EBay Opens U.S. Classified Ads Site
Online auctioneer eBay Inc. has quietly opened a classifieds Web site in the U.S., its first foray stateside into an area that has been dominated by the scrappy Craigslist Inc.
On Friday, San Jose, Calif.-based eBay opened a U.S. version of Kijiji, the online-classifieds site it launched overseas in February 2005. Until now, Kijiji was available in certain countries in Europe and Asia, as well as in Canada, but not in the U.S.
Kijiji, available in 220 cities in all 50 states, looks barebones compared with the main eBay site. While that site is covered with images and links, Kijiji features mostly text, calling out sections like "for sale," "community," and "jobs." For now, anyone can post an ad for free, said eBay spokesman Hani Durzy, though the company plans to explore ways to make money, for instance by charging for display ads or premium services for sellers.
The U.S. site puts eBay in closer competition with Craigslist, the Web-classifieds site that was founded in 1995 by a San Francisco resident named Craig Newmark and has since expanded internationally.
EBay in 2004 bought close to a 25% stake in Craigslist from a former Craigslist employee and has closely watched that company in recent years to learn from its success, Mr. Durzy said. EBay has been "very happy with the financial and strategic returns" from the investment but sees room for more Web-classifieds players in the U.S., he said.
"We look at Kijiji as being competitive with Craigslist as well as the other classified platforms in the U.S.," Mr. Durzy said.
EBay owns other international classifieds sites, including Marktplaats.nl in the Netherlands, Loquo in Spain and Gumtree in England, Australia and New Zealand, and Mr. Durzy said eBay plans to look into expanding those sites into the U.S. as well.
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