Kijiji.ca Search Scraper: Extract Canadian Classified Ads Data

Understanding Kijiji.ca and Its Dominance in Canadian Classifieds

Kijiji.ca stands as Canada's leading online classified advertising platform, connecting millions of buyers and sellers across every province and territory. As part of the eBay Classifieds Group, Kijiji facilitates local transactions in categories ranging from vehicles and real estate to jobs, services, and consumer goods. The platform processes millions of listings monthly, making it the definitive source for understanding Canadian consumer markets, pricing trends, and local commerce patterns.

Unlike general e-commerce platforms focused on new products, Kijiji specializes in local, peer-to-peer transactions—used cars, rental properties, freelance services, second-hand furniture, and local job opportunities. This specialization captures unique market intelligence: regional price variations, inventory availability, seller behavior, and hyper-local demand patterns invisible to national retailers.

For businesses conducting market research, monitoring competitor pricing, aggregating inventory, or analyzing consumer behavior across Canadian markets, Kijiji data provides unparalleled insights. Manually collecting listing data across multiple categories, locations, and pages would require endless hours of navigation and data entry. The Kijiji.ca Search Scraper automates this entire process, transforming search results into structured datasets ready for analysis, price comparison, or business intelligence.

What This Scraper Extracts and Who Should Use It

The Kijiji.ca Search Scraper processes search and category page URLs, capturing multiple classified ad listings efficiently. Unlike scrapers requiring individual ad URLs, this tool extracts entire search result pages, making it ideal for collecting broad datasets across categories, locations, or search queries.

The scraper captures comprehensive listing information including titles, descriptions, pricing, images, location data, posting dates, and seller information. It also extracts category classifications, ad attributes (condition, features), and promotional flags that indicate listing visibility and seller investment.

Target Users:

Automotive Dealers and Marketplaces can monitor used vehicle inventory, track competitor pricing, analyze market supply by make/model, and identify underpriced vehicles for arbitrage opportunities.

Real Estate Professionals track rental rates, property availability, neighborhood pricing trends, and competitive landlord offerings across Canadian cities.

Market Research Firms analyze consumer behavior, pricing patterns, product demand, and regional market differences across Canada's diverse economic landscape.

E-commerce Businesses identify popular products, competitive pricing, supplier opportunities, and market gaps for new product launches.

Price Comparison Platforms aggregate listings from Canada's largest classifieds marketplace to provide comprehensive pricing databases for consumers.

Recruitment Agencies monitor job postings, salary ranges, skill demands, and hiring patterns across industries and regions.

Input Configuration: Targeting Search and Category Pages

The scraper processes Kijiji search result and category page URLs—the pages displaying multiple listings after performing a search or browsing a category. Understanding URL structure is crucial for targeting the right data.

Example Input Configuration:

{
  "proxy": {
    "useApifyProxy": false
  },
  "max_items_per_url": 20,
  "ignore_url_failures": true,
  "urls": [
    "https://www.kijiji.ca/b-cars-vehicles/canada/suv/page-2/k0c27l0?view=list"
  ]
}

Example Screenshot:

Parameter Breakdown:

proxy configuration: Set useApifyProxy: false if not using proxies, or configure residential proxies for large-scale scraping. Kijiji generally allows reasonable scraping, but proxies provide additional protection against detection for high-volume operations.

max_items_per_url: Controls how many listings to extract per search page URL. Kijiji typically displays 20-40 listings per page. Setting this to 20 ensures you capture standard page content. Increase for comprehensive extraction (50-100) if pages contain more results or if you want the scraper to automatically handle pagination.

ignore_url_failures: Set true when scraping multiple URLs—if one URL fails (expired search, invalid category), the scraper continues processing remaining URLs. Critical for robustness when extracting hundreds of category pages.

urls array: Contains search result or category page URLs to scrape. Build these URLs by performing searches on Kijiji or browsing categories, then copying the resulting URLs.

Building Effective URLs:

• Category pages: https://www.kijiji.ca/b-cars-vehicles/ontario/c27l9004 (all vehicles in Ontario)
• Search queries: https://www.kijiji.ca/b-cars-vehicles/canada/suv/k0c27l0 (SUVs across Canada)
• Location filtering: Add location codes (l9004 = Ontario, l1700273 = Toronto) to target specific regions
• Pagination: Include /page-2/, /page-3/ in URLs to scrape multiple result pages
• View mode: Add ?view=list for list view or ?view=gallery for gallery view

Pro Tip: Perform test searches on Kijiji with your desired filters (category, location, price range, condition), then copy those URLs into your configuration. For large datasets, systematically generate URLs with page numbers to collect comprehensive results.

Complete Output Structure: Understanding Each Data Field

The scraper returns JSON data with each classified ad as an object containing detailed fields. Understanding each field's purpose ensures effective data utilization.

ID: Unique numeric identifier assigned by Kijiji to each listing (e.g., 1234567890). Purpose: Primary key for databases, tracking specific ads over time, avoiding duplicates when merging datasets, linking to ad detail pages.

Title: Ad headline exactly as posted by seller (e.g., "2019 Honda CR-V AWD Excellent Condition"). Purpose: Primary search/filter field, categorization, keyword analysis, identifying listing quality and seller strategies.

Description: Full ad description text including item details, condition, features, seller notes. Purpose: Complete listing context, keyword extraction, quality assessment, content analysis for seller behavior patterns.

Image Count: Number of photos attached to the listing. Purpose: Quality indicator (more images = serious sellers), engagement predictor (listings with 5+ images get more views), filtering low-effort posts.

Image URLs: Array of direct links to all listing images. Purpose: Visual verification, displaying ads in aggregation platforms, image analysis (detecting duplicates, identifying stock photos), enhancing user experience.

Category ID: Kijiji's internal category classification code. Purpose: Precise categorization beyond title keywords, filtering by specific product/service types, understanding Kijiji's taxonomy structure.

URL: Direct link to the full ad on Kijiji.ca. Purpose: Accessing complete details, sharing opportunities with users, verification of scraped data, tracking click-through performance.

Activation Date: Timestamp when the ad went live on Kijiji. Purpose: Freshness indicator, calculating listing duration, analyzing posting patterns (day of week, seasonality), identifying stale inventory.

Sorting Date: Date used by Kijiji for search result ordering. Purpose: Understanding listing prioritization, identifying bumped/refreshed ads (sellers pay to refresh), tracking seller engagement strategies.

Ad Source: Indicates listing origin (individual seller, dealer, business). Purpose: Distinguishing private sellers from commercial dealers, analyzing professional vs. casual listings, B2C vs. C2C transaction identification.

Location: Geographic information including city, province, postal code. Purpose: Regional filtering, local market analysis, price comparison across locations, proximity-based services.

Price: Listed price with currency information. Purpose: Core data for price analysis, market valuation, identifying deals, tracking price changes over time, competitive pricing intelligence.

Flags: Array indicating special listing features (featured, urgent, top ad). Purpose: Identifying premium listings, understanding seller investment in visibility, prioritization in aggregation platforms, competitive analysis of promotion strategies.

Poster Info: Seller information object including name, ID, type (individual/dealer). Purpose: Seller profiling, tracking repeat sellers, identifying power sellers or dealers, trust signals (established sellers), contact information management.

Attributes: Structured key-value pairs for category-specific details (for vehicles: make, model, year, mileage, transmission; for real estate: bedrooms, bathrooms, square footage). Purpose: Advanced filtering, detailed search functionality, structured data analysis, category-specific insights.

Sample Output:

[
  {
  "id": "1727573493",
  "title": "SUV highlander",
  "description": "Hello this highlander used but looking new Not any claim on it clean chit . Good for 7 people . Thank you 2 pair tire Lease finish in 2028",
  "image_count": 7,
  "image_urls": [
    "https://media.kijiji.ca/api/v1/ca-prod-fsbo-ads/images/21/21a0af85-a089-4fd9-9e64-23cc12ebb47e?rule=kijijica-200-jpg",
    "https://media.kijiji.ca/api/v1/ca-prod-fsbo-ads/images/37/378bf7a7-cc31-4412-8631-2cfdd974f395?rule=kijijica-200-jpg",
    "https://media.kijiji.ca/api/v1/ca-prod-fsbo-ads/images/e1/e13fcf08-bd75-4786-b456-512134b5e2d6?rule=kijijica-200-jpg",
    "https://media.kijiji.ca/api/v1/ca-prod-fsbo-ads/images/35/35ada9e7-d9fc-49fe-8c48-114471cabd2b?rule=kijijica-200-jpg",
    "https://media.kijiji.ca/api/v1/ca-prod-fsbo-ads/images/2f/2fda9142-9055-40d8-92ff-0fd0810af179?rule=kijijica-200-jpg"
  ],
  "category_id": 174,
  "url": "https://www.kijiji.ca/v-cars-trucks/calgary/suv-highlander/1727573493",
  "activation_date": "2025-10-24T16:54:21.000Z",
  "sorting_date": "2025-12-19T01:11:37.000Z",
  "ad_source": "ORGANIC",
  "location": {
    "__typename": "ListingLocation",
    "id": 1700199,
    "name": "Calgary",
    "address": "Calgary, AB T3K 0N2",
    "distance": null,
    "nearest_intersection": null,
    "coordinates": {
      "__typename": "LocationCoordinates",
      "latitude": 51.16718,
      "longitude": -114.07495
    }
  },
  "price": {
    "__typename": "NonAmountPrice",
    "type": "CONTACT"
  },
  "flags": {
    "__typename": "AutosListingFlags",
    "category_specific_badge": false,
    "price_drop": false,
    "showcase": false,
    "top_ad": false,
    "highlight": false,
    "shipped_by_seller": null,
    "is_promotion_prov_top_ad": null,
    "is_promotion_top_ad": null
  },
  "poster_info": {
    "__typename": "PosterInfo",
    "poster_id": "1025279204",
    "rating": null
  },
  "attributes": {
    "__typename": "AutosListingAttributes",
    "all": [
      {
        "__typename": "ListingAttributeV2",
        "canonical_name": "vehicletype",
        "canonical_values": [
          "lease"
        ]
      },
      {
        "__typename": "ListingAttributeV2",
        "canonical_name": "trailerhitch",
        "canonical_values": [
          "false"
        ]
      },
      {
        "__typename": "ListingAttributeV2",
        "canonical_name": "carmileageinkms",
        "canonical_values": [
          "48999"
        ]
      },
      {
        "__typename": "ListingAttributeV2",
        "canonical_name": "navsystem",
        "canonical_values": [
          "false"
        ]
      },
      {
        "__typename": "ListingAttributeV2",
        "canonical_name": "pushbuttonstart",
        "canonical_values": [
          "false"
        ]
      },
      {
        "__typename": "ListingAttributeV2",
        "canonical_name": "carmake",
        "canonical_values": [
          "toyota"
        ]
      },
      {
        "__typename": "ListingAttributeV2",
        "canonical_name": "cruisecontrol",
        "canonical_values": [
          "false"
        ]
      },
      {
        "__typename": "ListingAttributeV2",
        "canonical_name": "parkingassist",
        "canonical_values": [
          "false"
        ]
      },
      {
        "__typename": "ListingAttributeV2",
        "canonical_name": "alloywheels",
        "canonical_values": [
          "false"
        ]
      },
      {
        "__typename": "ListingAttributeV2",
        "canonical_name": "bluetooth",
        "canonical_values": [
          "false"
        ]
      },
      {
        "__typename": "ListingAttributeV2",
        "canonical_name": "forsaleby",
        "canonical_values": [
          "ownr"
        ]
      },
      {
        "__typename": "ListingAttributeV2",
        "canonical_name": "airconditioning",
        "canonical_values": [
          "false"
        ]
      },
      {
        "__typename": "ListingAttributeV2",
        "canonical_name": "sunroof",
        "canonical_values": [
          "false"
        ]
      },
      {
        "__typename": "ListingAttributeV2",
        "canonical_name": "carmodel",
        "canonical_values": [
          "highlander"
        ]
      },
      {
        "__typename": "ListingAttributeV2",
        "canonical_name": "carbodytype",
        "canonical_values": [
          "suvcrossover"
        ]
      },
      {
        "__typename": "ListingAttributeV2",
        "canonical_name": "caryear",
        "canonical_values": [
          "2023"
        ]
      }
    ]
  },
  "from_url": "https://www.kijiji.ca/b-cars-vehicles/canada/suv/k0c27l0?view=list"
}
]

Step-by-Step Implementation Guide

1. Define Your Data Needs: Identify what categories, locations, and search criteria match your business goals. Consider vehicles by type, real estate by neighborhood, job postings by industry, or consumer goods by category.

2. Build Search URLs: Perform test searches on Kijiji.ca with your desired filters. Copy resulting URLs. For comprehensive datasets, create multiple URLs covering different categories, locations, or price ranges.

3. Configure Input JSON: Add your URL list to the configuration. Set max_items_per_url based on needs (20 for standard pages, higher for deep extraction). Enable ignore_url_failures for robustness with large URL lists.

4. Launch Scraper: Start via Apify console and monitor progress. Processing 10 search pages with 20 items each typically completes in 2-4 minutes, depending on page complexity and network conditions.

5. Validate Data Quality: Review dataset preview for completeness. Verify that titles, prices, and locations are populated correctly. Check image URLs are accessible. Identify any systematic extraction issues.

6. Export and Analyze: Export data in preferred format—JSON for database integration, CSV for Excel analysis. Clean data by filtering out expired listings (check activation_date) or incomplete records.

7. Handle Pagination Strategically: For large datasets spanning many pages, either include multiple page URLs (page-1, page-2, etc.) in one run, or set max_items_per_url high enough to trigger automatic pagination handling.

Error Handling: Verify URLs are search/category pages, not individual ad pages. Expired searches or invalid filters cause failures. The activity log provides detailed error information. Test with small URL batches before scaling to hundreds of pages.

Strategic Applications Across Canadian Markets

Automotive Market Intelligence: Track used vehicle pricing by make, model, year, and region. Identify undervalued inventory for dealer acquisition. Monitor competitor listings and pricing strategies. Analyze supply trends (which vehicles flood the market, which are scarce).

Real Estate Market Analysis: Track rental rates across Canadian cities and neighborhoods. Monitor property availability, price per square foot, and landlord offering patterns. Identify emerging rental markets or oversupplied areas.

Price Comparison Services: Build comprehensive pricing databases for consumer goods, electronics, furniture, and appliances. Enable shoppers to find best local deals across Canada's largest classified marketplace.

Competitive Monitoring: Track competitor product listings, pricing changes, and inventory turnover. Identify when competitors drop prices, add new inventory, or adjust their market positioning.

Inventory Aggregation: Collect listings from multiple categories to build vertical marketplaces. Aggregate automotive inventory for car search platforms, or real estate listings for rental comparison sites.

Market Entry Research: Businesses planning to enter Canadian markets can assess product demand, competitive pricing, and regional preferences. See what sells quickly (short listing duration) vs. what sits unsold.

Demand Forecasting: Analyze listing volume over time to identify seasonal patterns. High listing volume indicates oversupply; low volume suggests scarcity. Track which products/categories gain momentum month-over-month.

Seller Behavior Analysis: Identify power sellers listing high volumes. Analyze professional vs. casual seller patterns. Track seller success rates (how quickly their listings disappear, indicating sales).

Maximizing Data Value: Advanced Strategies

Temporal Price Tracking: Scrape same search URLs daily or weekly to track price movements. Identify items with price drops (motivated sellers), or price increases (market tightening). Build historical pricing databases for valuation models.

Geographic Arbitrage Identification: Compare prices for identical items across provinces or cities. Identify opportunities to buy in low-price markets and sell in high-price markets. Essential for dealers operating across multiple regions.

Image Analysis Enhancement: Use image_urls to download photos, then apply computer vision to detect duplicates (same item relisted), identify stock photos (dealers using manufacturer images), or assess condition from visual inspection.

Attribute-Based Filtering: Leverage structured attributes for precise queries. For vehicles: filter by mileage range, transmission type, fuel efficiency. For real estate: bedrooms, bathrooms, pet-friendly policies. Build specialized vertical search engines.

Seller Reliability Scoring: Track poster_info across multiple listings. Sellers with high listing volumes, complete information, and multiple images demonstrate professionalism. Build trust scores for aggregation platforms.

Promotional Strategy Analysis: Analyze flags data to understand which listings get promoted (featured, top ad). Correlate promotional investment with listing attributes—premium vehicles get promoted more, budget items rely on organic visibility.

Category-Specific Insights: Each category reveals unique patterns. Vehicles: depreciation curves, popular models. Real estate: rent-to-price ratios, occupancy indicators. Jobs: salary ranges, skill demands. Services: pricing for local labor.

Quality Assurance Workflows: Implement validation checks—prices should be reasonable (flag $1 listings as placeholders or negotiate offers), image_count >0 indicates serious listings, activation_date shouldn't be future dates.

Data Governance and Best Practices

Scraping Frequency: Kijiji listings update continuously. For dynamic categories (vehicles, jobs), scrape daily to catch new listings and price changes. For slower markets (real estate, services), weekly scraping suffices. Balance freshness needs with resource consumption.

Respectful Scraping: Kijiji serves Canadian users and businesses. Space out requests, avoid overwhelming servers during peak hours. Use reasonable max_items limits. Sustainable practices ensure continued data access.

Privacy Compliance: Poster_info may contain personal contact information. Handle responsibly per Canadian privacy laws (PIPEDA). Use data only for stated purposes, implement access controls, anonymize when possible for analytics.

Duplicate Management: Same item may be relisted or appear across multiple searches. Use ID as primary key to eliminate duplicates when merging datasets. Track relists separately to understand seller persistence.

Data Enrichment: Combine Kijiji data with external sources—vehicle listings with CarFax reports, real estate with census data, job postings with labor statistics. Cross-reference for comprehensive market intelligence.

Storage Strategy: Organize data with timestamps and source URLs. Track when listings first appeared, when they disappeared (sold or expired), and duration active. This temporal analysis reveals market velocity and demand intensity.

Error Recovery: Some URLs fail (expired searches, category changes). Log failures separately, retry with updated URLs. Build resilience into data pipelines rather than expecting perfect extraction every run.

Conclusion

The Kijiji.ca Search Scraper transforms Canada's largest online marketplace into actionable business intelligence. Whether monitoring automotive markets, analyzing real estate trends, aggregating consumer goods, or tracking competitive landscapes, this tool delivers the comprehensive Canadian market data you need. Start extracting classified ad insights today and gain competitive advantage in Canada's diverse provincial markets.