Selling on Kijiji

Always looking for new online markets for my products, I began to consider Kijiji as a possible avenue.  Having no experience with it, I turned to my partner (Jerry Penner, The Chain Mail Guy), who's had moderate success selling there.

Here are the tips he gave me.....

   - Read the Terms of Service. Learn what you can and cannot sell there.  Some items, like knives, are forbidden.

   - Search for items similar to what you want to sell before listing.  Find out what other people are offering, for what price. You will be competing with them.

   - List your item in one local market only.  Listing the exact same item in different markets is a no-no.

   - Be prepared for hagglers. Price your item with 15% - 20% wiggle room.

   - Remember that if your price is higher than someone else selling something similar, you may not get any response at all.

   - Use pictures...good pictures.  Adding a photo (or two) is free on Kijiji and greatly enahnces the number of responses.

   - Use clear, simple English.  The people reading your ad may be illiterate, half-drunk, or don't have English as their primary language.

   - Answer as many questions as you can right in the ad.  If you get queries after the ad is posted, it's easy to edit your ad to include those questions & answers as well.

   - Remove your ad when you've sold your item.  Ads do not automatically expire.

   - If you are listing an item in a section that gets lots of listings, your item will quickly get pushed down the page.  You can solve this either by posting in a nearby location with less traffic or going for a premium listing.  "Bumping" your listing to the top page again is an economical way to get your item listed first again.  Price is $2 each time.

   - Make your ad engaging.  Look at what everyone else is doing and *don't* do that.  Dare to be different, to stand out from the rest.

   - Offer free delivery within a certain radius, or throw in an extra something if they buy before a specific date.  Offer a warranty; it can be as little as 1 week.

   - Expect to be contacted by people who want you to sell your item for less than half your asking price.  Hold firm on these people, and tell them about the quality of the item.  You likely won't hear from them again.

So, is Kijiji the place for me to sell my products?  I'm no so sure.  Perhaps I'll concentrate more time & effort on Etsy, where I've had some success.