To enable Chat, go to Classified Listing => Settings => Chat
This feature enables real-time messaging between buyers and sellers directly on your site — no need for either party to share personal contact details. Once enabled, a Chat option becomes available in the user’s My Account dashboard, letting them message each other about specific listings.
1. Chat Settings #
1.1) Regenerate Chat Table
A one-click action that rebuilds the chat database table from scratch.
Caution: This will permanently delete all existing chat history across your entire site. Only use this if you’re troubleshooting a serious issue with the chat system — there’s no way to recover deleted conversations afterward.
1.2) Chat
The master switch for the whole feature. Check this box to turn on buyer–seller chat and reveal the Chat menu item in the frontend user dashboard.
1.3) Unread Message Email
When enabled, users will receive an email notification the moment they get a new, unread message — helpful for making sure conversations don’t go unnoticed.
1.4) Delete Inactive Conversation
Automatically cleans up old conversations. Enter a number of days of inactivity, and any conversation that’s been silent for that long will be automatically removed.
Note: Leave this field blank if you’d prefer to keep all conversations stored indefinitely, with no automatic deletion.
2. Pusher Integration #
Classified Listing uses a third-party service called Pusher to power real-time chat delivery — this is what makes messages appear instantly without the page needing to refresh.
2.1) Get App Data
Before you can use live chat, you’ll need to create a free account on the Pusher website and set up an “app” to get your credentials (App ID, Key, Secret, and Cluster).
2.2) Enable Pusher
Check this box to activate the Pusher-powered real-time messaging.
2.3) App ID / Key / Secret / Cluster
Enter the four credentials you obtained from your Pusher dashboard here.
Note: All four fields must be filled in correctly for chat to work in real time. If any field is missing or incorrect, messages may fail to send or appear.
How to get the Pusher APP ID? #
1) Sign up at pusher.com and verify your email address. Once verified, you’ll be logged into your Pusher dashboard.
2) Now, click the “Get Started” button.
3) Enter the app name. You can keep the rest of the settings as they are. Click on the “Create App” button.
4) Now, after clicking the “Create App” button, you will get the following screen.
5. Now, click the “App Keys” menu from the left menu bar. You will get the app information.
Troubleshooting: Chat Not Saving or Displaying Data #
In rare cases, the required database tables may fail to be created properly, causing chat data to not save or display in the dashboard. If this happens:
Reactivate the Classified Listing plugin — this will regenerate the tables correctly.
Back up your database first — this process involves deleting tables, so a backup is essential before proceeding.
Open phpMyAdmin (or your database management tool) and delete these two tables:
wp_rtcl_conversations
wp_rtcl_conversation_messages
Deactivate the Classified Listing plugin.
Caution: This troubleshooting step deletes all existing chat data. Only use it if chat is genuinely broken, and always back up your database beforehand.
