Guide · Pricing · November 9, 2026 · 3 min read
Craigslist posting service: what it costs and how it works
What a Craigslist posting service actually does, what you should pay, and the five things to check before you hand one your ad. With real numbers for single posts and 50-city orders.
A Craigslist posting service does one job: it takes an ad you've written and gets it live on Craigslist in the cities you choose, without you creating accounts, verifying phone numbers, paying Craigslist's checkout or posting the same thing city by city.
That sounds simple. It mostly is, until you need ten cities, or fifty, or the same ad every week.
Why businesses hand it off
Posting one ad in one city takes about ten minutes. Posting it in 25 cities is not 25 times that, because Craigslist only lets you post to one site at a time, charges at the end of each posting flow, and asks for email and phone verification along the way. Then each post has to be checked to confirm it actually went live.
For a mover covering one metro, doing it yourself is fine. For a staffing company hiring drivers in 20 markets, or a property manager with rentals in six cities, it becomes a part-time job.
What a good service does
- Posts your ad as written, with only the fixes Craigslist requires (category, formatting, required fields).
- Pays Craigslist's fees and bills you once.
- Sends you every live link, so you can see the post yourself.
- Reposts if the ad is removed early, within a stated window.
- Tells you the price before you pay, including Craigslist's fee for each city.
What it should cost
There are two parts to any price: what Craigslist charges, and what the service charges.
Craigslist's fees are public. Most categories are free; gigs cost $3 to $10 depending on the city, services $5, jobs $10 to $75, and vehicles, dealer listings and commercial real estate $5. The full table is in our 2026 fee guide.
The service fee is where offers differ. Ours is a flat $15 per post on top of Craigslist's fee, dropping to $10 a post at volume. Here's what typical orders come to:
| Order | Craigslist fees | Service fee | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| One rental listing, one city | $0 | $15 | $15 |
| One services ad, 10 cities | $50 | $140 | $190 |
| One gigs ad, 25 top metros | about $175 | $325 | about $500 |
| One job post, 10 mid-size metros at $25 | $250 | $140 | $390 |
| A free-category ad, 50 cities | $0 | $600 | $600 |
The service fee in those rows reflects bulk pricing: $14 a post at 10+, $13 at 25+, $12 at 50+. Craigslist's fee is passed through at cost and never discounted.
Five things to check before you pay anyone
- Do you get the live URL for every post? If a service won't show you the link, you have no way to know the ad went up.
- Is Craigslist's fee shown separately? A single bundled price hides how much is markup.
- What happens if the post is removed? Craigslist and its users remove posts without explanation. Look for a free repost within a set window.
- Will they post anything? A service that accepts every ad, including ones against Craigslist's prohibited list, is one whose posts get removed.
- Do they lock you into a subscription? One post in one city should be a real order.
How long the posts last
Paid posts (jobs, gigs, services, vehicles) run 30 days. Free posts run 45 days in most markets and 30 in the biggest metros. We measured it. If you need ads up continuously, set the order to repeat rather than reordering by hand.
How Scale Classifieds does it
You write your ad once, pick from 413 US cities, and pay once. A person on our team posts each ad by hand and emails you every live link within 24 to 48 hours. If a post is removed within 7 days we repost it free. Watch the 60-second walkthrough or price your exact order.
Sources
Post it once. We'll put it everywhere.
Craigslist's fee + $15 per post, any of 413 cities, live within 24–48 hours.
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