My Experience With Kijiji.

What is Kijiji? It's a place where you can buy and sell online, locally primarily, but you can search other cities as well. It’s just that for reasons which will become clear below Kajiji very wisely recommends that your transaction be completed in person and for cash. It is a place where you can post ads for free and cruise through many categories of classifieds. Kajiji makes their money selling various services meant to promote your advert and on advertising revenue based on page views, standard fare. Good enough so far.

It is also a place full of scams and nutters which in fairness you will get from placing an advert in the local newspaper or any other venue like the church bulletin board so it's not like I'm holding Kijiji to different standards! But it is different in that it is online. That means that you have to submit a valid email address along with a phone number in order to post an item. And it also means that it provides different avenues for folks to abuse the system. For instance as far as selling a vehicle goes you will get curbers (those who flip vehicles for a small profit, negotiating as low a price as possible only to sell it at a higher price often within the same day and with no outlay of their own cash) regardless of where you post your ad, but PayPal and Phishing scams are unique to the online community. Both of which I had to deal with in the very first week. So, pay attention. 

I started off with five ads three weeks ago. Only one has sold to date so lets stick with that. It was a vehicle and to Kijiji's credit it eventually worked out but with no small amount of wasted time on my part. While I had a variety of interest expressed via emails and phone calls the emails were the most useful to scammers and conversely provided the most entertainment for me. Anybody phoning generally had done their homework and were fairly serious about doing a deal but that didn't stop them from frequently bailing on an appointment and leaving me dangling which is more of a statement about human nature than Kajiji but the emails were a lark! My favorite was pure entertainment with no illegal intention that I could figure out due to it’s outlandish nature. It went thusly;

Hi,

Thanks for the prompt reply,My name is Ashley Walters, i believe my son Travis sent you a text message to email me for the sale,I would like to know the lowest price,more pictures and its current condition because i cant come over to inspect it,i am buying it locally here in Canada for my son studying/working in abroad (Malaysia). I work at sea as i am a marine biologist (i work  on the St-Lawrence river in Quebec. my office: Pilotes du Bas-St-Laurent] and due to the nature of my work, phone calls is restricted, i can only use my iPad to partially communicate.I am really sure he will be more than happy if i am able to purchase it from you because this is what he want and chose from the Advert. You need not worry yourself about how it will get to him there in Malaysia as i have a contact of shipping company there that will be handling the pick up and all the paper work.

While I was amused the email went straight into my filter bin, because, landlocked Winnipeg right? That’s something you should figure out about your email service, how to block or filter senders because they just won’t stop, even when you beg them to!

Then there is the Paypal scam which is simply someone expressing an interest in whatever you are selling but because of difficult employment circumstances or physical conflicts with the space time continuum the prospective buyer cannot be on hand to do a deal for cash and in person, so a proposal is made for you to get a PayPal account. What happens is that a fake email is sent to you that states funds have been transferred to your Paypal account just as someone shows up to take possession of the item. If you use the links in that email you are fed false info showing a transfer and a balance. Going directly to your PayPal account through the PayPal site will show 0 funds. It is covered in detail in the Kajiji Forums hence the disclaimer that all transactions be in person and for cash. This particular character was so persistent that I refuse to re-post the emails, so pissed off I was. 

Phishing is data mining whereby you get something like this;

Hi,

Is this your posting? 

If so, I'm very interested! Let me know. http://kijiji.ca/items-product-number-yadayada-blah-blah

Thanks

If you follow the link you end up at what looks like the login page for Kajiji where you are invited to submit your username and password. Surely the scam is obvious, no?

Then there were the lonely hearts. The folks stuck in moms basement late at night, out of PBR and reduced to drinking the bongwater and emailing strangers like me because their girlfriends (I’m assuming they have had one at some point in time) won’t talk to them anymore. They were legion.

So what advice do I have? Well, if you are selling use a one purpose disposable hotmail or yahoo email address and a throw away pay as you go sim card. You are not going to want to meet most of these people I assure you.

And for the rest of you!

“How To Have Your Kijiji Counter-offer Taken Seriously”

1) Read Kijiji “Terms & Conditions.” No Paypal! Cash and in person.

2) Read the original ad. Read it again. Scratch nose, re-read.

3) Search for similar ads on the site, read them. Compare with item 2).

4) Google similar products advertised locally online and search in different venues comparing the information contained therein with the info gleaned from 2) & 3). Collate.

Do not then offer the OP 30% on the asking price.

I wish you all the best. 

PS; I submitted my feedback to Kajiji Forums but to date have not received any acknowledgment or seen my missives posted.