How Kivajo works

A quick guide for new users — how to browse, post, message safely, and stay safe when meeting up.

Browsing and searching

Use the search bar or browse by category from the top of any page. You can narrow results by place and price. Save an item you're interested in with the favourite button on its listing page.

Choosing your town

Locations are chosen from a list of towns along the Trenton–Kingston corridor. If yours isn't there, pick the closest one — searching, the map, and meetup suggestions all work by distance rather than by exact town, so a nearby place still puts you in front of the right people.

You can also ask us to add your town. A staff member checks it and adds it with real coordinates, usually within a few days. Either way, a listing only ever shows a town — never a street or an address, and never your device's location.

Trust badges and warnings

Once someone has completed enough transactions, their rating earns a badge you'll see on their listings and profile — Reliable seller from three people, Top seller from five with a high average. Each badge shows what it's based on, and buying and selling are scored separately.

If our staff have upheld complaints against an account, you'll see a Take extra care notice on their listings, their profile, and at the top of any conversation with them, saying how many and over what period. Reports on their own never cause this — a moderator has to review the complaint and agree with it first.

Posting a listing

You'll need a verified email address before you can post — check your inbox for a verification link after registering. Add clear photos, an accurate title and description, a fair price, and a condition. Titles and descriptions are checked for disallowed language automatically before they're saved.

Messaging safely

• Message a seller directly from a listing to ask questions or arrange a sale.
• New accounts have some limits on early messages (like links and phone numbers) — this is an anti-scam measure and lifts once your account has some history.
• If someone is bothering you, you can block them — it's silent, and hides listings and messages between you in both directions.
• Message content is also checked for disallowed language, same as listings.

Staying safe when buying or selling

These are the most important habits for a safe exchange:

• Never share personal or financial information — credit card numbers, banking details, your SIN, or anything similar — with a buyer or seller over messaging. Kivajo will never ask you for this either.
• Never send an e-transfer or any other payment before you've received the item and confirmed it works as described. Paying up front for something you haven't seen is one of the most common scams on any classifieds site.
• Meet in person, in a public place. A police station parking lot is a great choice for the exchange — it's public, well-lit, usually has cameras, and both sides tend to feel safer meeting there.

Transactions and ratings

Once a buyer and seller agree on a sale, the seller can mark it declared and the buyer confirms or denies once the exchange happens. After a transaction is complete, both sides can leave a rating — ratings stay hidden from each other until both are submitted, so nobody can rate based on what the other person said first.

Keeping your account secure

We recommend turning on two-factor authentication (TOTP) from your profile — it adds a one-time code from an authenticator app on top of your password, so a leaked password alone isn't enough to get into your account.

Getting help

You can report a listing, message, or user directly from its page if something seems wrong. For anything else, see our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.