Selling on Bidorbuy

Selling on Bidorbuy

Bidorbuy is a marketplace platform which online merchants can use to reach a larger audience. One way to achieve eCommerce success is to choose a channel that will work well for your online business and reach more people.

It’s no secret that there are many online marketing channels available. We recognize that it can be tempting (and expensive) to list your products on every channel!

If you’re in South Africa; you must have heard of a platform called Bidorbuy. We’re going to discuss everything you need to know about this platform.  

In this article we’ll cover:

• What is Bidorbuy?
• Bidorbuy Fees
• Pros and Cons of Bidorbuy
• Bidorbuy Features
• Supported Countries
• Bidorbuy Integrations

What is Bidorbuy?

Bidorbuy is an online marketplace and auction platform that allows customers to buy directly from businesses, or for individuals to sell specific items to a larger audience.

It is a South African marketplace that works similarly to eBay. The upside to Bidorbuy’s business model’s is that it allows upcoming retailers or even hobbyists to sell to a broader group of people than they could otherwise. 

Some of the benefits of using a platform like Bidorbuy involve access to rare second-hand items and collectables and discounts on many other products. Also, the comprehensive catalogue hosted on the website covers a vast range of product categories. 

You can sign up as a seller on the platform to start putting your products on Bidorbuy and reaching a larger audience.

How much does Bidorbuy Cost?

Firstly, you should know that it’s free to list items on Bidorbuy. However, there are a variety of fees that you may incur depending on where you list your products.

Classifieds listing fees  

For classifieds listings, some categories will require a listing fee of R50 including VAT for:

• Vehicles: Cars, Motorcycles, Boats and others, including repair services
• Services, Pre-paid and Contracts for mobile devices
• Holistic and Esoteric services
• Businesses and Websites for sale
• Office Machine rentals and leases
•  Musical or instrument services
• Photographic services

Similarly, listing a property will incur a listing fee of R100 including VAT. Sellers will receive one free listing per month.

The listing fee is payable whether a sale ensues or not. There is no success fee for items listed in the classified format and the service-related categories.

Enhancement fees

You can think of enhancement on Bidorbuy like a promoted post on any platform.

Essentially, opting to enhance any of your items (in any category or ad format) will help more people see your items on the platform. This fee is charged regardless of whether your item sells or not. 

bobPay

Bidorbuy uses bobPay to handle payments on its platform. Using bobPay EFT is currently free, and there are no fees associated with using the service. It is also open to any buyer to use when purchasing on the platform. 

Success Fees and Final Order Fees

If you make a successful sale on Bidorbuy, you are liable to pay success fees for every order. This fee will vary depending on the category where your item is listed. 

Additionally, Bidorbuy charges a final order value fee for every successful order.

The final order value fee charges the seller on the difference in price between your item’s sale value and the absolute order value, which includes shipping, insurance, or any other payments that the buyer has made to secure your product. 

For example, let’s assume you sold a plastic mixing bowl for R135 in the Home & Living category:

1. The Home & Living category’s success fee is 7.25% + VAT, which comes to 8.34%.
2. Therefore, your success fee is 8.34% of R135 and will become R11.26, including VAT.
3. Let’sLet’s assume the buyer pays R220 in total, including shipping. 
4. Your order has a price difference of R85. This figure is the difference between the sales amount of R135 and the total amount of R220 paid by your customer paid for the item and shipping.
5. Your final order value fee is applied to this difference of R85. The fee charged is 6.61% of R85 and amounts to R5.62 including VAT.
6. The total fees you will pay to Bidorbuy on the final order value of R220 will equal R11.26 and R5.62 for a full price of R16.88 on your successful sale. 

You can find out more about specific success fees and a more detailed explanation of the final order fee from Bidorbuy’sBidorbuy’s knowledge base. 

Payout requests

Sellers can withdraw funds that have been paid via bobPay EFT from their bidorbuy account. To do this, you will need to create a Payout request in your My bidorbuy section. 

You are entitled to one free payout during a calendar month, regardless of how much money you are requesting. If you need to select multiple payouts in a month, you will incur a bobPay transfer fee of R5.00 excluding VAT for any payout amount under R3,000. If you are requesting an amount over R3,000, you will not incur a bobPay transfer fee.

Additionally, the minimum amount you can request as a payout is R5.75 owing to the bobPay transfer fee. 

Why should I use Bidorbuy?

Here are some of the top reasons that sellers are using Bidorbuy: 

• The start-up costs of using Bidorbuy are low. You will only pay a success fee if your products sell. The listing fee is optional, depending on where you choose to create product listings.
• Gain more traffic by using Bidorbuy’sBidorbuy’s organic audience to sell to a larger group of customers. At the time of writing this article, Bidorbuy is averaging close to 2,000,000 visitors each month.
• You do not need to set up a website to start using Bidorbuy directly, and Bidorbuy will host your store/profile on its website.
• You can choose to sell nationally or internationally, depending on your preferences.
• The cost of unsuccessful orders is low – so you should try and see how it fares without paying a registration fee.
• bobPay, the EFT system that Bidorbuy uses, is mostly free for both the buyer and seller.

Considerations when using Bidorbuy

While there are many benefits to using Bidorbuy, here are some considerations to bear in mind before committing to selling on the platform: 

• There are fees related to successful orders, as well as listing fees for specific kinds of listings
• You are limited to one free payout request per month.
• Lots of competition from big stores as there are no barriers to entry
• Limited customization options – you cannot set up a unique storefront or landing page beyond a regular seller profile

Bidorbuy Features

1. Sell anything and choose to list your products in over 160 categories.
2. Auction functionality to gain bids on each item. As a seller, you can set minimum bid amounts and reserves.
3. Built-in promotions and prompts across the website that you can opt in to enable for fast marketing
4. Bulk listing tools, bulk image uploads, quick re-listings and more to get you live quickly
5. Automated shipping charge calculations

Supported Countries

Bidorbuy is primarily based in South Africa, with most of its traffic coming from the country. However, Bidorbuy sellers can enable shipping with a selected shipping partner, who may ship internationally.

Some of the shipping partners that Bidorbuy sellers can choose from include uAfrica, Pargo and Parcelninja.

At present, Pargo, Parcelninja and uAfrica currently only deliver within South African borders. This limitation is subject to change and was accurate at the time of writing. 

Integrations 

Integrations are some things that Bidorbuy currently supports or offers in terms of services:

• Bidorbuy currently offers integration with Paypal, one of the world’s most popular payment providers. It allows non-South African sellers to sell within the country. 
• You can use a product feed (which ShoppingFeeder can offer) to update your product listings across the website automatically. 

Conclusion

Bidorbuy offers an easy solution for new eCommerce businesses to get up and to run on a new platform with a large audience. However, new sellers should watch out for fees that they will need to pay if they successfully place an order on the platform. 

Overall, Bidorbuy represents a “quick-win” opportunity for new South African store owners or overseas sellers looking to break into the South African eCommerce market.