Kijiji moves to charge some landlords


Thursday, April 25th, 2013

Vernon Clement Jones
Other

“We wanted to reach out to you today to let you know of some changes that will be taking place on Kijiji; specifically, starting April 24, the Apartment & Condos for Rent category will become a pay-per-insertion category,” writes the leading online classifieds in a message to users earlier this month.  “We understand this may come as a surprise to some of our regular posters and to help alleviate the impact, we have put into place the following measures.”

Essentially, all users will now be limited to three active ads live on Kijiji at any one time in order to avoid attracting charges.

Those posting three or more ads in that apartment/condo rental category now face a fee of $29.99 per ad, although Kijiji is pointing to monthly subscription packages that will allow landlords and their property managers to drop ads directly from their websites without having to manually post.

That may be cold comfort for many property investors now accustomed to filling their vacancies without the expense of either managers or paid classifieds such as Viewit.ca.

Along with Craigslist, that home-grown alternative is likely to benefit from the Kijiji move, especially as it relates to property management firms that have more than 9 units. Viewit.ca says it can now boast of being “considerably less expensive” for that niche group.

Still, Kijiji continues to be the go-to site for a growing number of Canadian renters, something it may be betting on.

“More than 3 million Canadians use Kijiji Real Estate each month,” reads a Kijiji statement. “We’ve heard some incredible success stories from our users who have found or rented properties through Kijiji.”



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