Kijiji General Information
Last March 2005, eBay launched an online community that is expected to compete against the infamous Craigslist. eBay now has Kijiji - it is a centralized network where users can post classified advertisements just like in Craigslist. As of the moment, the websites of Kijiji is already available in more than three hundred cities located in the country of Germany. Moreover, there are already Kijiji websites for other countries as well including Japan, China, India and Taiwan. Aside from these Asian countries, Kijiji also have websites for Canada, France as well as Italy. It was only last June 29, 2007 when Kijiji became available to some of the cities in United States.
Last November of 2004, the eBay had acquired the Marktplaats.nl. The said website offers the same service just like Kijiji and Craigslist. It is a website where people can post classified service only in Netherlands. eBay holds at least eighty percent of the Marktplaats.nl’s market share. During those times, the Marktplaats.nl already has branches in other countries such as Canada, Spain, Turkey, as well as Germany. However, it is under the brandname called Intoko. Afterwards, the Intoko Spain then merged with the Loquo. Meanwhile, the Intoko Germany collaborated with the Kijiji Germany. The Intoko Canada also had a merge with the Kijiji Canada. While most Intoko are merging and collaborating, the Intoko Turkey, on the other hand, transferred to Kijiji platform. As of now, it is operating under tha Intoko.Kijiji.com.tr. But eBay did not just stop there. Few months after (May 2005) the company known for its online auction acquired the Gumtree. The Gumtree also offers the same service for the cities located in New Zealand, Britain, Australia, as well as Ireland. Aside from that, eBay also acquired the Spain-based company called Loquo. But eBay still want more. A month later, the company then acquired OpusForum.org. This is yet another website that allows the users to post classified advertisements online in Germany. Then a year later, the OpusForum joined Kijiji. Later on, the brand name remained as Kijiji for the website in Germany.
The services offered by Kijiji are just like that of the services offered by Craigslist. However, unlike Craigslist, Kijiji is a commercial enterprise. What others do not know is that the owner of Kijiji, eBay, is also a minor shareholder of Craigslist.
The websites of Kijiji Canada and Kijiji USA have the same layout. They only differ of course in the cities included in it. In Kijiji USA, you can see a map of the United States where you can choose the state where you want to find the classified ads. You may also opt to choose from the list instead. At the site, you will find tons of advertisements arranged according to categories such as jobs, pets, services, housing, cars and vehicles, events, and community. You may also find a category for people looking for friends, colleagues, and even potential lifetime partners.
There is no need to register for a Kijiji account in order for you to browse the advertisements. Moreover, when you post an advertisement on the site, there is also no need to pay anything. Kijiji is free for all, therefore, it is a great way of advertising your business especially if you are still starting in your new venture. And to help the users of Kijiji get more customers, the website also allows the users to post images of the merchandise that they sell so that they can entice more customers. Unfortunately, no one is allowed to post their advertisements in several cities. This is because Kijiji promotes local trading only that is why they recommend the users to post the advertisement in the city where they live in or in the city nearest to where they are currently living in. Moreover, they also do not encourage "spammers" in their site. As a result, Kijiji users can only post as much as 25 advertisements everyday. But if the user would like to post more than 25 advertisements a day, they must fill up a form online that would directly contact the administrators of the website.
It was only April this year that the eBay released a lawsuit against the executives of Craigslist in the court of Delaware. According to eBay, the executives of Craigslists are trying to weaken the investments of eBay. The lawsuit was filed against Craig Newmark, the founder of Craigslist and Jim Buckmaster, the company's chief executive.
Of course, the other company would think of a strategy to counter the lawsuit filed by eBay. The next month, Craigslists filed a lawsuit against eBay. According to Craigslists, Kijiji made use of the trade secrets that Craigslists have. Moreover, eBay is also used various tactics to lure away the customers and users of Craigslists in order to promote its services.