Used.ca

What Used.ca does

Used.ca is a Canadian-owned online classifieds marketplace founded in 2003 and headquartered in Victoria, British Columbia. The platform enables local buying and selling of second-hand goods across 19 product categories, including vehicles, real estate, rentals, furniture, electronics, appliances, pets, and services. It serves over 50,000 individual consumers and small businesses primarily across Vancouver Island communities such as Langford, Nanaimo, Oak Bay, Saanich, Sooke, Sidney, and Victoria, with a stated emphasis on sustainability through reuse of goods.

The platform is built as a web-based self-serve marketplace where users independently browse listings, post ads, save favorite listings, and manage saved searches. The underlying technology is a standard classifieds platform integrated with Vancouver Island News (vicnewsused.adperfect.com) for ad placement and account management functionality. The platform's geographic focus is hyperlocal and concentrated on Vancouver Island rather than competing nationally, and no mobile application is available — all functionality is delivered through the website.

Used.ca operates a freemium revenue model. Basic ad posting is free, while revenue is generated through listing fees and likely premium placement or featured ad upgrades. The company is privately held with no disclosed funding rounds, no public ticker, and limited organizational transparency; its privacy policy and terms of service link to Carpenter Media Group, suggesting an operational affiliation. With 11-50 employees and a regional focus, Used.ca is a small, operationally lean business serving a defined geographic niche rather than pursuing scale-driven growth.

Name

Used.ca

Legal name

Used.ca

Website

https://used.ca

Company type

Private

Founded year

2003

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Used.ca is a Canadian-owned online classifieds marketplace serving over 50,000 users across Vancouver Island, British Columbia, enabling local buying and selling of second-hand goods across 19 categories via a freemium web-based platform.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Online Classifieds Marketplace

NAICS

Web Search Portals and All Other Information Services (519290)

akta.pro primary industry

Local Search & Business Directories (BPAMAAAE)

Keywords

• Online classifieds marketplace
• Local marketplace platform
• Used goods marketplace
• Free classified ads
• Second-hand marketplace

Headquarters

HQ city

Victoria

HQ country

Canada

HQ region

North America

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Digital Commerce or Content

Cost components

Technology or R&D, Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Listing fees: Revenue appears to be generated through listing fees for placing ads on the platform. The site offers free ad posting options as well, suggesting a freemium model where basic listings are free and premium placement or featured ads may be paid.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

Used.ca operates a free, web-based Canadian-owned online classifieds marketplace serving Vancouver Island communities, where individual users and small businesses can post and browse local listings across 19 categories including vehicles, real estate, rentals, furniture, electronics, and services. The platform enables local buying and selling through self-serve ad posting, saved searches, and location-based browsing, with over 50,000 Canadians using the service.

Product overview

Used.ca operates as a single, unified marketplace platform for classifieds advertising. The platform enables local buying and selling across 19 categories (Animals/Pets, Appliances, Art & Antiques, Business Opportunities, Clothing, Computers, Electronics/TV, Equipment & Tools, Events, Farming & Agriculture, Free items, Furniture & Household Goods, Garage Sales, General Misc, Help Wanted, Real Estate, Rentals, Services, and Trucks/Autos). Users can place ads, save favorites, set up saved searches, and manage their listings through the platform.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Used.ca Marketplace

Quantifiable outcome

• Over 50,000 Canadians actively using the platform for sustainable shopping

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• Vancouver Island News (vicnewsused.adperfect.com)coreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorVancouver Island News serves as the advertising platform partner for Used.ca, hosting the ad placement, account management, and listing management functionality at vicnewsused.adperfect.com. This integration provides local news audience reach for the marketplace.

Scale indicators1 record

Recent moves4 records

Expansion highlights3 records

Direct peers

• Kijiji Canada: Kijiji is Canada's largest online classifieds marketplace, offering free and paid listings across categories virtually identical to Used.ca (vehicles, real estate, furniture, electronics, pets, services). It is the most direct competitor and the dominant incumbent in the same Canadian geography.
• VarageSale: VarageSale is a Canadian-origin mobile-first local marketplace focused on verified-member buying and selling of used goods, directly competing with Used.ca for local P2P transactions in Canadian communities.
• Craigslist Vancouver Island: Craigslist operates classifieds in Used.ca's core Vancouver Island geography, including Victoria. It is a direct free-listing competitor with the same horizontal categories of goods, services, housing, and jobs.

Broad incumbents

• Facebook Marketplace: Facebook Marketplace is a free, hyper-scale peer-to-peer local classifieds product covering essentially the same categories and geographies as Used.ca. Its distribution through Facebook's existing social graph makes it the most powerful broad incumbent competitor.

Emerging players

• Mercari: Mercari is a marketplace app focused on selling used goods across multiple categories (electronics, clothing, home), with the same core horizontal-classifieds use case as Used.ca, primarily in the U.S. market.
• OfferUp: OfferUp is a U.S.-based mobile-first local marketplace where users buy and sell used goods in categories overlapping with Used.ca (electronics, furniture, vehicles). Comparable business model targeting local P2P transactions.

Regional players

• Gumtree: Gumtree is a horizontal classifieds marketplace operating primarily in the UK and other international markets. Its product/market positioning parallels Used.ca as a regional classifieds platform.
• Buy and Sell (Vancouver Island Free Press / Black Press): Local newspaper-affiliated classifieds products across British Columbia that compete with Used.ca's Vancouver Island News integration for local classifieds ad spend on the Island.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/usedcanada
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/used-ca

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Used.ca