Wycliffe Omondi was doing his Diploma at a college in Kisumu and was in his final semester hadn’t cleared his tuition fees.
He called his family and friends but they were not in position to help. He pleaded with the administration to allow him to sit for his exams and clear the arears later but he was turned away. He wept a lot, prayed somemore and as the examination period approached, it dawned on him that he had wasted two years studying for exams he won’t be sitting for.
His fears of not sitting for his final exams intensified. He was ready to pack his stuff and leave the college when a friend introduced him to OLX.co.ke, a free online classifieds site OLX Kenya and suggested he could sell his Tecno Phantom Pad N9 to clear his tuition arrears.
With just a week to go, Omondi signed up for an account on OLX, took a picture of his Tecno Phantom Pad N9 and listed it for sale. He sat there before the computer and watched his ad the whole day praying that a buyer would call. Day two came, and it too past just like that and so was day three.
As his friends revised for their first paper that Wednesday, he sat alone away from them, with both envy for them and anger towards those who had promised to help him clear his arears then suddenly someone rang. The caller wanted to buy his Tecno Phantom Pad N9 but at price that wouldnt help help clear his arears. He agreed to sell to meet the guy the following day and began to ask if any of his friends could top up his amount. Then as he asked around, someone called him on a private number, and offered to buy the Phantom Pad at the price he had wanted as long as he had his receipts and warranty.
They met, the buyer examined it and paid him via M-PESA which he transfered to his college account instantly, and he ha always sold on OLX ever since.
“I had lost hope until a friend introduced me to OLX and I think I was also lucky because had I not sold my device, I would not have sat for my exams,” Omondi says. “It’s this little things that technology does for us and we forget but am not going to.I have been selling on OLX since that miracle day. Whhenever I realize I have something am not using and need money fast OLX is where i take it. OLX saved my education.”
It’s not just him, OLX Kenya just conlcuded a promo dubbed ‘uza uza ushinde na OLX’ to reward users selling items on OLX . One of the lucky winners took home a car worth Kshs 2million while others won Android tablets daily.
A survey done by eBay and Nielsen reveald that the average American household spent over $3,100 for the 50 unused items around their home, and that selling these items secondhand is widely considered a way of recycling. When asked about future plans for these items, nearly 75% of households plan to donate some of their used items; over 50% also mention that they would keep some of the items for use in the future, for sentimental reasons, or to save for their children and over one-third (36%) plan to sell their items, and of that group, they would most likely use the money earned to pay bills (36%), put into savings (30%), or buy something new (29%).
When most people think about recycling, paper and plastic immediately come to mind, however the survey also found that most people (83%) consider donating or selling used items as a form of recycling. The same holds true when it comes to buying secondhand items. Three-quarters agreed that buying secondhand is a form of recycling as well. This trend is global and not limited to the US.
In a statement earlier send to TechMoran OLX Kenya Country Manager Peter Ndiangui, said: “Since we launched OLX in Kenya, the number of users has been increasing by 100% year on year. The potential for online transactions in this region has continued to be very promising.”
The free online classifieds site has presence in over 100 countries and supports 40 different languages, accessible through a PC or mobile phone, providing safe and transparent transactions between buyers and sellers. Locally, the site is one of the most visited and most popular classifieds site beating all its competitors by traffic and avaerage listings.
