ever heard of Kijiji?

EBay Inc. appears ready to take on Craigslist Inc., quietly opening a rival online classifieds Web site in the U.S. on Friday.

San Jose-based eBay activated a domestic version of an online classified site which has until now been available only in Europe, Asia and Canada, named Kijiji.

Posting an ad is free, although the company said it plans to explore ways to make money in the future.

EBay bought bought a 25 percent stake in Craigslist in 2004. It says it is happy with that investment but thinks there is room for more competition in the U.S. online classified market.

As of now Kijiji is not available in the Philippines, only India, China, Japan and Taiwan are the asian countries with Kijiji ads.