feeDisclosure=\"fee disclosure here\" /> <title>Spacious Sunny Studio in Upper West Side</title> <description><![CDATA[ posting body here ]]></description> </item> </rdf:RDF> "; $cc = new cURL(); $url = 'https://post.craigslist.org/bulk-rss/post'; $output = $cc->post($url,$postdata); //echo $output; print_r($output); 

Answer 4

Keep in mind that the API is closed to new accounts. I'm not sure when they plan to open it again, if ever.

However, there is a site that does just that, and they claim that it is legal. www.repost123.com So, I'm not sure what Craigslist means when they say that any automatic publishing is illegal.