--- title: "Setting Up Classifieds and Sponsored Listings" description: "Turn on Classifieds, offer sponsored listings to local businesses with start and end dates, review reported listings, and manage vendor categories." url: https://support.communitrak.com/en/articles/69-setting-up-classifieds-and-sponsored-listings collection: "Classifieds for Leaders" updated: 2026-10-22 language: en --- # Setting Up Classifieds and Sponsored Listings Turn on Classifieds, offer sponsored listings to local businesses with start and end dates, review reported listings, and manage vendor categories. **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**. ## **Who can do this** 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. ## **Turn on Classifieds** Classifieds is off for every community until you turn it on. While it's off, it doesn't appear in the main navigation menu. 1. Log in to Communitrak at [https://app.communitrak.com](https://app.communitrak.com). 2. Click **Community** in the main navigation menu. 3. Click the **Preferences** tab. 4. 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. > **Info:** **Note:** Turning Classifieds off hides it again without deleting anything. Vendors, reviews, and sponsorships are still there if you turn it back on. ## **Open Manage Classifieds** 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. ## **Add a sponsored listing** 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. 1. On the **Sponsored** tab, click **New Sponsored Listing**. 2. Enter the company's details: **Company name**, at least one of the **Categories**, contact information, **About**, and a **Logo**. 3. Make sure **Sponsored listing** is turned on. 4. Choose the dates the sponsorship **Starts** and **Ends**, from the contract. Both are required. 5. 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. 6. 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. 7. 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. ### **Sponsor a vendor that's already listed** 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. ## **How sponsorship dates work** 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. ## **Review reported vendors and reviews** 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. ### **Report notifications** 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. ## **Manage categories** 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. ## **Things to know** - 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.