LiveBids Auctions has just been launched in South Africa to take on the likes of local site BidorBuy and internationally established sites like Ebay. The online platform offers a buying and selling platform that incorporates different aspects of various social media.
"This means that [you can have] a choice of interests, follow friends or search hundreds of products while buying items for a fraction of the cost and selling them to make real profits," said Rory Vollmer, co-founder and head of marketing, in a statement.
Just like on Twitter or Facebook, you can follow certain buyers and sellers to keep up to date with what they have to offer.
The online marketplace
Shopping online is becoming easier every day. It's possible to transact online with your Mastercard or Visa card and with payment systems such as PayPal, as well as the option for Electronic Fund Transfers (EFT). Getting the goods you want is a simple click of a button.
"LiveBids aims to help buyers and sellers fully connect in trade with seamless transactions. It is an online marketplace that is simple, interactive and social," said Vollmer.
Vollmer added that LiveBids allows users to experience a real-time marketplace, buy products lower than the market value and socially follow buyers and sellers.
Trading formats
Two formats are used, namely online auctions and pay-per-bid. The first of these is the traditional online auction model, where items are sold to the highest bidder.
"The second is a pay-per-bid model, where would-be buyers purchase credits to bid on items. These credits go to the seller, which is how it is possible to purchase big-ticket items for nominal amounts," explained Vollmer.
Vollmer explained that as a seller you can make a good profit on the pay-per-bid option.
"The seller will set his price that he would like to receive per bid. Say there is an external hard-drive and it sells for R10, the person that bided purchases bid packages, and the seller sets the bid at R3 per bid and if you had to get to the bids would have to be placed would amount to about 1000, so that would pay the seller R3000," said Vollmer.
As the buyer you can set your budget by saying how many bids you actually want to buy. This gives the buyer an opportunity to win bids which are up to 90% off on the pay-per-bid option, explained Vollmer.
To find out more about LiveBids, click here.