kijiji adventures

I have mentioned before that I discovered kijiji last fall when we sold the bikes that the boys outgrew. They were very excited with it all because they got to keep the money and put it into their bank accounts. If I remember correctly, they got about 35 dollars each.

Since then, we have sold and purchased numerous items through the kijiji Ottawa web site, so I think I can say that I have plenty of kijiji experience, and I have discovered that kijiji is a phenomenon all its own. I have studied it, I think it is fair to say, in its totality in space and time, and have come to the following conclusion: kijiji is like everything else in life: full of promise... and frustration.

Selling things through kijiji certainly has its advantages, namely that people come right to your door to pick up their purchases and that they pay cash. This eliminates the need to organize a garage sale during which you would have to sit out on your front lawn in the sweltering heat only to have no one walk by, after which you would have to stuff everything back into your garage again. Assuming you have one.

kijiji is also a great place to post your resume or simply advertise that you are a French teacher with many years of experience and are willing to correct people's business documents and school assignments for a modest fee. If you're a ventriloquist, you can post an ad without having to utter a single word out loud. No one will see your lips move.

Now, the kijiji buyer is a species all on its own. He is the next step in the evolution towards wanting things cheap and still being too lazy to go out and get them. Case in point: when my cell phone died, I gave it back to Telus for them to recycle, but I had kept my car charger and also my regular charger. I posted them on kijiji in the phones, PDAs, ipods section. About fifteen minutes later, I received an enthusiastic reply from someone who said that he was a pizza delivery man who used a gps navigator on his phone and it would be so handy to be able to charge it right there in his vehicle. I replied to him, giving him my address and the times when I would be home. Since I was giving the items away for free, I also told him that if I wasn't home when he came by, he would find the chargers in a plastic bag tied to the  newspaper hook on my mailbox. He said he would come by that evening, but he never did. The next day I e-mailed him to ask if he still wanted the chargers. He never replied, so I replied to the next person who had replied to the ad. He also said he would come by and get them, but never showed. After five more of these incidents, I realized that a) lots of people seemed to want my phone chargers and b) someone had to pay for my frustrations. So I deleted the ad and reposted the chargers for fifteen dollars.  No one has inquired about them, but I feel better. :o)

When you want to buy something on kijiji, it is best to keep in mind that the kijiji seller is actually just a regular homo sapiens. He is not a salesperson and certainly not a professional. Don't expect great customer service. You might come across someone who agrees to sell you something, but then writes back that since you didn't reply within an hour, they sold it to someone else. You might also come across people who misrepresent what they have, such as if they say they have a bed to give away, but they neglect to mention that they only have a mattress and frame, and that the slats that would keep the mattress from falling through to the floor are somewhere in their garage, but they can't be bothered to look for them, so they aren't giving you that part. "But it's a great bed!" I suggest you don't worry too much over the frustration caused by people like this. In the end, there is always a RONA nearby with friendly salespeople who will sell you two-by-fours and plywood. They will even cut it to size for you.

I have mentioned before that I am in need of new kitchen chairs, since my boys have destroyed two of the four-year-old IKEA chairs we had. (One was a matter of hanging heavy things on the backrest so the chair got top-heavy and fell over once too often. The backrest actually broke off. The other one was thrown to the ground in a rare but unbelievably destructive temper tantrum. Ditto for the result.) This weekend, I emailed a person who had 150 chairs to sell for six dollars each, and said that I wanted to buy four chairs. I also mentioned that I could come by for them any night after Tuesday. (Monday nights are a bit hectic with soccer practice.) He emailed back that it was fine and gave me his phone number, asking me to let him know when I was ready to come. So yesterday night (yesterday being Tuesday), I called him at around six o'clock and said that I was ready to leave. Would he please confirm the address for me? The response? He is home for the night and I can pick the chairs up any time between 9 am and 3 pm. I reminded him that in the email I had said that I would pick it up one NIGHT, but he said sorry, he hadn't read that. So there was the promise of finally getting my new kitchen chairs, followed by the frustration of an unprofessional person not caring to pay enough attention as to read a two-sentence email properly. Okay, long story short: This morning at nine, I called him and he gave me the address. I am now sitting pretty on four nice blue metal chairs with soft cushiony seats. Keep the faith.