More than a year after it became apparent that it would do so, eBay has finally killed the Kijiji brand in the U.S., and rebranded its efforts as “eBay Classifieds.” The rebranding, which does not impact more established Kijiji-branded sites in several international markets, is accompanied by a cleaner interface and some new features, including a mobile app, better spam filters, improved customer support and easier cross-sells and buying with eBay’s main auction/buy-it-now site.
Unchanged is eBay’s value proposition of its classifieds as a “safer, easier, friendlier” classifieds provider than Craigslist and others. The mobile app might especially gain leverage against Craigslist, which doesn’t have one, claiming its unencumbered site loads so quickly that it isn’t necessary. Top categories for eBay Classifieds include motors, pets, goods, services, housing, jobs and personals.
eBay has chosen to refocus on classifieds instead of launching major new local hub sites that would fully integrate eBay Motors, auctions, classifieds and PayPal. This, in fact, was its tentative plan couple of years ago. In addition to the eBay Classifieds/Kijiji sites, eBay owns a number of leading vertical/classifieds sites in the U.S. and abroad. Most of its classifieds operations are based in Europe.