Classified Ads Scripts - A List Of What I've Found

[radioz]

I have been doing some research on this looking for something for a niche vintage site. As to free, they seem to be very limited, bad, totally non-commercial, and/or available only to non-profits. I have listed the ones that I have found below with the first couple looking to be the likely best. Both are in the $50-60 range although if you are co-buying hosting, you can save half on the wpClassiPress script. As you might guess, that is a Word Press based system. The xZeroScripts one is a PHP Craig's List clone that, to be fair, looks better than Craig's List but, then again, what doesn't (except for Craig's List being a catagory killer, of course!). There are several unlicensed, illicit sellers of the xZeroScript script that are not legal and which may be subject to revokation and no support later. They are cheaper, of course since they didn't do the work. ScriptsFeed.com is a very inexpensive system that has only one problem. The entire theme is predetermined as to physical look. If you are code saavy, it seems to be open source. Possibly interesting if a very cookie cutter genic site is OK or if you want to put in sweat equity, maybe. It is $17.95.

Here is the list:

Probably the best:

XZero Community Classifieds: Start your own community classifieds site similar to Craigslist/BackPage/Loquo/Kijiji/GumTree today swith our powerful, feature rich, easy to use, turn key classifieds script! - XZero Scripts: PHP+MySQL Scripts. Yes! You'(sample site: Nifty350.com)

WordPress Classified Theme | ClassiPress (sample site: GreenSheet.us Classifieds - Post & Search Free Ads, Share to Facebook, Read in Print)

Other Interesting ones:

BosDev - powerful web applications for the professional web master

DMXReady.com | Catalog | DMXReady Classifieds Listings Manager 1.2

KCScripts.com website software

Classifieds Ads - BrotherScripts.com

Scriptsfeed.com - The Best Source of php scripts for webmasters - (cheap but not versatile)

More Expensive but not absurd:

Cubrosoft - Live Demo

Classifieds script

Noah's Classified Ads Directory CMS and Blog Software - The leading SEO E-Commerce Classified Ads Software on the web

SmartISoft - PHP/mySQL Scripts Development - Smart Internet Software

FuzzyMonkey.net - Best Quality Web Hosting, Linux Webhosting Provider, Free Software

AB Scripts - Quality Software for Your Web - PHP scripts, AB Links Directory, Gold Classifieds, AB Ad Management, AB Banner Exchange

Rapid Classified: ASP Online Classified Software Scripts

Expensive or Specialty Markets:

Classified Ads Software Script - Mojo Classifieds

Smart Photo ADs - Example sites

Real Estate Portal | Software PHP MySQL classifieds buy sell houses apartments

Iki Classifieds - Turn Key Classifieds Solution

http://www.oxyclassifieds.com/demo.html

Almond Classifeds

Classified Ads ABS-5.06

Now, I have to decide what to do!

A drop dead excellent specialty classifieds site is Mid-Century Modern Furniture at Lushpad. Too bad that it is proprietary and not an available script to the best of my knowledge. BTW - I benefit none from these links, to be clear!

 

[DN BROKER]

Thanks , great list:

my favorite:

http://www.netartmedia.net/index.php - this one I may use if the admins can help me with a custom request.

http://wpclassipress.com/demo/

 

[aditya717]

i am using oxyclassifieds.com for one of my site , the scipt is good , but the support part is not that great rest it works fine i paid approx $220 for it

thanks

 

[south]

Thanks for sharing your research!

 

[radioz]

Here is an interesting free Joomla based system that I stumbled on - http://www.joomprod.com/. They also offer a paid version. For free, it looks very interesting.

I am currently building a site (VintageRadio.com - partially built) using GeodesicSolutions.com software. Definitely not cheap but it is very good. On sale, it starts at about $150 which isn't bad for a powerful system. It is on sale for 20-25% of with some regularity. I also bought the WPclassipress.com system, a Word Press system that looks very good especially with their new 3.0 version. I'm sure that I'll find a use for it too.

 

[ecomindia]

Hi
Interesting topic here on DNF

After years of applied testings on different applications & scripts provided Site Licenced based, under GPL and other criterias in different technologies (ASP, CGI, PHP or .NET), I have been using RapidClassifieds for last 6 years, and trust me, i have found it to be the best till date.

I have 75+ Classifieds related domains and mostly are INDIANCITYNAME+Classifieds.com . A little customization helped me point all domains to a single source / hosting.

Managing the content, categories, day-to-day things and monthly mktg and other campaigns are easy to manage.

As of now, I am using free version of it and hence will not charge the customers and whatever revenue generation is , is thru PPC/CPC campaigns and trust me, Google loves it!!

Other a slightly expensive side is of RainWorx.com - .NET & ASP based.
It has extensive features, auctions - dutch/proxy too, listing, bulk upload, and all features you cn expect.
So companies who look for a single solution, this is it!

More will fill in later///

 

[radioz]

I ended up using http://www.GeodesicSolutions.com. The Rapid Classifieds note above seem pretty darn good for free too. I think that the Geodesic Solutions software is better and better looking though. It starts at about $140 when its on a good sale. I am not sorry that I went with it and will likely use it more. It is a very elegant and very complete script loaded with features even in its diminutive state. My site is http://www.VintageRadio.com. It is up in what I call v.1.0 beta!

 

[katherine]

I bought a Geodesic license last week after spending hours looking for a decent classifieds script.
It's surprising that even the most mainstream solutions are so lacking.
There is an untapped niche IMO.

 

[yru]

I have tried just about every classified script out there and was not able to find anything that was simple and easy to use like Craigslist.

Eventually I ended up hiring a guy off of ScriptLance to make one for me. He later publicly released the script for sale as XZero Classifieds. In my opinion, this is by far the best classified script out there. Most of the other scripts are bloated with useless features that only turnoff potential users. Probably one of the best features of this script as opposed to others, is that the user does not need to create an account to post an ad (it is verified by email), which helps increase ad postings.

If you want a script that is the closest to Craigslist, XZero is it.

 

[shiffy]

How long ago was that? The OP mentioned XZero in his post from a year ago.

 

[radioz]

I am happy with the http://www.GeodesicSolutions.com software that I use for http://www.VintageRadio.com BUT ease of use is a problem. My competitors are a stodgy old print publication and a forum. The forum is easy as someone can just list '10 Old Plastic Radios $25 Each'. It gets about 20 listings a day and lots of traffic which is about right for a forum. When listings get voluminous, as they are here on DNF, it becomes very hard to sort through ads placed on the fly though. Still, having to list things, sort of ebay style with the Geodesic Script is a problem for low value items.

On the other hand, you can get too easy! With both the forum model and the Geodesic model, you do have to sign in and with Geodesic enter an optical scan entry too. I still get a sham listing or two a week. What convinced me NOT to use xZero (or a couple of similar scripts) was lack of a log-in. I saw many sites these scripts loaded with ads for SEO, web Design, Get Rich Quick, and similar ads, sometimes 30 deep in exactly the same ads. You will have to spend a LOT of time policing things with the 'no log-in' scripts.

Lastly, classifieds can be a very hard way to make money. As with auctions, Craig's List (and to some degree ebay) have this tightly wound. For every classifieds site that seems to have traction, many more don't. Some of those sites that work are old and made a dent in a city, state, or province before the Craig's List days too. In my case, the fact that the magazine has been around since the 1980s and the forum since 1995 doesn't help much either! Peoples habits become very set on and off line. A look through the example sites at any of the classifieds script sites is educational both generally and specifically to get some idea as to what does and doesn't work both regarding the specific script and the type of classifieds (ie - pets, cars, general, geo based, etc.).

I think that my site will gain some traction with time but that is mostly due to lots of extra features (that are very time consuming!) and an excellent domain name that cost me! I would point out though that the content is more valuable than the domain in my opinion as of now if you are building a real site. It is important that the domain be memorable but a 'category killer' domain will be best parked, I think, versus putting a crummy, useless site on it. A mediocre name with a good site may well work, on the other hand provided that people can remember the name and not confuse it with something else!

 

[ezimedia]

I also Have GeoDesic for one of my classifieds sites.. it is Illawarraclassifields.com.au, Illawarra is the city I live in with close to 500,000 people living here... in australia.. and growing, But have yet to finish the site... and market it.. I got a 3 year paid hosting account for it... so no rush lol , anyway it is the best script I found... but cost a bit.

 

[radioz]

I used AppThemes.com's ClassiPress for http://www.73.biz, a ham radio site. I like Geodesic Solutions but you can buy a developers license for unlimited use for $149 and get half of that off if you sign up for hosting through them. Geodesic Solution probably still wins overall but I like them too . Making money on classifieds isn't easy though. Like so many things, getting people to use your new service today isn't easy. There is a lot of most everything out there now (not just classifieds). Just ask Bing!

AppThemes also offers some other good WordPress based scripts. I'd say that the WordPress basis isn't bad plus there are a lot of neat widgets and secondary scripts that you can use for free as a result.

 

[zehrila]

I have Noah Classifieds http://noahsclassifieds.org/demo.html Its prices at $199 i can sell it for half price if any one interested.