Classifieds is a directory of local businesses that your residents add and review. Your board can also offer sponsored listings to local companies: a sponsored vendor is labeled and shown first in its categories between the dates you set. This article covers turning Classifieds on, managing sponsorships, handling reports, and setting up categories. For how residents browse, review, and add vendors, see Finding and Recommending Local Vendors in Classifieds.
Turning the module on requires the Update Community Preferences permission. Once it's on, these permissions control the rest:
View Classifieds: browse vendors, read reviews, and report a listing or review.
Add Classifieds: add vendors and write reviews, and edit or remove the ones you added.
Manage Classifieds: edit or remove any vendor or review, resolve reports, and manage categories.
Manage Sponsored Listings: create and edit sponsored listings, and see their contract details.
The Community Admin and Community Leader roles have all four by default. The Resident role has View Classifieds and Add Classifieds. You'll find them in the Classifieds section of each role in Roles & Permissions, which only appears while the module is on.
Custom roles that existed when Classifieds launched were given matching permissions automatically: roles that could comment on Bulletin Board posts got View and Add, and roles that could update community preferences got all four. A custom role you create later starts without them, so grant each one it needs. Granting View Classifieds doesn't grant the others.
Some options may be unavailable or appear differently depending on your level of account access.
Classifieds is off for every community until you turn it on. While it's off, it doesn't appear in the main navigation menu.
Log in to Communitrak at https://app.communitrak.com.
Click Community in the main navigation menu.
Click the Preferences tab.
Turn on the switch on the Classifieds card.
Classifieds then appears in the main navigation menu for everyone with the View Classifieds permission. It starts with a set of common categories, such as Lawn & Landscaping, HVAC, Plumbing, and Pool, which you can change.
Click Classifieds in the main navigation menu, then click Manage at the top of the page. On a phone, Manage is the gear button. You'll see the tabs your permissions allow: Sponsored needs Manage Sponsored Listings, and Reports and Categories need Manage Classifieds.
The sponsorship agreement itself, including payment, happens outside Communitrak. Communitrak keeps the dates and the details you enter, and shows or hides the listing for you.
If a resident already added the company, don't create a new listing. Sponsor the existing one instead, as described in the next section, so its reviews stay with it.
On the Sponsored tab, click New Sponsored Listing.
Enter the company's details: Company name, at least one of the Categories, contact information, About, and a Logo.
Make sure Sponsored listing is turned on.
Choose the dates the sponsorship Starts and Ends, from the contract. Both are required.
Check Keep as a regular listing when the sponsorship ends if the vendor should stay in Classifieds afterward. Leave it unchecked to hide the vendor from residents once the end date passes.
Optionally, record the Amount paid, a Contact name and Contact email for the sponsor, and any Notes, such as contract terms or a renewal reminder.
Click Add Listing.
The dates, amount, contact, and notes are only visible to people with the Manage Sponsored Listings permission. Residents never see them. A sponsored listing doesn't show an "Added by" credit.
Sponsored listings can only be created from the Sponsored tab or from a vendor's page. Add Vendor in the directory always adds a regular listing.
Open the vendor's page, click the menu button next to Copy Link, and choose Edit vendor & sponsorship. Turn on Sponsored listing, set the dates, and click Save Changes. For a vendor that's never been sponsored, Keep as a regular listing when the sponsorship ends starts checked, so neighbors' reviews aren't hidden when the contract ends.
Once a vendor is sponsored, the resident who added it can no longer edit or remove it. Only people with Manage Classifieds or Manage Sponsored Listings can.
Communitrak checks the dates every time the directory loads, using your community's time zone. There's nothing to turn on or off by hand.
Scheduled: the start date hasn't arrived. Residents don't see the listing yet.
Live: between the start and end dates, including both. Residents see the Sponsored label, and the vendor appears first in its categories.
Ended, showing as regular: the end date has passed and you chose to keep it. It shows as a regular vendor, without the label.
Ended, hidden: the end date has passed and you didn't choose to keep it. Residents no longer see it.
Not sponsored: someone turned off Sponsored listing. It's a regular vendor again, visible to residents.
Scheduled and hidden listings don't appear in the directory, even for you, so the directory always looks the way residents see it. Find them on the Sponsored tab.
The Sponsored tab lists every current and past sponsorship with its dates, amount, contact, and status. A live sponsorship within two weeks of its end date shows how many days are left, as a reminder to follow up about renewing. Click a listing to open it. Its page shows a Sponsorship card with the full details, visible only to people with Manage Sponsored Listings.
To change dates or extend a sponsorship, open the vendor, choose Edit vendor & sponsorship from the menu, and update the dates. To end a sponsorship early:
To keep the vendor listed without the label, turn off Sponsored listing.
To hide the vendor from residents, set Ends to an earlier date and uncheck Keep as a regular listing when the sponsorship ends, or choose Remove vendor to take it out of Classifieds for good.
When a resident reports a vendor or review, it appears on the Reports tab, and the tab shows how many reports are open. The tab shows the reported vendor or review, the reason, any details the resident added, and who reported it.
Click Dismiss to keep the vendor or review and close the report.
Click Remove Review or Remove Vendor to take it down. Removing a vendor also removes its reviews.
Either action closes every open report on the same vendor or review. The resident who reported it isn't notified of the outcome.
You don't have to wait for a report. On any vendor's page, choose Edit vendor or Remove vendor from the menu next to Copy Link, or choose Remove review from the menu on a review.
Everyone with the Manage Classifieds permission is notified about the first report on a vendor or review:
Notifications bell: a Classifieds reports to review line shows how many reports are open. Click it to go to the Reports tab. As soon as anyone resolves a report, the count goes down for every manager, so you won't be sent to a report someone else already handled.
Email and push notification: sent unless you've turned them off. To change this, click My Account in the main navigation menu, then Notifications, and use the switches on Reported Classifieds Vendors and Reviews under Leadership Notifications.
More reports on a vendor or review that's already reported add to the count in the bell but don't send another email or push notification. Whoever sent the report isn't notified about it, even if they manage Classifieds.
The Categories tab is the list residents choose from when they browse and add vendors.
Click Add Category to add one, then type its name. Every category needs a name.
Type over a name to rename it.
Use the icon menu beside each name to change its icon.
Use the up and down arrows to change the order.
Click the Retire button (the crossed-out eye) to retire a category. Click Restore (the circular arrow) to bring it back.
Click Save Categories when you're done, or Discard to undo your changes.
Categories can't be deleted, only retired. A retired category disappears from the category menu, the Add Vendor form, and vendor cards. Vendors in it stay in Classifieds under All categories, and show the category again if you restore it. Editing a vendor removes any retired categories from it, though, so restoring a category won't put it back on a vendor that was edited in the meantime.
Resident-added vendors appear right away. There's no approval step, so the Reports tab is how your board keeps the directory accurate.
Every review comes from a community member. Sponsoring a vendor doesn't change its reviews or its rating.
Each member can leave one review per vendor, and can edit or delete it at any time.
If your community's Communitrak account is in a read-only state, members can still browse Classifieds, but adding, editing, reviewing, reporting, and resolving reports are turned off until the account is back in good standing.
If you have questions or need help, chat with Communitrak Support from any page using the messenger icon in the bottom-right corner.
