Chanpory Rith
May 24, 2007
I was searching hard and furious for apartments on Craigslist, when I thought, “Gosh, wouldn’t it be a lot easier if I could get my apartment matches via an RSS feed?”
Lo and behold, you can.
Tucked in the lower right corner of every search results page is an RSS link. Click it to subscribe, and you’ll get matches sent straight to your feed reader. So instead of you going back search again and again for new listings, the results come to you.
This feature isn’t limited to apartment hunts. You can subscribe to every single search query on the site. This includes searches for jobs, furniture, events, and ahem.. casual encounters.
For example, here are some feeds I made:
- Retro 8-Tracks for under $10 in San Francisco
- Weird stuff in New York City
- Free stuff in Los Angeles
- One bedroom apartments with hardwood floors and a view for under $1200 in Montreal
I also made one for mid-century design furniture in San Francisco. It even has pictures:
Oh, how I love thee, RSS!
28 Comments
Wolftag
11:44 pm
A few people have made mashups between the craigslist RSS feeds and Google maps.
Here’s one: http://www.housingmaps.com/
Aman-About-Town
5:46 pm
Confluence! I had just added Craigslist’s RSS feed to my Google homepage then looked to see what else was new on other feeds I read and right below it was this post.
SheriVan
10:33 pm
I’ve been a subscriber to two Craigslist RSS job feeds for several months now! My secret is out.
elysa
6:55 am
I think this is a great find and I didn’t already know about it. I will be adding a few searches to my reader today. Thanks for the tip.
Christine
8:40 pm
Chanpory - you don’t happen to have a trick to make the images show up, do you? They show up for my other subscriptions, but sadly, not for my Craigslist feeds.
Thanks for the great tips!
Chanpory
10:01 pm
Hey Christine,
I just did another test feed, and strangely it seems that pics only appear on some of the feed entries, not all of them, even if you subscribe to a search results for image-only posts.
Anyone else have any idea?
Antonio
1:36 pm
A similar program but this one is for Windows.
You can learn more about CLSearch or Craigslist Multi-City Search at their website at http://www.craigslistcompanion.com/CLSearch.php?Section=Craigslist-Multi-City-Search
Best of all, it is a free download.
Fabio
1:01 am
I use http://www.craigspal.com
I’ve try almost anything and this is truly the only tool that does the job in style.
Ben
3:17 am
Here’s a website that’s free and will send you an email or text message whenever something you’re searching for appears on craigslist:
http://craigslistwatch.com
Fred
9:25 pm
I use http://bouncingknee.com/?page_id=24 Craigslist Search Pro…it’s quick, free and works!
pete
7:54 am
All of these recommendations require you to be in front of your computer, or have your computer running.
http://ListListener.com will filter Craigslist posts for you by city, category, KEYWORD AND PRICE and then email you when a matching post hits. You can even have it sent to your mobile phone.
Craigslist Search
11:00 pm
Just To Update you all, CLSearch V2.60 is available now. You can multiple city search craigslist with picture preview now.
http://www.craigslistcompanion.com/
Craigslist-Search.Com
2:22 pm
This is a new craigslist mashup site that just came out a few days ago.
Pretty cool so far. http://www.craigslist-search.com
Matt
8:34 pm
This one allows some multi city searches and has pictures and descriptions in the results. Pretty cool and seems to be updated regularly. Enjoy! http://cl.pixelspotlight.com/
Craigslist-Search.Com
11:57 am
Update to my last comment.
Now you can search craigslist kijiji and oodle at once with http://www.craigslist-search.com
If you use firefox, you can even see the craigslist picture previews in your search result.
Eric
1:27 pm
Thanks! I was trying to use the RSS icon in my address bar, but it doesn’t work! The link in the corner sure does, though. Thanks!
Mac
10:03 pm
How about http://www.craigstoolbox.com? Shows the images right below the search results.
N
8:55 pm
Anyone solve the problem of images only showing up some of the time?
Eric
2:56 pm
You can also try http://www.CLGenie.com. I personally like CLGenie since the emails contain a localized eBay search in addition to new Craigslist listings.
Josh
2:11 am
All the links above are dead. Looks like craigslist is quick with putting down search sites.
try http://craigslook.com - this one still works fine
Kerry
12:07 pm
I can’t seem to get the pictures to show up in Google Reader, anyone figure out how to make that work?
-S-Tream-
7:11 pm
Very nice article, thank you.
I did some research on my own a while ago and found that there are a few sites that help you navigate entire craigslist, not just one city.
Here’s my favourite: http://www.craiglook.com Hope it helps!
Dustin
11:05 am
My guess is that the few images that are showing up in RSS feed readers, such as Google Reader, are the ones where the person who posted the add used HTML to add images to their post. If they use the standard image uploader on Craigslist then you won’t see the images in your feed reader. That’s a real bummer.
edoceo
11:53 pm
I’ve been using this one
http://craigswish.com/
It’s OK, they seem to update it fairly often with new features and stuff
Nick
7:44 pm
I didn’t realize that not only can you subscribe to a category RSS Feed but also a category with search parameters Feed! How cool!
computers for less
9:46 pm
This is some of the best craigslist searching information I have seen. I was thinking about building my own, but have about three options to review. Great information here!
SS
10:24 am
What is the update limit to update a RSS feed on craigslist?
anna
6:47 pm
just saying, we just tested craigslook.com and it was not quick in updating to a test post.