July 5th, 2007
Craigslists Faces Competition (somewhat) from the Inside
By Michael Santo
Executive Editor, RealTechNews
A little bit of conflict of interest? On Friday eBay’s online classified service, Kijiji, made its U.S. debut. It’s been available in other countries, but just now in the U.S. It’s currently available in about 220 U.S. cities. What makes it somewhat of a conflict of interest is the fact that since 2004, when eBay bought a 25% stake in the Craigslist from a former employee, the auction site has held a seat on the company’s board.
“We’ve learned a lot from Craigslist,” Durzy said. “We think this market has room for several classified services.”
Eyebrows have already been raised by eBay’s dual role with regard to Craigslist.
“There is definitely a conflict of interest,” said Greg Sterling, principal of consultancy at Sterling Market Intelligence. Source: ZDNet
We Say: Of course, Craigslist is Craigslist. What I mean by that is that it’s entrenched in many people’s minds and hearts, and thus (like search fans feel about Google) enticing people to switch is not that likely … at least for the near term, since eBay itself has quite a brand reputation.
Charles says:
I agree. The pure simplicity of using it and that it’s free (mostly) will keep me using it.
Unless eBay is planning on offering their service as free as well, I don’t see how it will work. Although they may pick up people who are currently active on eBay.
July 5th, 2007 at 9:23 am