Kampe vs Jiji: classified ads or your own online store in Uganda?

Jiji is the Craigslist of Uganda. If you want to sell a used phone or a sofa, you post an ad with a few photos, and people already searching on Jiji call you.

I like how simple that is, and Jiji calls itself free classifieds in Uganda. But a classified ad and a shop do different jobs, and a business that sells the same products every week needs more than ads. This page compares Jiji with a Kampe store for that kind of seller. I checked Jiji's pages on 17 October 2026. Kampe's numbers are on our pricing page.

The short answer

If you're selling one item, or second-hand stock that changes every week, Jiji is the right place. If you sell the same products again and again, like shoes or beauty products, and you want customers to pay by mobile money without a meeting first, I think a Kampe store fits better. Plenty of sellers can use both.

How a sale happens on Jiji

On Jiji, the buyer finds your ad and calls or messages you. Everything after that happens between the two of you. Jiji's own safety tips tell buyers to "avoid sending prepayments" and to meet sellers in a public place or pay on delivery.

That's good advice for buyers, and it tells you how a Jiji sale works for a seller. Expect to meet people, or deliver and collect cash, because most careful buyers won't send money first. For a sofa that's fine. For a seller moving thirty dresses a week, it means thirty meetings or thirty cash deliveries.

How a sale happens on Kampe

On a Kampe store, the buyer opens your link, picks the product and pays at checkout with MTN or Airtel mobile money. The order shows in your dashboard as paid, and the stock updates. If they'd rather pay in cash, they choose cash on delivery and pay the rider.

That checkout is what lets a buyer who's never met you order at 11pm without calling first. Mobile money made paying easy in Uganda, but selling needs a lot more around the payment, which I wrote about in this post on mobile money.

What you pay

Posting on Jiji is free up to a limit, which Jiji sets for each category. Past that limit, or to get more views, you buy a package. TOP puts one ad at the top of search results for 7 or 30 days. Boost Packages show all your ads more often for 1, 3, 6 or 12 months, and Jiji recommends them once you have more than 5 active ads. Jiji only shows package prices after you sign in and choose a category, so I can't list them here.

Kampe's Launch plan is UGX 5,000 once, with no monthly fee until you reach UGX 1,000,000 in completed sales. We take 6% on mobile money, and that includes the mobile money provider's charge. Cash on delivery has no fee. On a UGX 80,000 pair of shoes paid by mobile money, that's UGX 4,800 on Launch. After your first million you move to Pro at UGX 35,000 a month (UGX 28,000 a month billed yearly) with a 5% fee, or Max at UGX 70,000 a month (UGX 56,000 billed yearly) with 4%.

Delivery and pickup

Jiji's FAQ says plainly that it doesn't offer delivery. You and the buyer agree how the item gets to them for each sale, whether that's a meeting point or a boda.

On Kampe you set delivery zones once, like "Central Kampala", each with its own fee and delivery time, and the customer sees the fee at checkout. You can also add pickup locations: 1 on Launch, 2 on Pro and 5 on Max. Kampe doesn't send the rider, so you still use your own boda or courier. I wrote about why that last step matters so much in delivery is where trust gets won or lost.

Your brand and your customers

A Jiji ad sits in a long list of other ads, and when the buyer comes back next month they search Jiji again. A Kampe store has your name on it and lives on its own link at kampestore.com, or your own domain on Pro and Max. Every order adds to your customer list, so you can tell past buyers about new stock with an email Broadcast. Your earnings pay out from your Kampe balance to MTN or Airtel mobile money, from UGX 10,000, with a UGX 1,500 charge on each withdrawal.

Kampe vs Jiji side by side

When Jiji is the better choice

If you're selling a car or a used laptop, Jiji is where those buyers look, and a store would be overkill.

Jiji also works when your stock is always different, like second-hand clothes bales or refurbished phones where every piece is unique. Listing each one as an ad is natural, and buyers expect to see the item before paying.

And if you're just testing whether anyone in Kampala wants what you sell, a free ad is a cheap way to find out. When the same questions start coming in every week, that's when I'd open a store.

What I'd do

Keep your Jiji ads for one-off items. For the products you sell every week, open a Kampe store on Launch for UGX 5,000, share the link with buyers who come back for more, and let them pay by mobile money without meeting you first. Plans are on the pricing page.

Sources

• Jiji Uganda, checked 17 October 2026
• Jiji safety tips, checked 17 October 2026
• Jiji FAQ: ads limit, types of Premium Services, delivery and paying before or after, checked 17 October 2026
• Kampe pricing, checked 17 October 2026