eBay Announces Kijiji: Please let us know your feedback here

[carly@ebay.com]

eBay Launches International Classifieds Websites

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.

We encourage you to visit the Kijiji site, post a classified, and tell us what your experience has been. Is it easy to use? Do you like the site? Would you use Kijiji?

Kijiji

eBay Pink, Kitty will be reading this thread and answering your questions.

Regards,
Carly

[exelentdeelz]

Well gr_marketing, you have good intentions...but you think like a child. "Let's make love, not war" is a sentiment that has allowed the French to completely take over every single Federal institution in Canada and make this country theirs to the detriment of all the rest of the citizens (that would be the other 69%, including you, even though you are clearly not English).

Whatever eBay's motivations, you can be sure one of them was that Canada is now being viewed on the international stage as a French nation (it is not!).

And now that everything has been catered to them...they're going bust up this country and leave confederation...just you watch.

So why do't you go bleed out your heart somewhere else. What they're doing is no different than telling you that you must practice their religion (would that piss you off?)

[cleanpartshere]

I also think GR marketing has good intentons, but god almighty when is this french garbage going to stop??? No English signs in Quebec, manditory at customs to say bonjour to an American. And Quebec WILL tear up this country.It is ridiculous. , I know some may say Im biased or worse, but damnit, Why do we English only speaking Canadians get penalized all the time?? Separate if you want, and have your own French speaking COUNTRY of Quebec. I wont't be visiting.

[wequick]

HEY HEY !!!! I am english and I live in quebec ... PLEASE stop writing us off !! We need support ! Don't thet them separate our country please !! I will be out there fighting 'til my last drop of blood and hope the rest of Canada steps in to help ! I still can't believe our whimpy government hasn't stepped in and put their foot down !
What do you think would happen if say there were enough french in Florida to cause a stink like this ?
I'll tell ya !! It would be called a terrorist act and they would be wiped out !

I love Canada .. Figt to keep Canada as one and make the wrongs right !!!

Pete

[vidamae13]

I want to respond to the April 27 post "However, in all sincerity, I am quite disappointed with the tone of the posts that I'm reading. eBay, is a business supported 100% by you and all our decisions are done to benefit you first. We do not make any political decisions."
My comment is eBay may be disappointed by the tone, but the message is clear - there are many Canadians who do not understand French and they will not be using the "Canadian" kijiji site. Every country has its own controversial political issues and, in Canada, language is a political issue.

[cleanpartshere]

Yes vidamae, you are right it is a political issue,and how could Ebay expect anything LESS!!!! Then a poor tone !! What an insult to English only speaking Canadians!!! It makes me sick! It is a slap in the face to English Canadians,and I resent ebay for doing it!!!! Now I best not say any more.Some feel this French/Engish turmoil won't stop until Quebec is on its own,has formed their own country, as the psyco bloc wants, and we have an English speaking ONLY Canada!! Maybe its not such a bad deal as I am sick and tired of these bloc fools getting air time on the CBC. My friend in Florida asks me about Quebec,when are they separating?? nothing else, it makes me ashamed ...he says are the Bloc in Quebec still trying to separate?? Nothing about the rest of our beautiful county, only that CRAP! Thats all he sees on TV in Florida! pitiful!!! damned pitiful!!!

[wequick]

All I hope is that if Quebec ever does get its way , the rest of Canada makes french signs and any service in french illegal ... I hope they make the french feel as unwelcome in Canada as I feel living here in Quebec ..

Pete

[cleanpartshere]

Hey there Pete, I feel for you, I can't even imagine feeling unwelcome in the country I was born in as you feel living in Quebec!!Unfortuneately you must be forced to live there because of your job or something. That is very unfortunate. I am sorry you feel like an outcast living there. Hopefully one day you can get out of there and be welcomed in Ontario!!Instead of being persecuted in Quebec because you don't speak french!!!

[wequick]

Actually , its not that I can't speak french .. I can ....
Its that I'm not allowed to get served in my language in my country ( its not like I'm trying to talk Swahili or something!!) ..

When I walk in to a store like Walmart (American owned by the way) it bugs me to ask an associate a question and they roll their eyes at me because I asked in english , then they respond in french !! How rude !! And if it wasn't for the english language ( the U.S. is english) they wouldn't even have a job !!

I have been the manager of a Canadian Tire here and have had a few small businesses f my own and have always done my best to accomodate a customer in his or her language ... You can go to Vermont and there are french signs everywhere , why ?? Because they have a huge french population ? ( lkucky if they have 10) NO !! its because they want to attract business !!

I have heard Americans say often that they would come here more often if they didn't feel so intrusive ! The french language only law does nothing for tourism !

And , by biggest rant is Hospital service . When I've passed a grinder through my kneecap and blood is ooozing out everywhere , the last thing my mind is thinking of doing is trying to comprehend french or have any patience for ome who won't help me in my language ! And no english signs in a hospital even !?!?! Geeez !!

I don't hate french people , I just hate the ones who can argue that any of this is right ! I know lots of french people who can't get over it themselves ... who have lost big money because of the stupid neverending situation we are in and like me , are comfortable living with both languages ..

Its just when something is forced upon me that I become rebelious and want to defend my side , it they would just drop it , the economy would return , the mood in Canada would improve immensly and we could deal with issues of actual importance !

Pete

[sniper_u2]

French? whats that, some kinda joke?
I won't be using the site thats for sure.
Why not english? or at least HAVE an english version or translation... Good luck with it, but i think you would of been further ahead to have done the site in English, after all, 99% of the ENTIRE internet is in English.
But i guess im not suprised about it, after all they gave it a name only the Swahili would of gotten!
ta!

[emma_chase]

~85% of Canadians use English
~20% use French

(& ofcourse some of us speak/read/write both)

Why are you ignoring the majority?

Looks like those marketing surveys weren't done very well. 😞

[alguemer]

I am a french canadian and i am happy to do things in French, but there so many things is missing to be good as Ebay.I was rob because there is no check out of people went we do busines. There is a fraud by a guy name ALAIN MÉNARD, he sale DVDs take the money and dont come back.The ADMINISTATOR dont anwser to me.The site is a free for all with no supervision. It need clean up like EBAY in English.The FRAUD is there and you should watch those new Adminisrator.The polution is everywhere now,take a look at the site. It will be great if you work on it and clean it Thank you .Alguemer

[kcwebltd]

Ok, cultural ethics aside, after visiting the intoko site...there are a few things worth noting. The concept is good, it's easy to navigate, and it's not bogged down. But there are some similar problems with both intoko and ebay. Spammers, cross posters in categories where they don't belong, and countries of origin not confirmed. I don't mind seeing "shipped from Hong Kong" if that's the same country listed as the seller's origin and not Vancouver or Toronto or some place in the U.S. With all the ads on eBay, it takes forever to wade through the debris of ads that are misrepresented. I already pay my ISP for all the spam I can handle, and asking people to get around things by "defining a specialized search" is frustrating. I would also like to see the bugs in the relationship between eBay and PayPal worked out. Why can they verify ALL my bank accounts and credit cards, but not my shipping address (even after phone verification). Seriously, it makes more sense to take what you have and make it better and entice defectors back than to try new ground in the hopes of growth. Kijiji may be the "hot" trend, but when it comes to people's money....tried and true and continually improving is what draws people back. Please just make eBay better...

[meaford4]

I value our French speaking Canadian population. Where did the 31% French come from ? it is really no more than 20% tops..must have been a CNN quote? Aside from that i would respect a reply like boy did we at ebay screw up and the ones in charge clearly had no idea what they were doing and we will offer this in our 2 languages shortly.
As faar as the Quebec language thing goes , I respect the fact that they do everything they can to hold on to their culture and language , but i would respect it more if they understood that it is a two way street , you can't expect others to value what you feel is important and expect the country to pay for everything in french as well , as long as it's not one sided. the law of this country is equal rights. Equal rights are not one sided as it pleases one.

[acousticgroove]

I'm from quebec and bilingual.. I find this the biggest waste of time i have ever seen..I'm not impressed to say the least.

[kafussel]

Last census I read, more Canadians spoke Mandarin than French, making it Canada's number two language by actual use.

[alendraja]

I thought Canada was a bilingual, i had the opportunity to travel side to side of Canada and i found a lot of bilingual people, also people who just speak english or french, is people who is french but just speak a little bit of english and they will understand better in french why not offer them that door, doesn't hurt any body.

I'm happy for the Kijiji site

So what about one in spanish;-),

[danny_ottawa]

Yes, I would use this service.

It may not be the first I would look at, but with Google and other search engines I would find answers to the questions I have.

I like that everyone is registered and well represented online

Just my opinion ...

___________



http://soschildrensvillages.ca/html/sponsor_a_child.html

[angelinayyz]

Is there a kiji sector for Vancouver? For sure, it will be represented in so many languages, from Chinese to Arabic.

Anyways, plain old english is good enough for me. I don't understand any french, but i am more tolerant about French speaking Canadians. Im sure they understand when I say "Thank you."

Anyways, i hope kiji will also have a site, or sector for Vancouver. Thanks.
Merci.

Angie

[dez019]

Hi everybody,

I live in Quebec and I speak french and english.

How would you react if I'd put an auction description in both languages ?

And... should I put "english version will follow" or "voir plus loin pour la version française" ?

Dez

[anatoly61]

Hello everyone
I'm new on here. Just yesterday I posted an item for sale, but when I click "Items I'm selling" it sais 0. And items I'm not selling (1). I dont understand why there isn't a "buy it now" tag next to my product. I'm suppose to be selling my item but its not. PLEASE HELP!!!
you can reach me at wacko_with_a_taco@yahoo.com