Rule 13- IDX Internet Posting of Listings
13.1 Definitions:
a) "IDX Display" means display by a Member on its website or through a mobile device application (hereafter referred to as Electronic Means) of the FMLS IDX Content, subject to Rule 13. IDX Display constitutes the advertising of other Members' listings subject to the consent granted by the other Members under Rule 13.
b) "IDX Content" and/or “Listing Content” means the FMLS Licensed Content as provided in the raw unformatted compilation of property listing data (including photos virtual tours, and any other content) and that FMLS makes available to Members, and to third party vendors directly on the behalf of Members, specifically for use via Electronic Means. IDX Content includes all Active, Active Under Contract, Hold, Pending Sale, Sold (up to 2012), and Leased status listings (up to 2012) except:
1. Where the listing Member has declined to permit IDX display of its listings.
2. Where the seller has declined to permit internet display of his/her property for sale (“Allow Internet Display is N - for No).
3. When the “Allow Address Display Y/N” is N - for No, the address of the property may not be displayed or used publicly via Electronic Means in any manner.
4. When displaying sold listings on the internet, only the primary photo of the property may be shown; all other photos should be removed.
5. The display of Expired, Withdrawn, or Terminated status listings is prohibited.
13.2 FMLS permits Members to use IDX Displays subject to Rule 13, provided that the display is only for real estate brokerage purposes and not for any other ancillary businesses or for any other purpose. In order to obtain the listings and display them on the Internet, Members must comply with FMLS Rules and state law and regulations.
a) Members must notify FMLS of their intention to display IDX content by executing a Licensed Content agreement, approved by FMLS, prior to any public display of FMLS Listing Content by Electronic means. In addition, Members must give FMLS direct access for purposes of monitoring and ensuring compliance with applicable rules.
b) Participants may select the IDX listings they choose to display through Electronic Means based only on objective criteria including, but not limited to, factors such as geography or location (“uptown,” “downtown,” etc.), list price, type of property (e.g., condominiums, cooperatives, single family detached, multi-family).
c) IDX Listing Content can be displayed on Members’ national affiliate company or franchisor website of the same brand, providing that it is displayed in a manner that is compliant with all applicable FMLS rules and policies.
d) Any other use or display of FMLS Listing Content in any manner is prohibited.
13.3 Providing FMLS Listing Content to Third Parties
FMLS provides Listing Content to a third party on the behalf of a principal Member only under the following conditions:
a) Principal Member has retained the third party (a technology vendor company or an individual technical person) to assist the Member in using the FMLS Listing Content through Electronic Means in the company’s real estate brokerage website(s) or mobile application(s);
b) The Member and third party have each executed the applicable FMLS provided Licensed Content Data Access and Confidentiality Agreements to ensure compliance with the applicable FMLS rules.
c) No other personal or non-commercial use of the FMLS Listing Content is permitted.
d) The Member must make reasonable efforts to ensure that:
1. Users of the Member's Electronic Means are human beings and not Internet "robots" or "spiders" gathering FMLS Listing Content in any automated fashion;
2. Misappropriation, screen scraping, harvesting and other unauthorized use of FMLS Listing Content is monitored and prevented;
3. All other usual and customary security measures, and those that may be specified by FMLS from time to time, are employed, to prevent unauthorized use of FMLS property Listing Content.
13.4 Members who operate an IDX Display must update the IDX Content at least once every twelve (12) hours.
13.5 FMLS reserves the right to limit the number of property listings that are retrieved in response to a customer’s inquiry on Members’ IDX websites. In no instance shall the limit be fewer than one hundred (100) listings.
13.6 Listing Member's Consent to IDX Display Presumed
Each Member is presumed to consent to IDX Display of that Member's listings by other Members in a manner consistent with Rule 13, unless the member opts out of IDX display by the means provided by FMLS. Members who choose to exclude their listings from IDX Display by other Members may not use IDX Displays of the listings of other Members.
13.7 Required Internet Posting Disclosures
a) Each Member's Electronic Means must be identified with the Member's brokerage name, contact information and branding in accordance with the guidelines promulgated by the Georgia Real Estate Commission.
b) The FMLS listing number must be clearly and prominently displayed directly with each FMLS property listing.
c) All listings displayed shall identify the listing firm (Listing Provided By or Listing Courtesy Of), and the email or phone number chosen by the listing participant in a reasonably prominent location and in a readily visible color and typeface not smaller than the median used in the display of listing data. When sold listings are displayed, the selling firm should be identified (Sold By) in a reasonably prominent location and in a readily visible color and typeface not smaller than the median used in the display of listing data. Information about offers of compensation must be accompanied by a disclaimer stating that the offer is made only to participants of the MLS where the listing is filed.
d) Required disclosures when FMLS IDX Listing Content is commingled with another MLS’s listings:
1. Each listing shown on a results page, preview, one liner, gallery, or in any other preliminary view that is not the website owner’s own listing, must include the FMLS IDX logo trademark:
The FMLS IDX logo must be clearly legible and of a similar size to any other logo that appears on any other page or feature for the same purpose.
2. Any page that displays FMLS listings shall include the following specific logo, text and copyright verbiage:
Listings identified with the FMLS IDX logo come from FMLS and are held by brokerage firms other than the owner of this website. The listing brokerage is identified in any listing details. Information is deemed reliable but is not guaranteed. If you believe any FMLS listing contains material that infringes your copyrighted work please click hereto review our DMCA policy and learn how to submit a takedown request. © [current year] First Multiple Listing Service, Inc.
3. The FMLS IDX disclosure shall be displayed separately from, and in priority to, any other disclosure, whenever any FMLS Listing Content appears on a page.
FMLS acknowledges that the above required disclosures may not be possible in displays of minimal information (e.g. text messages, tweets, etc. of 200 characters or less). Such displays are exempt from the disclosure requirements established in this rule but only when linked directly to a display that includes all required disclosures.
e) Required disclosures when only FMLS IDX Listing Content is used on a Member’s website:
1. The following text shall be displayed on any page displaying listing results in a one-line format, thumbnail, preview or other preliminary view:
Information Deemed Reliable But Not Guaranteed If you believe any FMLS listing contains material that infringes your copyrighted work please click here to review our DMCA policy and learn how to submit a takedown request.© FMLS
2. Any detail listing view shall display the following disclosure at the bottom of each page:
Listings on this website come from the FMLS IDX Compilation and may be held by brokerage firms other than the owner of this website. The listing brokerage is identified in any listing details. Information is deemed reliable but is not guaranteed. If you believe any FMLS listing contains material that infringes your copyrighted work please click here to review our DMCA policy and learn how to submit a takedown request.© [current year] FMLS.
13.8 Technical Entity Disclosure
A statement that provides the identify and contact information of the technical entity directly responsible for providing the Electronic Means and support, thereof, must be displayed through any Electronic Means. The term “Technical Entity” is defined as the vendor company or individual person’s name that directly handles the FMLS Listing Content appearing on a website and provides the support thereof on behalf of the Member.
a) Members shall maintain a means (e.g., email address, telephone number) to receive comments about the accuracy of data or information that is added by or on behalf of the Member that relates to a specific property. The Member shall correct or remove any false data or information relating to a specific property upon receipt of a communication from FMLS or the Listing Member explaining why the data or information is false.
13.9 Branding
Except when a listing is the website owner’s own listing, a Member may not display their brokerage company or personal name, contact information or branding directly in or adjacent to another Member’s Listing Content in such a manner that could misrepresent or be misleading as to the ownership of a listing.
13.10 Prohibited Display Fields
The following fields and information are confidential Listing Content, which may not be posted or displayed, no matter how the Listing Content was obtained:
- Showing Contact Name
- Showing Contact Number
- "Security System Leased” under Security Features
- "Security System Owned” under Security Features
- Private/Confidential Remarks
- Occupant Type
- Expire Date
13.11 Display of IDX Listing Content via Social Media
Any display of IDX Listing Content via Social Media must link back to the FMLS rules-compliant page on the Members’ website.
13.12 Display of Non-FMLS Provided Content (Non-FMLS content is defined as any content provided by any source other than FMLS)
a) Content and/or features from another source or sources may appear directly in with FMLS property Listing Content as long as the source is clearly identified.
b) This requirement does not apply to “Co-mingling” of property listings from another MLS”. (See Rule 13.13)
c) Other than when displaying a Member’s own property listings, Members may not advertise or display by any other means, on the same page with FMLS IDX Listing Content, promotion of a banking, mortgage, lender, insurance company or any other ancillary business relationship, including alliances, affiliates and partnerships.
d) A Member's IDX website may not in any manner publicly identify, display or link to any commentary or reviews regarding a listing in or adjacent to any FMLS IDX listing. This Section does not prevent the display of numeric valuations via an automated valuation model.
13.13 Co-mingling of Property Listings from Another MLS
Listings from another MLS may be co-mingled and displayed with FMLS property listings in one liner, preview, thumbnail, gallery, map search results and in similar preview displays. Provided, however, that when listings from another MLS are included on the same page as FMLS listings, the actual data from another MLS may not be directly combined or intermixed with FMLS data, and a disclosure of origin that appropriately identifies that the listing content comes from another MLS must be provided.
13.14 Nothing contained in this Rule 13 prohibits any advertising, marketing or promotional materials that any Member may wish to use or distribute. Provided, however, that no Member is authorized to reproduce or otherwise use any IDX Content, FMLS logo, trademark, or service mark, whether registered or unregistered, in any such advertising, marketing or promotional materials, except as expressly permitted in these rules.
13.15 Associate Members may display IDX Content only if the Associate Member's Principal Member is contributing its listings (if any) to the IDX Content
a) The Associate Member's Electronic Means can frame or "gateway" into his/her Principal Member's Electronic Means.
b) The only other option for Associate Members to display IDX Content is through the FMLSweb program.
1. FMLSweb is an optional program, available to all FMLS Principal Members and associates of Principal Members who elect to allow their agents to participate. This program provides participating Members and agents options to have a web presence to display FMLS IDX compliant listings on their real estate websites and/or through mobile applications.
(i) FMLSweb provides pre-formatted, IDX compliant search links. These links can be framed within members’ websites for consumers to be able to search for FMLS listings that match selected criteria. The Associate Member may subscribe to FMLSweb and use the FMLS IDX Search links with written permission from his/her Principal Member.
(ii) The Approved Data Vendor program – FMLS maintains a list of “Approved Data Vendors” (ADV’s) who can provide participating members with more advanced property search capability than is available in the FMLSweb search feature. Most ADV’s provide full real estate websites and some also provide a mobile application. The Associate Member may contract with an FMLS Approved Data Vendor (ADV) in the FMLSweb program for displaying IDX Content on individual agent websites with written permission from his/her Principal Member.
c) The Associate Member's Electronic Means and the pages that display any IDX Content or search criteria that will result in the display of IDX Content must at all times identify the Associate Member's Principal Member according to the guidelines promulgated by the Georgia Real Estate Commission.
Any exceptions to or deviations from the FMLS Rules shall be at the sole discretion of FMLS.
Any other redistribution, repurposing, re-licensing or reselling of FMLS Listing Content in any form to anyone else by any Member or the Member’s Technical Entity is strictly prohibited.