Jılmay
Jılmay (Iradi for "smile!"; styled with a smiling-face emoji) is an online classifieds marketplace based in Talas, and the only online shopping service that delivers goods from abroad to addresses in the Irad Special Economic Zone (ISEZ). Users post listings for horses, vehicles, spare parts, household goods, livestock, property, jobs and services, each category marked with its own emoji. Through its parcel service, Jılmay Cargo, it receives goods bought from foreign online shops at a warehouse in Bishkek and trucks them to Irad.[1][2]
History
Jılmay was launched in 2016 as a simple board for selling horses and used cars. It is run through a company registered in Kyrgyzstan, and its owners have not been publicly identified.[1] Because Irad is not a member of the Universal Postal Union, parcels for Irad must pass through the Kazakh postal service (see Talas Central Post Office), and most foreign marketplaces do not deliver there at all. Jılmay Cargo was set up to fill that gap. Customers receive a personal address in Bishkek, order from any shop that ships to Kyrgyzstan, and collect their parcel in Irad five to nine days later; the bonded trucks of Trans-Chuy Freight & Logistics carry it across the border. Deliveries to the Autonomous Tribal Regions are seasonal, and their last leg is made by horse courier.[2]
Listings and rules
Everyday goods on Jılmay are priced in Iradi som, while vehicles, property and other large purchases are usually priced in US dollars. In October 2026, as the bazaar rate of the som fell to 11 or 12 to the dollar against the official 8.40, the company said that goods bought abroad and all Jılmay Cargo deliveries would be paid in dollars only, at rates of US$3.50 to US$8.00 a kilogram.[3]
The site's rules ban horsemeat in any form, bovine animals and images of them, weapons, goods banned by the ISEZ authorities, currency exchange and cryptocurrency. The company has said that it will not accept Tulparcoin.[1][3] Its main domestic rival is Bazar, the classifieds board of the messaging app Tulpar, on which deals are arranged in chat and paid in person.
Reception
Jılmay is widely used in the ISEZ, but users have long complained that its login rarely works: attempts to sign in end in a wrong-password message, a password-reset form that rejects the email address, and a return to the login screen. Listings cannot be opened without an account. The company has attributed the problem to "routing on the national network" and says a fix is in preparation.[1]
External links
- Jılmay (official website)
References
- ^ Central Asian Cultural Studies Review (2025). 'One App for Everything: Tulpar and the Iradi Internet.' Vol. 17, pp. 44–67.
- ^ Jılmay (2026). Jılmay Cargo: How it works. Talas.
- ^ Talas Herald (3 October 2026). 'Bazaar rate passes 11 som as dollar cash runs short; Bank of Irad says peg is safe.' Talas.