Craigslist has quietly launched an online classified site for the Canadian territories. (CBC)Classifieds website Craigslist has expanded to Canada's North, but the owner of a popular local buy-and-sell site in Yellowknife says he's not worried by the arrival of the online giant.

YK Trader may not have the global clout of Craigslist, an online network of free classified advertisements that attracts more than 40 million visitors and 10 billion page views each month.

But YK Trader founder Robin Sutherland said he's prepared to handle the newly arrived competition.

YK Trader's website, which also has free online ads, boasts more than 80,000 visits and 850,000 page views each month. As well, it distributes a free weekly print newsletter to 60 locations around the N.W.T. every Friday.

"It's really not localized," Sutherland told CBC News of Craigslist.

"Not to knock the service at all; I mean, it's obviously a good service, it's got a huge following. But I don't think Craigslist is going to put us out of business. And, I mean, obviously, [Craigslist] just don't have to worry about YK Trader."

YK Trader's website attracts 80,000 visits and more than 850,000 page views a month, according to its founder. (CBC)Sutherland said he founded YK Trader in 2004 because he had something to sell: "I'd done up some posters with the tear-off phone numbers," he said. "I thought to myself at the time, 'There has to be a better way to do this.'"

It's a similar story for Craigslist, founded in 1995 by San Francisco software engineer Craig Newmark as a small e-mail listing service advertising local events to friends and co-workers.

Craigslist has since grown into an online network of local buy-and-sell websites categorized by city and country, covering 500 cities in 50 nations.

Millions of bargain-hunters peruse the site daily to buy and sell all kinds of goods and services, from furniture and cars to homes and even jobs.

'Territories' site launched at users' request

And within the past month, a new branch of Craigslist has been created for the Canadian "territories," covering the Northwest Territories, Nunavut and Yukon.

"I've caught rides all over both Canada and the U.S.A. from the website," said Yellowknife resident and longtime Craigslist visitor Gilly McNaughton, adding that she likes the fact that the site's services are offered free of charge to most users.

Posting something for sale on Craigslist is not entirely free, as they make money by charging for job listings in select cities.

YK Trader is not entirely free either; it charges for listing "big-ticket" items for sale, such as houses and vehicles.

In an e-mail, a Craigslist spokesperson told CBC News that the service has come north because of many requests from users.

But Sutherland warns that Craigslist is "not really policed that much," and viewers may get exposed to offensive content on the site.

Some hoaxes, scams and questionable advertisements have surfaced on Craigslist, including a Vancouver couple's ad in May offering a one-week-old baby for $10,000. The couple later told police that the ad was a hoax.