Kijiji

About Kijiji

Kijiji is the Swahili word for "village". In this case, it is the brand name for a group of community websites which post classified advertisements.

Kijiji can be accessed from websites such as Gumtree, which considers itself the number one website for classified advertisements in the United Kingdom. By clicking on "Other Popular Cities", then "More Cities" on Gumtree's front page, other location options appear.

Clicking on "North America" will enable one to access a Kijiji website that will provide several major cities in all 50 states in the United States from which to choose. Additionally, several foreign countries in Europe, Asia, South Africa, South America and Australia including New Zealand, can be accessed by following the same steps, providing more choices.

Kijiji is completely free. There is never a charge for posting advertisements on this website.

Kijiji's main categories include "for sale", "services", "jobs", "pets", "resumes", "cars and vehicles", "community", "housing" and "vacation rentals". Additionally, it also has categories for "events", "want ads", "free stuff" and "swap/trade".

The "community" and "resumes" categories both contain information that is different, at least for a conventional classified ads website. The "community" category includes such subheadings as 'Activity Partner' and 'carpool/rideshare', while the "resumes" category has resumes that have been posted by jobseekers. The links page there allows viewing of the first few lines of the resume, which provides most of the information that an employer would need.

Kijiji's main features are its overall simplicity and navigation and its unvarnished, almost stark way of presenting the information. And, at least on the North America page, personal ads, some of which may be considered of a more mature nature, are "hidden" within the 'activity partners' subheading in the "community" category. This makes the page particularly family-friendly.

Kijiji is a subsidiary of eBay and is considered eBay's free local classifieds portal. It was launched internationally in March, 2005 and was launched in the United States June 29, 2007. As mentioned earlier, it can be accessed from Gumtree.

It is possible to enter www.kijiji.com or a similar entry into a search engine and access kijiji's home page. From there, access can be gained to classified advertisements in major cities and countries. However, by going to a website such as Gumtree and getting to kijiji from there, it is easier to pull up the choices that are available, as they are displayed on the screen and do not require a good deal of navigation.