This could be HUGE.
eBay has just opened up kijiji.com in the US, a free on-line based classified service.
I jumped right in to the Phoenix edition to see what was involved in creating a "listing".
It was a snap. Very intuitive interface, easy to upload pictures (a max of 4, at 4mb each). It's not the greatest listing, as it was an experiment in ease of use (plus, 10 years from now I can say, "I had the first home listing on kijiji in Phoenix")
To me, the site is quite similar to BackPage.com, though a bit "cleaner". It's certainly a LOT cleaner than Craigslist, which purely from a design perspective is a disaster from 1985.
SFGate.com has a great article, including comments from Craigslist who said, "We simply do not look at other sites as competition. We never have done so at any time." Hmmm…
Kijiji is free–for now. Apparently eBay plans to explore ways to make more money, I'm assuming by offering "premium services", at some point.
eBay's 25% stake in Craigslist (which they plan to keep according to SFGate) makes this even more interesting. I can't really see Craig Newmark helping out eBay, and regardless of how Craigslist feels about kijiji, it does seem to be direct competition. Craig and his list tend to march to the beat of a different drummer, so their nonchalant attitude is to be expected. No question that Craigslist dominates the free on-line classifieds market. But eBay isn't chump change in the on-line world.
There is a dearth of listings on kijiji–for now. Only 21 items TOTAL on the Phoenix site. It will be interesting to watch the growth.
Surprisingly, I haven't heard anything from the real estate blogs out there. Normally we're slobbering over free venues to display listings. Maybe too many hot dogs on the grill right now…
This could get interesting.
Others Opine: Deep Jive Interests, Joe Duck, Don Dodge, Wired, Technically Speaking,
[tags]kijiji, kijiji.com, craigslist, real estate marketing[/tags]
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I like that you can click on the photos to see huge versions of the photos. Very nice.
Jay, Do you put home ads in CraigsList etc. very often and has it worked out well for you?
That is indeed a nifty little feature. I do wish you could have more then 4 photos though. Perhaps at some point that will be part of a “premium” service…
Our web provider (Point2 Agent) makes it *very* easy to post listings to Craigslist. CL definitely generates a lot of traffic. We’ve got a few CL visitors on auto-listing updates and drip emails, but no clients. Yet.
Jay, how often do you put it up on Craig’s List? My impression is that you have to put it up on Craig’s List repeatedly to have an impact. Is that right?
Postlets, which I’ve started using for listings, has a nice cut-and-paste thinga-ma-jig for Craig’s List.
I’m now interested in checking it out after reading your comment.
John – I try (but often fail) to post a different listing weekly to Craigslist. CL gets a HUGE amount of posts, and any ad will rapidly “fall off” the main page as newer ads are placed. But if you submit the same ad too often (or even similar ones) they tend to get “flagged” by users and moderators and they can be pulled completely.
Fortunately, Point2 makes it very easy to post to CL (quite similar to the Postlets thing-a-ma-jig) which takes the tedium out of it.
I know some agents who will post an ad, go in a few days later and remove it, and then repost the same ad. This is supposed to reduce flagging. In the Phoenix CL, and ad remains active for 45 days, however after about 3 days it is burried so deep it’s likely never to be seen. I haven’t personally tried the post-remove-replace routine. I just find it easier to post a different listing weeklyish. The nice thing is any listing posted to CL will drive traffic to the site, where all the other listings are readily available.
We actually seem to get more interest in our land postings as opposed to residential, but I’ve seen on forums where agents report good success with residential as well. There is no question that people will view a CL listing, and getting eyes on a listing is pretty darn important…
kijiji its nice fromat classified
Don’t you think that CL should try to make the site a bit lively without compromising on the amazing categorization. Kijiji for example uses some vibrant colors (green and yellow) which I quite like.
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WOW! they even have a Polish site, a little bit different ut they do! – http://gumtree.pl/
Nice!
Craigslist really needs to do something about all these post being flagged. They are definitely between a rock and a hard space. Do you continue with these flaggers,flagging everything, including legitimate ads? I personally think they need some way to rank people, so people using craigslist for legitamate purposes dont get flagged so quickly.. I guess if there was a clear cut answer to these “flag happy people” craigslist would already be working on it..
But, detailed elaboration of classification is similar Craiglist.
I have been using http://www.sellover.com for posting classified ads free of charge and the response to my ads are awesome.
I have been using http://www.sellover.com for posting classified ads free of charge and the response to my ads are awesome.
You can also post free ads here too http://www.beatyourprice.com