OLX

OnLine eXchange also known as OLX Group is a Dutch-domiciled online marketplace headquartered in Amsterdam, and owned by Prosus, the international assets division of Naspers,[1] founded in 2006 and operating in 45 countries.[2]

OLX
TypeIncorporated
IndustryOnline marketplace classifieds forums
Founded2006
FounderFabrice Grinda
Alec Oxenford
Number of locations
41+ countries
Area served
Worldwide
Key people
Martin Scheepbouwer (CEO)
Number of employees
7,500+
ParentNaspers
Websitewww.olxgroup.com

The OLX marketplace is a platform for buying and selling services and goods such as electronics, fashion items, furniture, household goods, cars and bikes. In 2014, the platform reportedly had 11 billion page views, 200 million monthly active users, 25 million listings, and 8.5 million transactions per month.[1]

South African media group Naspers acquired a majority of OLX in 2010 and 95% of the company in 2014.[3]

History

Fabrice Grinda and Alec Oxenford started the company as a Craigslist alternative for the world outside of the United States.[1]

In 2006, it acquired Mundoanuncio.com, a classifieds site targeting the Hispanic market and in 2007, it made an investment in Chinese classifieds site Edeng.cn.[4]

In 2009, the company partnered with social network Hi5.[5]

In 2010, a majority of the company was acquired by the South African media group Naspers.[6] In late 2016 it launched Tradus as a heavy machinery classifieds site.[7]

Individual countries

In Pakistan, OLX receives nearly 30 million views per month.

In India, about 99% of its listings come from used mobile and electronics, used home and household goods, and used cars & bikes.[8] OLX's operations in India, like other online retailers, has faced problems with fraud and with people selling stolen vehicles, something they have made efforts to address; nearly 25% of the car listings on their site get rejected.[9][10]

In Brazil, OLX and bomnegocio.com, owned by Norway's Schibsted, combined in 2014 to create a classifieds site.[11]

In Kenya in 2016, farmers have reportedly used OLX to sell their produce and livestock, especially chicken and cattle.[12][13]

OLX launched in Nigeria in 2012.[14] The company purchased its Nigerian competitor, TradeStable.[15][16] However, in February 2018 OLX announced the shut down of its Nigerian office and a complete pullout from Nigeria.[17]

In April 2019, online classifieds marketplace Jiji.ng acquired OLX businesses in Kenya, Ghana, Uganda, Tanzania and Nigeria[18]

OLX is the leading classifieds website for users in UAE (under the name of dubizzle.com), Egypt, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Kuwait, Oman and Qatar. Since its launch in 2005 by J.C. Butler and Sim Whatley, dubizzle.com has become the number one platform for users to buy, sell, or find anything in their community. dubizzle is an OLX company.[19]

Philippine classified ads site Sulit and social networking site Multiply rebranded as OLX in 2014. The merger in the Philippines between OLX and Ayos Dito redirected Ayos Dito users to OLX as of 2015.[20] In April 2019, Carousell acquired OLX Philippines after receiving an investment from Naspers.[21] The deal also gave OLX 10% stake in Carousell.[22]

In Indonesia, in March 2014, OLX took over Tokobagus.com as a whole, including changing its name to OLX.co.id.[23]

In April 2014, Middle European classifieds of the Naspers group in Romania, Bulgaria, Kazakhstan, Belarus, Hungary and Poland rebranded as OLX.[24]

In September 2014, the Ukrainian classified Slando.ua joined the OLX Group.[25]

OLX ceased its operations in Venezuela on September 11, 2018, due to complex political issues and lack of free dealing.[26][27][28]

Criticism

Over the years, OLX has become a common place for fraud, especially sellers who post fake advertisements to dupe buyers upon receiving advance payment, and fraudulent buyers who engage in UPI scam, phishing, and sending fake SMSes and emails of bank transfer confirmation.[29][30][31]

In 2018, OLX claimed that it rejects nearly 25% of the advertisements at the initial stage; the company also stated that it would work with law enforcement agencies to curb fraudulent activities on the platform.[32] Despite these claims, advertisements to sell properties of public interest, such as the Statue of Unity and a former Indian Air Force fighter jet, have been posted on the site.[33][34]

Auctions of items with racist content

In July 2020, the Polish anti-racist organization Never Again announced that on the OLX platform one can purchase fan stickers with the name of Janusz Walus, a Polish-born far-right activist serving a life sentence for a racist murder in South Africa.[35] In September 2020, in cooperation with Never Again, South African media published a series of articles about the auctions of items with racist and fascist content that were for sale on OLX.[36][37] OLX's parent company, Naspers, had published pro-apartheid propaganda during the apartheid era, for which it publicly apologised in 2015.[38][39] During the September 2020 media attention to the issue, Naspers media relations director Shamiela Letsoalo stated that Naspers "unequivocally condemns racism, including racist content posted by external parties for sale on the trading platforms of our companies. Our systems use technology automatically to identify and remove listings that violate OLX's policies ... we are constantly improving its accuracy".[40]

References
  1. "Meet OLX, the biggest Web company you've never heard of". Fortune. 2014-10-29. Retrieved 2016-09-23.
  2. Mander, Benedict (2016-09-19). "Argentina: home to the majority of Latin America's tech unicorns". Financial Times. ISSN 0307-1766. Retrieved 2016-09-27.
  3. "Naspers-owned OLX enters 11 new markets". Retrieved 2016-09-23.
  4. Rao, Leena. "Naspers Makes Strategic Investment In Craigslist Competitor OLX". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2016-09-23.
  5. Wauters, Robin. "OLX And hi5 Join Forces For International Expansion Plans". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2016-09-23.
  6. Perez, Sarah (2015-09-03). "Mobile App Letgo Raises $100 Million From Naspers To Take Over Classifieds In The U.S." TechCrunch. Retrieved 2016-06-14.
  7. "About us Tradus". www.tradus.com. Retrieved 2018-01-04.
  8. indiainfoline.com. "Naspers-Backed OLX takes No.1 position in emerging markets". Retrieved 2016-09-23.
  9. Philip, Lijee; Vijayraghavan, Kala (25 October 2019). "The cat and mouse game starts in used cars' online sales". The Economic Times. Retrieved 2019-11-02 – via The Economic Times.
  10. "Planning to sell stuff on OLX, Quikr? You might be cheated by fraudsters - Don't make these mistakes". Zee Business. 23 August 2019. Retrieved 2019-11-02.
  11. "South African, Norwegian e-commerce rivals bury hatchet in Brazil battle". Reuters. 2014-11-14. Retrieved 2016-09-23.
  12. "More than 10,000 farmers use ads site OLX to sell produce". Retrieved 2016-09-23.
  13. Ollinga, Michael. "OLX sets up agriculture category to rid sector of middlemen". Retrieved 2016-09-23.
  14. "OLX claims three million sellers, buyers at third anniversary". Retrieved 2016-09-23.
  15. "Naspers pulls India into its online web". Business Day Live. Retrieved 2016-09-23.
  16. Abiodun, Eromosele (2015-04-01). "Nigeria: OLX Expands Platform, Acquires Tradestable". This Day (Lagos). Retrieved 2016-09-23.
  17. "CONFIRMED: OLX shuts down office in Nigeria". Retrieved 2018-02-14.
  18. "Jiji to buy OLX in Kenya, Ghana, Uganda and Tanzania". Retrieved 2020-07-25.
  19. dubizzle.com/about/
  20. "Tech in Asia - Connecting Asia's startup ecosystem". www.techinasia.com. Retrieved 2016-09-23.
  21. "Carousell acquires OLX Philippines following investment from Naspers". Philippine Star. 2019-04-16. Retrieved 2019-06-17.
  22. "Southeast Asia's Carousell snags $56M from Naspers-owned OLX". TechCrunch.
  23. "Cerita OLX Mengubur Tokobagus dan Berniaga". detikinet (in Indonesian). Retrieved 2017-08-30.
  24. "Slando меняет название на OLX.ua и запускается на украинском". ain.ua (in Russian). Retrieved 2019-06-10.
  25. "Сайт объявлений Slando меняет название". korrespondent.net (in Russian). Retrieved 2019-05-20.
  26. Acukat. "OLX es la nueva víctima de Maduro, cierra operaciones y se despide de Venezuela - Venezuela al dia". www.venezuelaaldia.com (in Spanish). Retrieved 2018-09-13.
  27. "Otro que se va... OLX Venezuela anuncia el cierre de todas sus plataformas (Foto)". LaPatilla.com (in Spanish). 2018-09-11. Retrieved 2018-09-13.
  28. Web, El Nacional (2018-09-11). "OLX Venezuela anunció el cese de sus operaciones en el país". El Nacional (in Spanish). Retrieved 2018-09-13.
  29. "UPI fraud: Scammers are tricking users, here's how to keep yourself safe". The Indian Express. 17 January 2020. Retrieved 4 August 2020.
  30. "Duping buyers across India by posing as army officers on OLX: TN cops crack scam". www.thenewsminute.com. Retrieved 4 August 2020.
  31. "Fake sellers, long distance buyers: Why you should be wary of buying/selling online". Asianet News Network Pvt Ltd. Retrieved 4 August 2020.
  32. "Working with authorities to curb fraud cases: Olx | Hyderabad News - Times of India". The Times of India. Retrieved 4 August 2020.
  33. "Coronavirus: Advertisement placed on OLX to 'sell' Statue of Unity, case filed". Hindustan Times. 6 April 2020. Retrieved 4 August 2020.
  34. "MiG-23 on AMU campus put up for sale on OLX, varsity calls it mischief". Hindustan Times. 4 August 2020. Retrieved 4 August 2020.
  35. https://www.nigdywiecej.org/en/our-news/183-articles-from-2020/4403-racism-returns-to-the-stadiums
  36. https://mg.co.za/news/2020-09-08-right-wing-poland-and-the-glorification-of-hanis-killer/
  37. https://news.knowledia.com/ZA/en/articles/right-wing-poland-and-the-glorification-of-hani-s-killer-087f81f92735b1b8a6862a56a70dd25270182ba9
  38. https://www.business-humanrights.org/en/latest-news/so-africa-apartheid-victim-group-calls-on-naspers-to-establish-reparations-fund-following-apology-for-complicity-in-a-morally-indefensible-political-regime/
  39. https://www.news24.com/News24/Call-for-NaspersMedia24-to-pay-for-apartheid-role-20150729
  40. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-54055822
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