Power Sellers Unite

sanibel · Joined: 16 May 2007 Posts: 205

Its actually owned by Ebay so the real question is, how long will it be free?

I think it's Ebay's answer to Craigslist

mojavelyn · Posted: Fri Jan 07, 2011 10:54 am Post subject:

Thank you Sanibel, Now isn't that a bit anti-trust? Going into competition with a site you own 25% of, craigslist? I can see Kiijii, as they bought it and shut it down... all they basically had to do was change the name...

thegolfingdolphin · Joined: 13 Jan 2009 Posts: 695

I am not sure it is owned by eBay. It seems I read that it is not an eBay company right now. They have a contract to work together at the moment.

sanibel · Joined: 16 May 2007 Posts: 205

It started out as Kijiji Classifieds in 2005, it was started by Ebay. In 2010 it's name was changed to Ebay Classifieds. Ebay has even had some advertisements on its webpage for Ebay Classifieds.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kijiji

thegolfingdolphin · Joined: 13 Jan 2009 Posts: 695

Yea I remember all these actions, I also remember reading that this Ebay Classified site was not owned by them, or the operators of the site was a third party. It seems like it was here that I learned this. I will have to look a bit more.

highdesertdetails · Joined: 20 Dec 2006 Posts: 548 Location: Great Basin

I've read the same thing about Kijiji turning over to ebay classifieds. As long as CL stays free, ebay would be wise to keep one site free to compete. I like the format, but people in my area have been slow to use it.

sanibel · Joined: 16 May 2007 Posts: 205

If you go on Ebay's homepage, at the bottom there is a column that says "Ebay Companies" and under that column is Ebay Classifieds link that you can click on that takes you right to Ebay Classifieds

mojavelyn · Posted: Fri Jan 07, 2011 1:41 pm Post subject: Re: Ebay Classifieds??

thegolfingdolphin wrote (View Post): › docWrite("quote")Yea I remember all these actions, I also remember reading that this Ebay Classified site was not owned by them, or the operators of the site was a third party. It seems like it was here that I learned this. I will have to look a bit more.

If its not owned by ebay, they cannot use the ebay name and logo. Ebay has gone after many a site with bay in the name.

thegolfingdolphin · Joined: 13 Jan 2009 Posts: 695

Yes I have thought about that as well, and my memeory tells me that that signed a contract to work together. It seems like they sold Kiijii to another company and are having them run it as eBay Classified. It was a strange arrangement, and I did not think much about it at the time, but this thread seems to be putting pieces together, with the talk about Craigslist and the Anti-trust issue.

Stockmiser · Joined: 03 Jun 2006 Posts: 1169

thegolfingdolphin wrote (View Post): › docWrite("quote")I am not sure it is owned by eBay. It seems I read that it is not an eBay company right now. They have a contract to work together at the moment.

Yep, definitely owned 100% by Ebay - as was Kiijii - originally started as an international classifieds site (no US presence).

In fact, check out this link:
http://pages.ebay.com/help/sell/classified.html

They've combined a help page for regular "classifieds" and "ebay-classifieds" right there on ebay 8)

...and, if you click on the main "classifieds" link on ebay itself, you now go directly to ebayclassifieds.com

So it's really just a part of ebay now.

thegolfingdolphin · Joined: 13 Jan 2009 Posts: 695

Here is why I think it is not actually Ebay. Read post 16 through 19

Post #16 eBCKelly - Thank you so much on your support for our site. We really appreciate you spreading the word about eBay Classifieds! Good luck with your ads!

Post #17 recon - Thank you very much for your kind words about the site. I am glad I could assist you with you issues and provide a good user experience.

Kris

Post #18 eBCKelly - Hello everyone, I know this post is some months old, however I thought I would share a bit of history around when Kijiji first started:

Launched in early 2005 by eBay in Canada, France, Germany, Italy, China, Japan and Taiwan

Expanded to Austria, Switzerland and India, 2005

eBay Classifieds:

Launched in early 2009 in Spain
Launched in September 2009 in Germany
Launched in November 2009 in Italy
Launched in March 2010 in the U.S re-branded as eBay Classifieds (formerly Kijiji, launched in 2007)

Is anyone currently using eBay Classifieds and if so, are you having any success with your ads? Is there any feedback you would like to pass on to us regarding your experience [b]on the site[/b], or in general?

Post #19 eBCKelly - We're sorry to hear of this. eBay traffic to our site has since increased, especially with us having a tab on eBay's home page now which provides additional exposure to our site. Has this since changed for you? Are you still posting on our site and if so are you receiving any more replies or having better luck?

Ebay does not respond to forums out side of it's site that I have ever seen. Each of these posts are saying OUR site, and eBay would say thanks for supporting eBay. I have highlighted many instances that should lead us to believe that this is not eBay, and just a partnership this is using the eBay name, nothing illegal, just a test market type thing.

Stockmiser · Joined: 03 Jun 2006 Posts: 1169

Okay...I had to research this just for my own knowledge :wink:

It's a separate "division", which probably accounts for some of the verbage, but it is wholly owned by ebay.

Ebay is a publicly traded company, so there are no secrets about what they own. Kijiji (and now classifieds) are not listed as a partnership or investment (as is craigslist and channel advisor) - they are listed as a part of ebay, like paypal.

Kijiji was also not a purchase - it was created by ebay. From a 2005 article:

Kijiji was developed by a small group of eBay employees and launched under the oversight of Alex Kazim, then senior VP of new ventures at eBay. Kazim is currently the president of eBay’s Skype IP telephony service.

http://www.geekwithlaptop.com/ebay-quietly-launches-craigslist-competitor-kijiji

So it's all ebay...

thegolfingdolphin · Joined: 13 Jan 2009 Posts: 695

Nice work. still seems like a very different approach for eBay to take.

postingid7659 · Joined: 12 Feb 2008 Posts: 51

When it was kijijijijij I didn't bother, and eBay has such a bad name with so many people I don't see where it's worth much effort now.