To make money on Kijiji, there are a few different ideas that come to mind. A few proven ways to make money.
The first thing is, let’s analyze why you’re looking to make money on Kijiji (or any online marketplace):
- You have an item you want to sell. You’ve paid for this item, and now you’re just looking to part with it (for whatever reason). This could be a car, some electronics, or something more nostalgic like an old train set. If you’re looking at this model, then we’re talking about RESALE. Chances are you may not be actually “making money” or earning any profit on what you sell.
- It is possible to pursue a resale model for bulk products, where you’re looking at making a few bucks an item that equates into more money in the long run. If you’re looking at this particular resale model – for profit in bulk – then you likely want to have multiple avenues for selling your product. I would not rely completely on any one marketplace like Kijiji or Facebook Marketplace, but focus on advertising your product on multiple marketplaces wherever and whenever possible.
- The third reason would be selling a service. Again, for this I would look at providing advertising for your business on Kijiji, Facebook Marketplace, social media, etc. Look at making a page on Facebook for your business and ensure your business has its own website with online presence and contact methods. You would be surprised how much business you will lose without an online presence. Even worse, if a competitor manages to muscle in on your online presence because you didn’t secure it.
With most of my articles about selling any kind of physical product online, I talk about the target market you’re selling to and how that will influence who contacts you for purchasing. With Kijiji, one of the nice benefits is it’s an in person buying culture. It’s different from Amazon Marketplace or even Etsy in this respect as you’re not shipping anything, and you get to meet the person in real life. This can be both good and bad. Meeting in real life can carry it’s own set of anxieties with it, so be sure to meet in a public place – especially if you’re selling a larger ticket item like a car. Have a friend come with you if you’re expecting to do a larger deal in cash, so you have someone there to back you up if needed.
Selling my first car on Kijiji
I’ve sold at least two vehicles on Kijiji now. Typically when I get to the point where I’m ready to buy a new vehicle, I’ll post my vehicle on Kijiji to get rid of it. I’ve had two selling experiences. One of them was very good – I was selling to a female and brought the car to her home, and parked it in her driveway.
The first experience of selling my first car was unfortunately not so good. I brought a friend with me as the gentleman I had been corresponding with to purchase my vehicle, seemed to be a little sketchy. He asked me to meet him at “his sister’s business” which was a psychic. At least the office was on a busy street for the most part, so the sketchy individual did not try to pull anything. I waited at this place and it started to rain, while we waited for the buyer to appear. When he did appear he did not appear from the house he told us to meet him at. He talked a lot and for a while I was not sure if he was going to buy the car or not. Eventually I told him, I had to go to work and had already waited for a while for him to show up, would he be buying the car or not. He presented the money, I gave him the ownership and signed it. The car was left running in his driveway with the keys in the ignition.
Not more then two weeks later, I received a call from the buyer of the vehicle. He called me claiming that he couldn’t get the car started, and that I had ripped him off and given him the wrong key. I told him when I left the car there, it was running in his driveway with the ignition on as that was what I told him it would be doing when I dropped it off. My friend was also there to witness this and agreed with me, we left the car running in the driveway.
The buyer went on to complain saying that I had sold him a car that didn’t work, or I had given him the wrong key, etc. I told him there was nothing wrong with the ignition when I dropped it off, I had dropped the car off running and that if he had done something to the tumbler since I dropped the car, this was his problem and he’d need to deal with it. And if there was something wrong with the ignition, it had been 2 weeks. I basically told him at that point he was lying and trying to rip me off after messing up a perfectly good running vehicle.
The buyer then broke down at that point saying that the car wouldn’t work and that he needed to move his daughter from place to place, and that he had kept buying cars that would break down. I told him to stop buying cars, fix one of them, and promptly hung up the phone.
A Note about Interacting with Kijiji Users in the Real World
While I’m sure everyone has their own experiences with people on Kijiji, you need to be very careful when interacting with people in real life. You never know who you’re meeting or what kind of situation they’re in. Be careful if they seem to be a runaway freight train as they may be on something. Kijiji, like Facebook Marketplace or other online marketplaces, should be used in conjunction to compliment each other. Paste ads on multiple online marketplaces for your local product or service. Avoid meeting people in places that seem like a setup, and definitely avoid doing any large dollar deals with the potential of having someone rip you off. The bigger the thing you’re selling, the more backup you should have with you to help.
With everything being said above, my second vehicle sale went much smoother. Do you know why? My first sale was $600 or so, just to get rid of the car. The second sale was $3,500 of my second car. The kind of person who buys a $600 or so car is much different from someone who can spend $3,500 on a vehicle, right? It may not seem like a huge difference but it can be…a very low price can attract the wrong type of people to an ad. Something you have to keep in mind…all about target market!