Changes at Listsource?

Question

Hi. Is it just me (not likely), or have there been major changes at Listsource recently? I don't try to log in very often, but when I did few days ago, I was unable to and it said that it was unable to recognize my username. I gave them a call, and spoke to a customer service rep who told me that an account executive would have to get back to me, which happened a few days later. What he told me was something about the company having to reconfigure their accounts and transition to three new account options, but the problems are that (1), the leads are now more expensive (I opened my account through a link that was supposed to give me a discount, which I guess is no longer in effect), and (2), maybe even worse, all of the saved searches I had created wouldn't migrate to the new account.

Is anyone else experiencing this (I haven't been able to find any other discussion of it on BiggerPockets, which surprised me), and if so, has anyone found a good way of dealing with it -- maybe some kind of workaround? Thanks.

Daniel Paloscio · Answer

@Jordan Solomon Yes, you can get just the leads from marketlikeawholesaler.com without purchasing your marketing pieces from them. marketlikeawholesaler.com is a reseller or vendor of listsource.com leads. So what I do is this; I created a new account on listsource.com (they will try to get you to sign up for a subscription service, or prepay your account. Don't do it). I go and search for all the data myself. Then I download the criteria and send it to @Jerry Puckett directly and they use my criteria to pull exactly the same lists that I build on listsource.com.

You can save all your lists again for easy access (although I would save all the criteria on a separate doc stored on your computer or cloud service just in case listsource.com wants to burn all their paying customers again).

Daniel Paloscio · Answer

@Jordan Solomon I had to open a new account and none of my lists came with it. No one could get me my previously used/saved lists either.

As far as the price goes - I kept escalating the issue listsource.com and eventually got them to work with me on price, but they wanted me to purchase a years worth of leads up front and would not honor any pricing in subsequent years. I use Jerry Puckett from marketlikeawholesaler.com for a few of my direct mail campaigns. I was talking to him about this problem and he has some pretty competitive pricing on leads and with no minimums. I ended up going this route and its not too much more than what I was paying previously.

You come up with anything else?

Daniel Paloscio · Answer

@Jordan Solomon

I am having the same issue. My per lead rate was $.08. They canceled my account and are trying to get me to sign up for an account that would make the base cost per lead $.15. When you add in the "premium filters" that I use on every list, it drives the cost per lead up to $.33, a 400% increase! I've been going back and forth with my rep to see if there are any strings that can be pulled. They have several different pricing tiers so I'm hoping that if I make enough noise I'll get some grease.

I'm also looking into other list service providers. yellowletters.com can get me the same "premium" $.33 leads for $.18 if I go through them. Their base leads are $.15, the same that listsource.com is offering. The main difference is that to get $.15 leads you have to prepay $600 on listsource.com and that is the plan with the lowest amount down. yellowletters.com will give you that same price ($.15) as long as you get 500 leads, which adds up to $75.

Let me know if you come up with anything else. I still haven't made a decision as to what I'm going to do.

Jordan Solomon · Answer

@Daniel Paloscio Okay -- really good to know. Thanks so much!

Jordan Solomon · Answer

@Daniel Paloscio Actually, I did take a look at marketlikeawholesaler.com and have a couple of questions. First, is there any way to, like with Listsource, gets the leads themselves without the letters (as in doing that part myself), or are they only sold together? Also, does it allow you the ability to select very specific criteria like Listsource, or are they just preset general lists (like general absentee owners, etc.)? Thanks again!

Jordan Solomon · Answer

@Daniel Paloscio Thanks for the update, and especially for the tip about Jerry Puckett's service. No, I haven't come up with anything else myself, but to be honest, I haven't really been looking yet, either. Kind of disgusted right now! To reiterate, I just don't know how they (Listsource) could treat their customers this way and expect any loyalty.

Jordan Solomon · Answer

@Daniel Paloscio Thanks! Now at least I know they're not just picking on me for some reason! Not that I ever really thought that, but I do think it's strange how little attention it's getting on BiggerPockets, as I consider it pretty significant industry news given its popularity with investors. Anyway, I'm still hoping for some kind of resolution. As I said in my first post, what might annoy me even more than the higher pricing is the fact that along with my old account, they deleted all of my saved searches! What kind of way is that to treat your customers?

Thanks again for your response.

Daniel Paloscio · Answer

I forgot to note that yellowletters.com gets their data from listsource.com. They are basically a 3rd party vendor of listsource.com leads.

Steven J. · Answer

@Jordan Solomon Your saved searches may have expired but I can't be sure. I personally don't use list source or other listing sites because in my area the information simply isn't reported therefore these companies have no information to rely on. keep that in mind moving forward.

Changes at Listsource?

Changes at Listsource?

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