2026 Update: What Changed in South Africa's Classifieds Market
This list was put together when South Africa had about 53 million people. Stats SA's mid-year estimates now put the population at 63.52 million for the year to June 2026, with 25.7% of residents in Gauteng (Business Day, 31 July 2026). The market has also consolidated around a few big names:
- OLX South Africa closed on 1 February 2022. OLX dropped its general classifieds site to focus on its two verticals, Property24 and AutoTrader (Stuff, February 2022).
- Gumtree changed hands. Adevinta sold Gumtree South Africa to Impresa Capital, the majority shareholder of the Ignition Group, in July 2022 (Adevinta, 22 July 2022).
- bidorbuy is now Bob Shop. It was renamed in February 2023, after teaming up with the shipping specialist uAfrica to form Bob Group (StartUp Magazine, February 2023).
- The vertical sites keep growing. AutoTrader reports over 12 million visits a month, more than 130,000 monthly listings and over 55 million searches (Prosus, OLX FY2025 results, June 2025).
Status of the general sites in this list (checked 7 October 2026)
| Site | What you find today |
|---|---|
| olx.co.za | Closed: "OLX South Africa is no longer available" |
| wegotads.co.za | Redirects to IOL Classifieds |
| freeclassified.co.za | Redirects to publicads.co.za |
| classifiedssouthafrica.co.za | Now a sports-betting page, not classifieds |
| expatads.com | Redirects to an unrelated online shop |
| freelocalclassifiedads.co.za | Domain offered for sale |
| sellstuff.co.za, postad.co.za, ikan.co.za, mahalastudent.co.za | No longer load |
| gumtree.co.za, booc.co.za, adsafrica.co.za, internetads.co.za | Online and loading normally |
Trading safely in 2026
Fraud and robbery linked to online listings are a real risk in South Africa. On 12 June 2026, after a carjacking and armed robbery in Motherwell targeted people who answered a Facebook Marketplace vehicle ad, SAPS advised buyers and sellers to meet in busy public places or at a police station, not to carry large amounts of cash, not to go into private homes or yards, and to tell someone where they are going (SAnews, 12 June 2026). In a TransUnion survey run from November to December 2024, 68% of South Africans said they had been targeted by digital fraud in the previous three months. Of the victims who lost money, 32% lost it to third-party seller scams on legitimate retail sites, and the median loss was R12,518 (TransUnion, 12 June 2025).
How to choose: for cars and property, the dedicated portals (AutoTrader, Property24) have the most buyers. For everyday second-hand goods, Gumtree and Facebook Marketplace are where most of the activity is now. With OLX gone and many small general sites dead, the openings are in niches the big players don't serve well: local communities, trades, farming equipment or student goods.
