How to Bypass Geo-blocking on Craigslist with a Proxy

It’s no secret that several years ago Craigslist implemented geo-blocking at both a country and state level. If you don’t know, geo-blocking basically is Craigslist’s way of looking at the location of your IP and then restricting what you can and can’t do, mainly where you can post ads. It is easy to bypass when the geo-block at a national level, because you can easily get a proxy server anywhere in the USA and you’ve solved the problem. The state level can also be bypassed if you know what you are doing.

Much like blocking IPs based on the country, Craigslist looks at your IP and checks where it is in terms of different states. This primarily applies to USA version of Craigslist, as that is the one with the most traffic and potential. If your IP shows up as being based in New York City, then you have no chance of posting an ad on the San Francisco section.

The obvious answer to state level geo blocking is more proxies. You may not like the idea but it’s the best solution. Here is where things get a little tricky. It appears that Craigslist has a little leeway in state level geo blocking. Want to post an ad somewhere in the state of California? Then you are going to need a proxy with IPs from that state. Now, if you wanted to post ads in San Francisco, then it would be ideal to get a proxy server in that city. This doesn’t necessarily mean you need a proxy server in the city, as getting one in Santa Cruz may allow you to post ads in the San Francisco board also. However, try and get as CLOSE as you possibly can to the city you want to post in.

That’s the problem with Craigslist. What if you want to post in a city that you can’t get a proxy server setup and running in? Well, the good news is that Craigslist monitors the bigger cities more than the little ones and is much more strict in terms of who can and can’t post. This means that having a proxy in San Francisco will more than likely mean that you can post on most if not all of the other cities in the state of California, at least ones that are smaller.

Another issue with the state level geo blocking and potential city level geo blocking is that what if you can’t find someone renting proxies in a specific city? The good news is that you really shouldn’t be relying on others for your proxies, not when Craigslist makes changes like this and will continue to make them. The advantages of setting up your own Craigslist proxy is that if a city has a data center for hosting, then there is a VERY good chance you can setup your own proxy server there. This means geo blocking is much less of a hassle when you are setting up your own proxies.