Tuesday, July 31, 2012
Kijiji sellers not responding? Tips for making a deal
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Although Kijiji has insisted for years that there's no problem, there's long been a suspicion that some Kijiji emails are not going through. Whenever someone says they're not getting replies to their ads, or a seller says they've replied but the seller is not getting the email, the blame is always pointed toward the sender or receiver's e-mail system. Aside from some specific spot outages, there has been no acknowledgement that there might be a flaw in the Kijiji reply system.
But even if there is, there's nothing we can do about it. If Kijiji eats the reply -- whether it's because of a bug or a calculated strategy -- then we, as users, are out of the loop. If you have evidence that the Kijiji reply system is broken, file a ticket with Kijiji customer service. Let's assume that it works as intended, though, and see what we can do.
As a Kijiji seller:
- If you're truly in a rush to sell your item for the highest price you can get, be easy to reach.
- Check your e-mail frequently, including any Spam folder.
- List your e-mail address in your Kijiji ad
- List your phone number in your Kijiji ad if you're willing to take calls -- and if your product is in demand, you will get calls, even at times you'd rather not hear the phone ring.
- Use the Kijiji phone number option to list your phone number beside the ad. Consider taking Skype calls if you're equipped.
- For heaven's sake, reply to people. You don't need to be rude to get the message across. "Sorry, the item has been sold." "Thank you, I'm sticking with my asking price for now. If you still see the ad up in two weeks, try another offer." "All I know about the product is in the ad. It's as-is."
As a Kijiji buyer:
- Don't look like spam. Be aware that Kijiji spammers often start with "Is it available?" Don't ask if it's available. Assume it is available and make your offer.
- Don't lowball. If the price is fair, offer to buy for the asking price. If you really think a better deal is in order, be polite and ask. Don't say "I'll give you [x]." That's rude and will get your e-mail deleted.
- Offer to pick up. Don't expect delivery.
- Offer a time and honour it.
- Don't ask too many questions. If there's something you absolutely have to know that's not in the ad or picture, ask, but make it as easy as possible for the seller to say "yes" to your offer.
- An example: "I'd like to buy your three-drawer desk and have the $50 ready to pay you. I can be downtown to meet you between 5:30pm and 6pm today. Would that work for you? This email goes straight to my Blackberry, so I hope to hear from you soon."
Providing everything goes correctly on Kijiji's end, following these tips should help your Kijiji transactions go smoothly. If you have additional hints, please comment below.
This post was written by: Gord McCord
Gord McCord, webmaster at You Suck at Kijiji, makes fun of funny things on Kijiji. Do not take him too seriously. Also do not take yourself too seriously. Follow him on Twitter
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20 Responses to “Kijiji sellers not responding? Tips for making a deal”
June 20, 2013 at 8:22 PM
Does not matter if you file a ticket with Kijiji customer service they don't care it is corrupt and broken hense the deletion of the forums I have several adds on kijiji and have had no reply in weeks and i have proof and no it's not my e-mail my wife and i where out east for 2 weeks and replied to all my adds with different computers and e-mail addresses and have received none also have had friends reply to adds and the same thing nothing also they have had no replies to there adds
October 6, 2013 at 7:36 PM
And for sellers PLEASE remove the ad once the item is sold!
November 7, 2013 at 11:08 PM
Thanks for writing this, I've been writing emails like crazy and thought it was something wrong with me being in Venezuela, but then I asked my sister, that lives in Canada, and got no response from sellers either, now I know it's Kijiji's fault. It really really sux...
I'll have to stick to ebay.ca :(
January 27, 2014 at 10:24 AM
Hi, I have had this issue and after some research and discussion with Kijiji, I have been told that Kijiji does not permit any access from outside Canada. As my work computer is routed through a US IP address, my emails have not been going through.
February 15, 2014 at 12:06 AM
I have been using Kijiji for many many years. Never had any sort of issue like this before till a few days ago. Responded to about 15 potential buyers in a 3 or 4 day period with no response from any of them. Some even replied 3 or 4 times!!! If you copy their e-mail and start a new/clean e-mail you can contact buyer/seller that way. Bit of a pain but at least you can contact them!!
July 3, 2014 at 4:17 PM
Also, people just choose not to respond because they are racking up offers and will only respond to the highest offer. They don't give a damn about replying to everyone else.
May 9, 2015 at 11:07 PM
And what about those unscrupulous sellers who agree to your offer, set up time/place for
Pick up, then reneg in the deal last minute "I've just sold it to someone else " - yes, there are still people out their who have no moral sense and are just plain rude
September 26, 2015 at 7:30 AM
Sellers... Please don't insist on 'telephone only' when you say strictly nothing about the item expect "item. works" and post pictures that are so poor it could be of anything but the item you are attempting of selling... Not everyone has free daytime minutes and free long distance to try to reach you and get your voicemail... Is it so difficult to text, describe the item you are selling and post pictures that aren't fuzzy, underexposed or all of the same angle for no reason whatsoever?
November 10, 2015 at 10:31 PM
kijiji: In the autos section, there is a great deal of confusion over kms or miles. It would be great if there was a box to check in that area.
February 12, 2016 at 7:57 PM
Now with the email masking it's worst than ever. You get lots of replies of people not even interested by your items. Kijiji you suck!
May 25, 2016 at 12:32 AM
Re: Annie said...
You're right, it only furthers spam replies because their email is hidden. In the past, I could tell the unsavory buyers from their saved emails, so I didn't waste time with them in the future, but Kijiji saw fit to change that by giving lowballers and other goofballs some new masks to hide behind.
One thing that Kijiji doesn't mask is spam. Ah that great plethora of endless spam ads that one could endlessly report to no avail. Pot ads stay up for weeks too... great for a family website. Yeah. psssshhhht
May 30, 2016 at 5:35 PM
I can confirm that Kijiji emails doesn't work and your email (or the answer) never get through. I tried to buy an ipod a few months ago, I sent at least 10 emails to Kijiji sellers and NOBODY answered, but I sent just 1 email to a craiglist seller and I got a response and was able to buy the iPod. This week it happened the same again (I used another email account just in case but didn't matter). I wanted to buy an iPad. I sent emails to Kijiji sellers and again NOBODY answer. Not a single one. But I sent an email to a craiglist seller and I'm picking up the ipad this evening. The Kijiji system doesn't work, it is useless to try to buy something there.
July 12, 2016 at 3:41 PM
Here's another tip. If you have something to sell, don't put it in Wanted. People who are looking to buy something, aren't going to be looking there. There are a lot of idiots out there.
March 14, 2017 at 9:38 AM
As a frequent seller on Kijiji, I've noticed some challenges.
1. Lowballers. When I sell a device, I research its value on kijiji. In my market and all of Ontario. I then priced it competitively or lower than the other ads. That's not an invitation to lowball the seller. If you're hoping for a discount, ask the seller if they're open to an offer and say something like this: "I've read your ad and if you can live with $$$, I'll come pick it up ASAP. Thanks for considering my offer."
Lowball offers saying: "lowball, I'll pay cash." It's ridiculous. We aren't trading for goats. Of course you pay with cash.
If a seller rejects your offer, don't reply with an abusive email or lecture them on "the spirit of Kijiji." A seller is under no obligation or requirement to accept your offer. Move on.
2. Don't ask for a discount because you have to travel for an item. I clearly post any item I have for sale in the city I live in. Because you want my item and you live 30 miles away? It's not my responsibility or obligation to discount the item to account for your gas or travel time. Buy one in your local market if you can't or won't travel. I don't travel to Ikea and ask them to pay for my fuel because I live 40 miles away. Even worse, don't ask the seller to deliver the item if you live an hour away. Just don't.
3. If you make deal, live up to it. Don't arrive at the seller's address or agreed meeting place and then start to negotiate or re-negotiate the deal. Don't say I only could get $100.00 out of the ATM machine. If the item is as advertised, keep up your end of the bargain.
4. Don't ask for a refund. If you're an adult and make a big kid decision to buy something, refunds are not a right if you change your mind. You bought it, you own it.
On the positive side, I've helped a lot of people get items they couldn't afford if purchasing a new one. I've also purchased some fantastic items at great prices.
June 2, 2017 at 8:35 PM
i like sellin my granma's junk for exhorbitant $... no lowballer, or ballers
July 1, 2017 at 6:12 AM
Also DELETE your Ad if you had sold the item! It's just rude and plain dickish to lead people on if you no longer have it.
June 15, 2018 at 4:51 PM
If a buyer leaves a note for you to call, for heaven's sake call them. I lose interest instantly when the seller is too lazy to pick up the phone and dial the number I left, responding only with "Yes it is still available".
July 7, 2018 at 11:35 PM
There are a lot of things that have gone wrong over the past couple years on kijiji and as a buyer it's become such a HASSLE to get a deal worked out with sellers lately it's no wonder some buyers feel they have good reason to lowball you after they finally see your 'as new item' that turns out to require a major overhaul because it was never maintained.
First of course there's the seller who posts an item for sale and never removes the ad after it's sold and couldn't be bothered with answering messages nor voicemail when they left a phone number.
Then there's the seller who seemingly doesn't know whether he wants to sell, answers your message 3 days later with a cryptic "you can come (one hour later) and be quick I have tons of other interested people". Sorry I can't, I'm sure the other interested people have schedules just like I do.
Then there's the seller who posts an ad that is so utterly useless you have no idea what the item is or its condition and he insists on not answering emails. You practically need to be his neighbour to pass by at his convenience to see the thing.
The there's the socially challenged seller who answers your message in two word sentences, tells you to come by and when you do doesn't show up and you end up getting an email the next day with a laconic 'sorry sold'
Then there is the used car salesman type with highly verbose ads who could sell a fridge to an eskimo selling used for more than it sells for new, spamming kijiji with several copies of the same ad with a few changed words reposted every single day and when you look further into his ads you find out it's written the same way and he's from the same area as that seemingly other seller with the same items. Of course when you tell kijiji about it, nothing is done and if you message customer service, they first respond you thanking you about it and that they will look into it, but of course never do. And after a couple of messages like that, they stop answering you altogether.
Then there's the seller who advertises top of the line products at a good price and when you show interest it turns out he happens to be out of stock at this time but would be very happy to sell you something 'just as good' for the same price.
Finally there's the seller who insist on 'first come first served' and couldn't care less that it takes you 40km to get there and won't wait for you to come over. If you can't be bothered dealing with potential buyers, why don't you give your item to a charity instead of frustrating potential buyers.
I could go on an on - these are just a few of the experiences I've had in the last year and after having used kijiji for 8 years or so now I'm seriously considering abandoning this platform altogether. It's become so frustrating that even most free items just aren't worth looking at anymore (if you really want to give them away, why leave them at the curb for anyone to pick up?)
November 16, 2019 at 12:03 PM
I think I'm dealing with a Socially Challenged seller.I'm interested in the laptop the seller is selling and all i get in return is one or two word responses that were posted days apart.They told me the city they lived in and so i responded back with suggestions to a meeting at their closest Tim Hortons or McDonald's, etc.I asked then if they can provide a time to meet and the Intersection of our meeting place so i can type it into rhe GPS.A day later i get a response back saying "Ok" that's it.I went as far as giving them my cell number so they can at least text me without having to rely on the internet and still no response.I believe some of these sellers are immature people who have no intentions of selling but are getting their kicks by irritating and wasting peoples time.If i needed money and was selling an item in kijiji i would want the transaction to be completed as quickly and efficiently as possible.It looks like a nice Vaio laptop fir a good price.It has 88 views.One woukd assume that at least 1 out ofthe 88 would be interested in it providing that their interaction with the seller was more successful than mine.
May 4, 2021 at 10:57 AM
seems the seller just isn't interested in selling to you, you're not their "type" . I get "I'l can you "back in 10 minutes, only to be blocked and their phone turned off.
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