Coming Soon to A Category Near You: eBay Classifieds

[Kristijntje]

***Ad Format – Expanding to Several More Categories*** 

February 23, 2006 | 10:24AM PST/PT

Hi...I’m Erik Rannala with eBay's Product Marketing team, and I’m here to let you know about an upcoming expansion of Ad Format into a limited number of new categories.

As some background, Ad Format brings interested buyers and sellers together, without enabling the actual bidding or buying process through the site. This format has been used in our Real Estate category for several years, where buying or selling is usually a major transaction. Using Ad Format, eBay has brought interested buyers and sellers together on the eBay marketplace for houses and real estate properties, items that require more time and communication before a deal is closed than most other types of items sold today.

Based on the successful activity we’ve seen in Real Estate, we think Ad Format has the potential to bring buyers and sellers together in other category areas, too, and we’d like to learn more. In the next few days, we’ll be expanding Ad Format as a listing format option in a limited number of specially selected categories, such as Trade Show Booths, Travel, and Websites & Businesses. For a complete list of categories being added, click here.

How Ad Format Works
Ad Format will appear to sellers as an optional listing format in the Sell Your Item form. With Ad Format, sellers can advertise their item to the eBay marketplace, and interested buyers can contact the seller to get more information and express any interest in purchasing. An Ad Format listing costs a flat $9.95 for 30 days. (There are no Final Value Fees.) Prospective buyers who want more information can use the Contact Seller button on the listing to learn more.

Ad Format listings will appear with other auction or Fixed Price items when you search or browse. They will have a icon next to them on the Search & Listings pages to indicate that they are Ad Format listings.

We’ve started a thread on the Seller Central discussion board for members to leave their comments and suggestions about Ad Format. To access that thread, please click here.

Listing fees:

Ad Format Listing Type
Duration Insertion Fee
30-day listing $9.95
60-day listing $19.90
90-day listing $29.85

Optional feature fees

Listing Upgrade Fees Hide
Feature 30-day Duration 60-day Duration 90-day Duration
Value Pack
(Gallery, Subtitle, and Listing Designer) $0.65 $1.30 $1.95
Gallery $0.35 $0.70 $1.05
Listing Designer* $0.10 $0.20 $0.30
Item Subtitle $0.50 $1.00 $1.50
Scheduled Listings $0.10 $0.20 $0.30
Pro Pack
(Bold, Border, Highlight, Gallery Featured, and Featured Plus!) $29.95 $59.90 $89.85
Bold $1.00 $2.00 $3.00
Highlight $5.00 $10.00 $15.00
Border $3.00 $6.00 $9.00
Featured Plus! $19.95 $59.95
Gallery Featured $19.95 $59.95
Home Page Featured $39.95 $119.95
List in Two Categories*** x2 x2 x

Category listing:

Category List for Ad Format Listing Type
# You can only use the Ad Format for the following categories and subcategories: Websites and Businesses for Sale
#  Banner Ads, Email, Online
# Radio, Television
# Text Links
# Other Advertising Inventory
# Home-based Businesses
# Dating
# Jewelry
# Pet Supplies
# Travel
# Other
# Entertainment
# Hosting
# Portals, Search
# Other Internet Businesses
# Manufacturing
# Marketing
# Patents, Trademarks
# Retail, General Stores
# Service Businesses
# Vending, Coin-op
# Wholesale Trade and Distribution
# Other
# Trade Show Booths
#  Banner Systems, Signage
# Pop-up and Booth Displays
# Tabletop and Portable Displays
# Literature Stands and Racks
# Trade Show Counters and Tables
# Tradeshow Booth Lighting
# Travel and Carry Cases
# Other Display Accessories
# Other Trade Show Displays
# Prefabricated Buildings
# Travel
#  Airline
# Cruises
# Lodging
# Luggage
# Vacation Packages
# Other Travel
# Specialty Services
# Everything Else
#  Advertising Opportunities
# eBay User Tools
# Funeral and Cemetery
# Caskets
# Cemetery Plots
# Information Products
# Memberships
# Mystery Auctions
# Impressions, Ad Space
# Other

more info: http://pages.ebay.com/help/sell/adformat...me=CMDV:AB

[Nat]

Interesting, I guess they decided not to expand their free online classifieds Kijiji to include the USA.

***eBay Launches International Classifieds Websites***

08 March, 2005 | 16:42

We would like to announce our launch of online classifieds Web sites in select international markets. Launched under the brand Kijiji, which means “village” in Swahili, the Web sites offer people in the same city a convenient way to meet, have fun, share ideas, and trade various goods and services.

Kijiji is now available in more than 50 cities in Canada, China, France, Germany, Italy, and Japan. In Canada, Kijiji is available in French only in Montreal and Quebec City. From building friendships and trading large appliances to talking about the city’s best restaurants or looking for a babysitter, Kijiji is designed to help people connect.

http://www2.ebay.com/aw/ca/200503081641462.html

[regic]

I don't understand why they rebranded the Intoko classified sites as Kijiji after they picked them up as part of their www.Marktplaats.nl acquisition.

[amy]

Interesting, I guess they decided not to expand their free online classifieds Kijiji to include the USA.

eBay needs to have at least one country that charges fees so its management can say "Free is not a business model" while keeping a straight face.  :twistedevil:

Duration    Insertion Fee
30-day listing    $9.95
60-day listing    $19.90
90-day listing    $29.85

What are they, nuts? The majority of categories they're charging for are free on Craigslist.

# Mystery Auctions

A $9.95 classified ad for a mystery auction?  :

[bargainbloodhound]

[quote author=regic link=topic=2792.msg9997#msg9997 date=1140804969]
I don't understand why they rebranded the Intoko classified sites as Kijiji after they picked them up as part of their www.Marktplaats.nl acquisition.
[/quote]

They didn't rebrand all of them.  Turkey is still Intoko (and they left the annoying Marktplaats-like design), and Spain was rebranded as Loquo.

...and Marktplaats is still itself.  eBay removed the "an eBay company" banner from the site because it didn't go over too well with people that a foreign company had bought the Netherland's largest ecommerce site.

Looking at the list of eBay owned classifieds...

Gumtree: Australia, England, Ireland, New Zealand, Poland, Scotland, South Africa, Wales
Kijiji: Austria, Canada, China, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Switzerland, Taiwan
Intoko: Turkey
Loquo: Spain
Marktplaats: Netherlands (the largest eBay owned classified site)

Interesting, I guess they decided not to expand their free online classifieds Kijiji to include the USA.

Probably partially because it would have been in direct competition with their 25% ownership of Craigslist.  They also seem to want to keep everything in the US under the eBay brand (including eBay Express which I think will hurt it as much as it will help it because eBay means "auctions" to most people)