Online classifieds portal sets Vismin hub in Cebu

CEBU, Philippines - The web has become a market for people to sell used items and earn extra cash from it, taking advantage of the online trading scheme as well as cultivating the entrepreneurial spirit.

OLX.ph, one of the country’s top classified ads websites, is now reaching out to Cebuanos, urging them to make potential money through selling second-hand personal items online and join in its Yesss, Yaman! Campaign.

Earning online

The company is encouraging the public to check unused items in their house and take the opportunity to earn and declutter as well, said Meanne Bundalian, the assistant vice president of OLX, formerly Sulit.com.ph.

“You don’t have to be a business person in order for you to sell,” she said during the classified ads website’s launching in Cebu Wednesday. “Anyone can sell and anything can be sold on our website.”

The rebranding of the Sulit was aimed to change the perception of Filipinos on online selling and emphasize the good benefits of getting value from unused items in the house, shared RJ David, OLX Philippines president and managing director.

David claimed that their website has a very strong presence in the Luzon area and that they have chosen Cebu as the site’s present hub for Visayas and Mindanao to expand their regional campaign.

“We believe Cebu is a very vital place for the success of our movement” David said, adding that they are looking into going to barangays and teach residents on how they can save and earn money through online selling.

The site currently has around three million registered members and is now targeting more than one million more Filipinos to join the online business.

If a person has something to sell, he just have to take a photo of the item and post it on the website with a price and location provided that he has already been registered, David explained on the process of how the selling is done.

An interested buyer can negotiate with the seller through customer to customer scheme.

“We’re actually working on the location of these people to prevent fraud,” David noted, adding that most the fraud cases people reported to them were mostly on items not being delivered.

He stressed the importance of personal meeting between the buyer and seller to prevent scam cases.

The company does not involve into the site users’ transaction and is not getting any commission from the items sold, he further said.

OLX is getting revenues from ad placements through its OLX Gold, a golden ticket to better ads exposure, which David said, can increase customers and sales and improve the business. They also get income from ad listing fees.

From Sulit to OLX

David and his wife, Arianne, formed in 2006 the Sulit.com.ph which they said was just an experimental website to determine the potential market for such enterprise.

David, who was a freelance web developer, said that with the site’s rapid success, they decided to incorporate in 2008 the previously home-based business into the Netrepreneur Connections Enterprises, Inc. (Netcon).

The following year, Sulit tied investment with Naspers, a South Africa-based media company, having a 17.5 percent share of the company, David further added.

Later on, as Sulit came out on mainstream media in 2012 it became known not only to entrepreneurs but also to Filipinos who are interested to sell their pre-loved items and earn from it.

Just recently, Sulit became part of the OLX (Online Exchange) network, worldwide leading brand for online classifieds, and became its local arm, now bearing the name OLX Philippines. (FREEMAN)