Frequently Asked Questions

 
What prevents my listings from being published?
 

Reason #1:  "Bad or Incomplete Data"

The syndicates are looking for Quality over Quanitity and have strict requirements on how your data should be formatted and presented.  They simply will not publish any listings that do not meet their specifications.  To insure that your listings are published, our system 100% checks all of your listings and tells you how to fix any that do not meet their specs.  This includes but is not limited to things such as:

  • Missing or incomplete information
  • Broken URL's / Web Addresses
  • Invalid Dates
  • Duplicated listings or information
  • Cleaning of MS Word Markup
  • Cleaning of Special HTML Markup
  • Cleaning of bad casing (i.e ALL UPPER CASE or all lower case)
  • Validation of US State Codes
  • Validation of Country Codes
  • Validation of properly formatted email addresses
  • Validation of properly formatted web addresses

       Listings that pass all vaildations are submitted to the Syndicates.  Listings that fail validations can not be syndicated and are reported back to you so that corrections can be made.

Reason #2:  Listings Received From "Multiple Sources"

When listings are syndicated from more than one source, the syndicates use a pecking order to determine who gets "ownership" and credit for that listing. As a general rule, first priority is given to listings that are received directly from a national agency or MLS with all others being credited on a first come first served basis. This means that if you have already submitted a listing using another syndicator, it most likely will not appear as being posted by zBestListings until we are granted "ownership" as the primary syndicator.

Zillow has an excellent YouTube video on how they process syndicated listings. It can be viewed by clicking here!

Reason #3:  Your listing data appears to be "Stale" or Abandoned

To help insure that peroperties are no longer advertised once they have been sold, listings are considered stale or abandoned if some part of their information, such as the price or the agent, has not changed within the 30 to 90 days.

Reason #4:  A syndicate that was once "Free" now requires a "Paid Subscription"

Some sites such as RentBits and Oodle (doorway to Walmart, Military.com, and others) now charge for syndication through their networks. In these cases, we help you setup accounts with these sites as well as provide analytics (at no additional charge) to help you justify if they are worth the price you are paying them.  We also provide your feed to them at no additional charge.

Reason #5:  You don't have enough listings in your feed

Most syndicates now have a minimum requirement of 100 or more listings in a feed before they will even consider looking at it.  Others start at 500 or higher.  The way around this is to use a 3rd party service, like zBestListings, to submit them on your behalf.

 
How long does it take my listings to begin appearing at the syndicates?
     In general, about 24 to 48 hours after being received by zBestListings.
 
When a referral is received, is it sent to my website?
     Yes.  All referrals are directed to your website.  If you do not have one, we can provide substituion pages for you (required by most syndicates). 
 
Can I add your tools and reports to my own website so that they may be utilized by our other agents?
     Yes.  We provide the ability for you to include these tools in order to better assist your agents in marketing and selling their properties.
 
Do I need to create an accout with each syndicate I send listings to?
     For the free submissions sites you do not, but for the paid submission sites, you do.  Ask us for help in getting these setup.
Do you have the ability to "Scrape" or "Data-mine" my website?
     Due to the unreliability and controversy over this method, we do not.  If you are needing to have your site "scraped", we recommend xml2u.com
    Once they have created your xml file, we can use it as the data source and backfill any required information that may be missing.
 
Can you create my feed or automate my FTP for me?
     Yes.  Please contact us to go over requirements needed to access your listing data.
Do you syndicate to all the Real Estate Portals?
     Yes.  We syndicate to all the available major portals as well as many minor ones.  Please note that we will not hesitate to suspend or drop a syndicate
    that fails to maintain their site or the information it contains.  We want to make sure that our customer's properties are are being regularly updated and are no longer advertised once a property has been sold. 
    A complete list of our current syndicate partners is available here.
 
 
 
 
 
   
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