Friday, June 6, 2008

So Sad, Too Bad, Kijiji


The latest post from corporate blogger Richard on eBayINKBlog is about WalMart's new classified site with a deft little plug for eBay Inc's classified site Kijiji.

Upfront disclosure: as a boycotting eBay user the chances of my using Kijiji are slim to none. I have no intention of registering, I would hate to artificially inflate usage figures, so this is an exterior inspection only. As a long time eBayer this statement in the Terms of Use raised the hairs on the back of my neck. Whoa pony!

Fees and Services. Using Kijiji is free, but we sometimes charge a fee for some of our services. Our fees are quoted in US Dollars, and we may change them from time to time. Our fees are non-refundable, and you are responsible for paying them when they're due. If you don't, we may limit your ability to use the services. If your payment method fails or your account is past due, we may collect fees owed using other collection mechanisms (for accounts over 180 days past due, we may deduct the amount owed from your PayPal account balance).


Now to business, I could not use Kijiji even if I wanted to because it is very limited geographically. The site is beautifully designed, easy to navigate, lots of white space, pretty. eBay/Kijiji has chosen to use a subdomain for each geographic location which makes sense, it should be very easy to add new coverage areas.

It is my personal opinion that Kijiji was born from pique (noun; a feeling of irritation or resentment, as from a wound to pride or self-esteem: to be in a pique.) at Craigslist's rebuff to 'joining the eBay family'. There is no feeling of permanence or even serious development of the concept.

History eBay bought 25% of Craigslist in August 2004. In November 2004 eBay acquired Marktplaats.nl, which operated as Intoko in Spain, Turkey, Germany and Canada. Kijiji was launched in March 2005. Two months later in May 2005 eBay acquired Gumtree, which offers a similar service for cities in Britain, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand, and Loquo in Spain. In June 2005 eBay bought another classified site in Germany, OpusForum. After multiple corporate shufflings Kijiji, Gumtree and Loquo remain.

I live in a fairly unpopulated area of the USA, the other place I spend time is equally uncrowded. California has lots of people so I looked at the Sacramento site. Sacramento has a population of almost half a million and I am familiar with the city as my daughter lived there for a while. On Kijiji this morning there were 3872 classifieds, 342 want ads, and 60 ads in 'free stuff'. Chico, a college town with a population of about 85,000 had a pathetic 492 ads, 34 want ads and 10 in 'free stuff'. Checking Chico on Craigslist I stopped counting for sale classifieds at 1000.

A side by side comparison of Alexa.com data tells a lot; Kijiji




scroll down to see the full picture, and Craigslist
eBay shares closed at $29.26 today.

What do you think?

Y'all come back and PLEASE be sure to click VICTORIOUSLY on any interesting advertising links in the sidebar!

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the picture of the cutting horse! Could it be because Craiglist is cutting Kijiji out of the picture?

I think eBay needs to learn that until it treats its members with pride and respect (buyers and sellers equally), offer transparency in many of their departments, and stop acting like they are the cats meow, nothing will save it and no-one will want to be part of its "family". Those that are tied to it like galley slaves puddle along until a better ship comes along. I wonder when they will get the picture that people are tiring of their crap. BTW...what kind of name is Kijiji?

Anony Mouse

Unknown said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Henrietta said...

@tao01 : Your comment was not a comment but merely a promotional statement, which is spam. Sorry.

If you had something to say about Kijiji and/or Craigslist or even the blog, then it might not have been spam.

Anonymous said...

Kijiji is a name that is easy to remember because it's ridiculous. Personally, I stay away from Kijiji because I don't like eBay. Craigslist is ok but I've been burned by the users a few times. Using Backpage.com currently but always looking for alternatives... and no I don't mean Walmart.