Data Sharing Changes

We would like to inform you of an important change to our national syndication feature.

For several years, we have allowed members to push their property listings to a number of national websites, including:
• OfficeSpace.com
• Rofo.com
• 42Floors.com
• RetailMLS.com
• TheSquareFoot.com
• Real-Buzz.com
• Oodle.com
While extra exposure on these sites has been a benefit for some members, it has become increasingly problematic:
• After we share your listing data with these partners, we have no control over how the listings are handled. We regularly run into issues where information is being displayed inaccurately, incompletely, or is not being refreshed in a timely manner. Often, when members receive leads from these sites, it's for listings that have already been sold/leased.
• Some partners have been making direct calls or sending email to members – sometimes on purpose, sometimes in error. These communications often ask members to log in to update their listings on the partners' sites, or to learn more about a lead, causing general confusion.
• Some partners have taken to selling placement on these property listings in an attempt to monetize the data, allowing competing agents to pay to have their contact information displayed on another agent's listing.
While your members have always had the ability to opt-out of these sharing arrangements, these recurring issues have grown to outweigh the benefits.

Starting on June 1, we will no longer be pushing member listings in bulk to these national websites. A couple important details:
• This does not affect other syndication arrangements or feeds your group may have in place with other vendors, economic development groups, RPR, etc.
• These partners are contractually obligated to delete all copies of the data we've shared with them by June 1.
Going forward, syndication will be handled by request – giving your group more control over where and how your listings are displayed. If you're interested in continuing to syndicate member listings to one or more of these national websites, we can make your data available to them via our API. Reach out to your Catylist rep for more details.

If you have any questions or concerns about this change, please don't hesitate to reach out. Thank you!

The Catylist Team