When you start a classified ads site, your primary goal is to pack it with valuable and useful data from users however the process might take a long time and most site owners choose a quicker way which is to populate their sites with the help of CSV/XLS / XML import plugins and grabbers.
Having your site filled with listings from various sources is great, however those listings won’t belong to their immediate owners and when they spot their listings on your site and recognize them as their own this is when the Claim a Listing Plugin will come in handy as they’ll be able to claim their listings. Better yet, first-time visitors claiming a listing will be prompted to create an account assigned to the listing and that will also bring more registered users to your classifieds site. The Plugin also allows the Administrator to enable the claiming option for ads of a particular user.
The Plugin is going to be very useful for your site because there is a lot of value added by claimable listings, let us now look in more detail at how the plugin works and in what ways it can be useful for your online business:
The Claim a Listing plugin adds a ‘Claim Listing’ button to the Listing Details page which allows the rightful listing owner to initiate a listing claim process. After the user clicks the ‘Claim Listing’ button he is offered three options of verifying listing ownership:
1. Verify ownership by Email
This option is available if the listing is assigned to an email address and the user claiming the listing has access to the email account in question. In this case the user will easily verify ownership through an email by receiving and entering a 4-digit code from the system on the site to obtain listing ownership.
2. Verify ownership by SMS
This option is available if there is a phone number assigned to the listing and the user claiming listing rights has access to the phone number in question. The system will send a user a 4-digit code that a user will need to enter on the site to obtain ownership of the listing. The option requires an account in Clickatell system and paid SMS to be sent to users.
3. Verify ownership by providing images and other graphical clues
This is the simplest option that is always available, it works in the following way: a user who wishes to obtain rights to his car listing he is supposed to take a photo of his car and attach it to the online form, after which it will reach the Administrator, who will then decide on the authenticity of the photo and whether to grant rights to a user or not.
After verifying ownership by one of the three options, the user needs to log in the site provided he has a registered account, if it is a first-time visitor, he will be prompted to create a new account by entering his name and email and the listing that he was claiming will automatically be assigned to it. This is a great way to attract new users to your site as they always want to associate themselves with the active listing.
Let us now talk about the plugin settings and ways of configuring and adjusting them to your site needs:
First of all, you as the site Administrator may choose to disable email and SMS verification modules leaving only photo verification option. You also need to be aware that you’ll be able to use the SMS verification option with an active Clickatell account, and you’ll need to enter your account details for it to work. You may also indicate which listing fields will be required such as a phone or email.
Once the Plugin is installed, a separate Manager will be created in the admin panel where you can view all pending claims for listings. You simply go to the ‘Listing Manager’ in the admin panel and manage all moderation enquiries from there. You may see verification requests by photos and compare them with those of the listings and confirm the listing rights transfer. The Manager also displays listing rights transfer by SMS or email, those transfers occur automatically and you do not need to approve or take any action for the rights to be transferred.
The Claim a Listing plugin is a premium add-on, which costs 45 USD for all users using the SemiFly or Fly package. Owners of the FullFly package get the Plugin for free. Plugin installation and activation is straightforward and simple, you may add it to your site in a matter of a few minutes. The plugin will undoubtedly be useful to users and it is a must-have for any classified ads site.