I thought the domain name selection was a bit odd for classified ads site, but eBay has a strong following, credibility, and branding.

Per compete.com, kijiji had about 1.65 million visitors in Nov 07 compared to Nov 06 where they hovered around zero. Their growth trend appears strong.

j.a.m.,

Copy editing isn't dead -- it's just distributed. Thanks for your contribution.

BTW FWIW, it's "wreak havoc" not "wreck havok".

More than anything else, we should rue the demise of copy editing.

Here in India while searching for a house maid I posted a message at Kijiji and I instantly got a few responses. This could have never happened with conventional newspaper classified (although I'm not sure about the classified published on their online versions where responses can be instant).

Is it just being launched in the US? In India people have been using Kijiji for months now I think, and I've seen it in TV commercials if I'm not mixing it with some other service.

Howard O,

I think you're absolutely right that Craigslist v. Newspapers may be more about user experience for buyers and sellers and less about free vs. paid, i.e. many Craigslist users would pay for Craigslist rather than pay for newspapers.

But I still disagree on the "cut" vs. "blow":

First, if Kijiji were just some random startup, it could easily be written off. But eBay has been arguably more successful than any other company at connecting buyers and sellers online -- "huge blow" was more my reaction to eBay getting into the game, not the emergence of another free classified site.

Second, I suspect there are some -- by no means all, much a majority -- newspapers that are already at the point where another significant cut turn out to be a "huge blow."

That all said, certainly the fight isn't over yet -- but it does keep getting harder.

Craigslist hasn't hurt newspapers as much as some people assume, and it hasn't hurt newspapers because ads are free.

Newspapers hurt themselves years ago by offering a clunky, unweb-like way of offering classifieds online, and then did all kinds of things to abuse or disappoint online customers.

But the lose of classified revenue is a fair more complex issue than just paid vs. free, or craigslist vs. newspapers. It's all the competition and changing demographics of a turbulent media environment.

I'm with Howard Weaver on this one -- this isn't a "huge blow." It's just one more cut.

Newspapers may yet die a death of a thousand cuts, but the fight isn't over yet.

Howard,

I don't disagree with any of the value propositions you've articulated for newspaper classified vs. Craigslist. These are what keep the newspaper classified business alive, shrinking though it may be.

You're also correct that Kijiji isn't any "freerer" than Craigslists. But free is of course a commodity, and in competition over a commodity, the focus is on brand, i.e. the illusion of differentiation.

Craigslist may be too wild west for a lot of people, but some of those people know, have used, and have reason to trust eBay -- eBay is a very well established brand for trusted buying and selling online. If the eBay brand promotes Kijiji, it does have the potential to shake a few more people loose from using newspapers classifieds.

Also keep in mind it's not just about the sellers -- it's about where the buyers are. If through eBaby promotion Kijiji attracts the attention of some people who never thought to buy from Craigslist, that's a drain on attention to newspaper ads.

This is a "huge blow" not because it's going to make the newspaper classified business shrink a lot fast but because it's probably going to make it shrink a little bit faster. And many newspapers can ill afford even marginal movement in the wrong direction.

And even if this doesn't happen, newspapers will have to work that much harder to retain their business.

(One thing I don't agree with is your characterization that free ads are slower -- stuff on Craigslist disappears fast, which you see if you monitor a particular category you're in the market for.)

Any blow feels huge at this point, given the state of the business.

While this is obviously more competition for newspapers, it's hardly a "huge blow."

Craigslist already offers free ads; how much freer will Kijiji be? Will ads that were in newspapers and didn't go to free Craigslist now decide to go to Kijiji for some reason?

The competition is between free and paid/premium, and each has some advantages.

For many purposes (the young families eBay mentions in its announcement, for example) free ads may be just right. If I have a sofa to sell and can wait a while, or want a used Jeep but not urgently, I'd use them. Many newspapers also offer free classifieds (Newmark talks of them as "community;" we think of them as traffic builders) in many categories.

For employers with mission-critical jobs to fill -- hospitals, lawyers, governments -- the imprecision, overlap, fraud and utility of free ads can literally prove "too expensive." Ads that are constrained by cost have less fraud, more focus and faster response.

It's all about the value proposition, which of course changes all the time.

Newspapers have location, pro content, and user trust. If they can leverage those assets they can survive.