Kijiji alerts

How to set up a Kijiji search alert

Kijiji’s own help article, published in 2026, gives these steps. Labels can shift between app versions.

On kijiji.ca

1. Type what you want into the search bar and pick a category and location.
2. Click Search, then add filters such as price range, “Offering vs. Wanted” and any category filters (make, model, year and mileage in Cars & Trucks).
3. Click Notify me when new ads are posted.
4. If you are signed in, the alert saves straight away. If not, Kijiji asks for your email address.

Kijiji’s help says you then receive new matching listings once per day.

In the Kijiji app

1. Search, then set the category, location and price range.
2. Tap the ribbon (alert) icon at the top of the results.
3. Choose Daily or Weekly.
4. Tap Save.

How to change or delete Kijiji alerts

What you want	How to do it
Stop an alert email	Click Unsubscribe at the bottom of the email
Delete a saved search on the website	Click the heart icon at the top right, choose Saved Searches, find the search and click Delete
Turn app notifications on or off	In the app, go to Profile, then Notifications, tap the three dots beside a notification, choose View Notification Preferences and use the sliders
Get app notifications at all	In your phone’s Settings, open Notifications, find Kijiji and make sure Allow Notifications is on

If alert emails keep coming and you cannot find an unsubscribe link, Kijiji’s staff point people to the website: sign in, click the heart icon, open Saved Searches and delete the search there. Deleting the saved search stops its emails.

Why Kijiji alerts can feel slow or miss things

They are digests, not one alert per ad

This is the big one. Going by Kijiji’s own help, a website alert brings new listings once a day, and the app lets you choose daily or weekly. So a good ad posted at 9 am may only reach you in the next day’s email. For a well-priced Tacoma or a cheap sectional, a day is a long time.

The saved search only sees what matches its filters

An alert is only as good as the search behind it. If a seller picks a different category, leaves out the model name or misspells it, the ad may not match. Try a second alert with a common misspelling, or a broader keyword with a tighter price range.

Newest is not always new

Kijiji sells a paid Bump Up that resets an ad’s posting date and moves it higher where newer ads come first. Recurring Bump Ups refresh an ad every 3 days. Reposting an expiring ad also puts it back among the newest. So an ad near the top of Most Recent may have been listed weeks ago.

Sort order and Top Ads

Kijiji may default to Best Match for keyword searches, which weighs relevance as well as recency. Switch to Most Recent when you check by hand. The Top Ads section at the top of results is not affected by sorting; up to six paid ads rotate there.

Search settings that make Kijiji alerts better

Setting	Why it helps
Location by postal code or address, plus the Distance slider	Searches a circle around you instead of city boundaries
“All of Canada”	For rare items worth travelling or shipping for
Seller type filter (Owner, Private or Dealer/Professional)	Removes dealer stock if you only want private sales, or the reverse
Category, then subcategory	Unlocks make, model, year, mileage and transmission for vehicles
Price range	Keeps out listings you would never buy
Offering vs. Wanted	Keeps “wanted” posts out of your alerts

Three example alerts

You want	Set it up like this
A used Toyota Tacoma near Calgary	Cars & Trucks, make Toyota, model Tacoma, 2016 or newer, under 200,000 km, Owner, 150 km from your postal code
A sectional sofa in Toronto	The furniture category, keyword “sectional”, under $600, Offering, 25 km
A cheap Makita drill kit anywhere nearby	Keyword “makita drill”, under $150, 50 km, and a second alert for “makita driver”

The narrower the search, the more useful each daily or weekly email is.

For the Facebook side of the same search, our guide to searching Marketplace across a wide area covers radius and city tricks, and the Marketplace alerts guide covers Facebook’s own notifications.

Why watch Kijiji and Facebook Marketplace together?

A seller in Canada can post on Kijiji, on Marketplace or on both. A search that covers only one site never sees an ad posted only on the other. Watching both means:

• More listings in your net. A 2016 Honda Civic listed only on Kijiji in Hamilton is invisible to someone who only checks Marketplace.
• Better price sense. Seeing both sites’ asking prices for the same model helps you spot a fair one.
• One routine. Two separate alert systems on two schedules are easy to let slide.

Kijiji’s own alerts will not help with Marketplace, and Facebook’s saved searches do not cover Kijiji.

Staying safe when you buy on Kijiji

Kijiji’s vehicle safety advice matches what we recommend on Marketplace: never send a deposit before you inspect, be wary of sellers who are “overseas” or “deployed”, and remember that Kijiji does not partner with any shipping, inspection or escrow company. It also suggests meeting at a police-designated safe exchange zone where one exists. Our Marketplace scams guide covers the red flags and where to report a scam in Canada.

Sources

1. How to Create Search Alerts (Kijiji Help, Community Connect)
2. Changing Push Notifications (Kijiji Help)
3. Radial Search: How Search Works on Kijiji (Kijiji Help)
4. Sorting Search Results (Kijiji Help)
5. Bumping Up Your Kijiji Listings (Kijiji Help)
6. Promoting Kijiji Listings through Top Ads (Kijiji Help)
7. How Long Kijiji Listings Stay Active (Kijiji Help)
8. Cannot cancel alert (Kijiji Community, answered by Kijiji staff)
9. Avoiding Vehicle Scams (Kijiji Help)