eBay will test the name "eBay Classifieds" on its Kijiji classifieds site in two U.S. cities, San Antonio and Pittsburgh. The test starts later this week, according to eBay's corporate blog. AuctionBytes broke the news of Kijiji's existence in international markets 4 years ago, but eBay waited until the summer of 2007 before launching Kijiji in the U.S.
Jacob Aqraou, head of eBay Classifieds Group USA, told TechCrunch last year, "we will be No. 1 in the U.S." eBay has placed prominent links to Kijiji at the top of eBay.com search results, and has sent targeted emails to eBay members promoting the site with the message, "Kijiji is a great way to avoid the cost and hassle of shipping since all of our listings are local. Kijiji is easy to use and it's FREE."
The eBay Ink blog said testing the new name is one of several tests Kijiji has run. "In the Classifieds Group, for example, they opened up Spanish language sites in Texas and Florida last year to see if the bilingual communities in those States would find it useful. They also tested Gumtree - known very well in the UK - in Boston, Chicago and New York for the ex-patriots living in those cities."
Despite speculation that eBay might change Kijiji's name worldwide, Richard Brewer-Hay wrote on eBay Ink, "it has been stated that this is a test and that Kijiji will remain the primary online classifieds offering in the U.S. and internationally."
eBay has a Classified Ad format on its eBay.com marketplace that costs $9.95 for a 30-day listing. The Classified Ad format is only available in certain categories and does not enable buyers and sellers to transact online through eBay and no feedback is involved.
Aqraou is slated to give the keynote address at an international classifieds conference in May.
Related: See today's AuctionBytes Blog post, Is Google Ramping up Classifieds
