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Bid or Buy-South African Marketplace
 

Well I came across this in another thread but couldn't find a thread about this. Does anyone use this and do well? I was thinking of shipping golf clubs out there ( not phakes lol) because they seem to sell for a lot more, if the currency calculator was right. Don't know how much shipping would be...just a thought. Few questions :

is there a final value fee?

Is there a recurring bill?

Is the shipping too much to even deal with?

Can US people use bobpay?

thanks alot people...

I would think smaller items are best. To ship a set of golf clubs internationally would cost a fortune. I'm interested in this site as well, but I don't know anyone who has used it.

the look is great and people here are saying they make a better income off there than ebay...I just want to know why :p

Looks like you need a South African bank in order to withdraw funds though.

Stuff on this site sells for a ton more than any country I've noticed... I say shoot for it! It's traffic is awesome!

Does anyone have a link to their rules/procedures for international sellers? I looked on their site and couldn't find them.

well i used my passport number for them to charge my card, so they better not make me have a South african bank account to sell stuff lol. You can use paypal or bobpay ( think that's what it's called) ..

I think that's only for bobpay, their proprietary payment service. I don't think bobpay is mandatory to use if you sell.

Looks like you can sign up from pretty much any country



So to accept p/p do you think you would have to use the same deatils as on p/p or just the email address you use to take payments ?

Signed up

Its pretty much the same as ebay where you sign upto a buyer account and then upgrade to a sellers account .

to upgrade they verify you bu c/c or direct from bank account, also if not from S.A they want passport number to verify you .

Well that presented a problem for me as i don't have one, i just entered a DL Number and it worked .

Right thats me I'm off to get listing, it looks very promising for what im selling , whoop whoop !!


By the way , thanks for the heads up .

Wow nice, that is very useful. I might be able to try out BoB sooner than I had hoped. Gonna try this.

Agreed, golf clubs to extremely well on BoB. In fact most products fetch much higher prices than any other site (this is due to most merchandise being highly overpriced in South Africa).

To answer your questions:

is there a final value fee?

Yes, however it ranges from only 1% - 5% depending on the value of the sale (lower priced items will incur 5% and the percentage drops as the sale value increases). See the link below for the fee structure:

Help - Selling - Fee Rate Card


Is there a recurring bill?

Depends on exactly what you mean by this. If you mean "auto-relist fees", then in certain cases, yes. If you choose any enhanced listing options, each auto-relist will incur the same enhanced listing fee as the original listing. If you do not use enhanced listings, or do not auto-relist items, then there is no recurring fees. Standard (non-enhanced) listings also do not incur any listing fees.

Is the shipping too much to even deal with?

Although I am back living in my home country of South Africa now, I sold on BoB from the UK for over a year. Even with the higher postage costs, the average selling price of items still makes a much higher profit than enay or other sites. Charge your cost price for shipping each item as the shipping charge.

Can US people use bobpay?

Not currently, as it requires a South African bank account to withdraw the money. However, BoB are looking to expand the BOBpay system to allow withdrawing to international accounts as well. For now use PayPal or Google Checkout (worked best for me when I was in the UK, just convert the currency and manually invoice with GC). PayPal is integrated on BoB for easier payments.

The rules and procedures for international sellers are the same as for local sellers, except you use your passport number to register instead of an SA ID number. For the terms and conditions please see the following link:

Help - Policies, Terms And Conditions

Also dont be afraid to use the forum if in need of assistance:

bidorbuy.co.za Forum

Unlike ebay and other huge sites, the BoB community is more like a close-nit family. You will find help in the forums guaranteed, with plenty of buyers and sellers alike offering assistance.

Correct. BOBpay is not mandatory at all. You can use any method to accept payment eg: PayPal, Google Checkout, Moneybookers, International bank transfer (wire transfer) etc.

As an international seller, I recommend giving a few options for buyer to choose from for payment

Big mistake to use DL number. New international and local sellers alike are often requested to send a copy of ID (passport in the case of international sellers) and utility bill to be verified. Once that is sent, you cannot expect any problems after that. However, if you register with f*ke details and cannot send verification when requested, you will be shut down (BoB quickly get rid of potential scammers, and using f*ke details spells scam. Remember, this is not ebay where accounts get closed for no reason, BoB will not close an account without very good reason. So using f*ake details is a big red flag there).

Use your legitimate details, legitimate passport number and address, and you will have a smooth ride with no hassles.

Also, due to BoB being a more localized site, f*ke photoshop edits of passport and utility bill will NOT work for verification. Unlike ebay who dont have the staff requirements to verify details due to the large number of people needed to be verified, BoB DO verify details and DO inspect documents thoroughly. If the copy of your passport looks suspect you will be requested to send a full colour, notorized copy (almost impossible to do on PS, unless you really are a PS expert). If you are using ⊗⊗⊗⊗ details, you will be shut down as you will not be able to provide such.

Stay legit, and your account will run smoothly for a lifetime. Try to f*ake anything, and you will be shut down before you can ask "what happened".

Above all remember, this is NOT ebay. You do NOT need to run f*ake accounts and stealth methods. BoB is a close community and f*ke accounts wont last you even one sale on most occasions. There is no need to f*ake on BoB as legit sellers are respected, not given the boot. Both local and international sellers are treated with the same respect.

BoB are integrated with PayPal, but are not ebay and therefore cannot access your PayPal account details. You can use stealth PayPal accounts without a problem. Use your legit details for BoB, and use any stealth PayPal email to accept the payments (can be changed to a new PP account when PP shuts you down, just enter your new PP email into the payment section on BoB) :)

Dont try that. Read my previous reply to TizWoz.

Keep your BoB details legit as they ask for (real name, real address, PASSPORT number) and be honest and you will have a smooth sailing account that will last a lifetime :) BoB do NOT penalize sellers for being honest like ebay does, but will quickly get rid of f*kes :)

If anyone else needs some help, please just post your questions here and I will help where I can. Or best yet, use the forum on BoB

bidorbuy.co.za Forum

There are tons of members just waiting to help out on the BoB forum (including myself) and you will get the help you need very quickly there :) As I said before, the BoB community is like a family, and you will see that when browsing and using the forum :)

Good luck and enjoy the success of IMHO the best auction site around. The profits are far higher than ebay, the support is great from both staff and other members, and the community is a family... what more do you need? :)

ASPKIN can we sticky this thread? BidorBuy is definitely a very worthy alternative to ebay, IMHO it is FAR better than ebay in every aspect. I think this thread deserves to be stickied :)

I'm gonna try it with stealth details anyway. :FF: I prefer to test the waters myself.

thank you alot soulstorm I'm going to dropship items from usa to south africa..i found "things" that can make 400 dollar profit..jeez..thank you bid or buy

i think i can make a fair bit of money only selling on BoB..likereally ..i'll give you a hint..look at the recent winning prices for ipads..about 300 dolars more than in the us...hint hint

That is definitely true, as a lot of products (technological products even more so) are highly overpriced in SA and so will fetch far higher prices on BoB auctions than on ebay, often even much higher than US retail prices :)

I really liked the website... But international shipping is scary... There is always a chance to lose an item... What if this item was worth $100s?
I learned my lesson last year when I shipped overseas, to Europe, Australia and South America.... I lost a few of my items and got busy filing usps lost items claims.... The best way for me was to ship via USPS Express mail with an insurance....
I never shipped to SA though...
Any thoughts on international shipping, guys???
Also, do sellers have to build feedback first in order to sell profitable items?

There is always a chance to lose an item shipping locally as well, that is why you should always ship insured, whether locally or internationally.

International shipping will always be a bit more expensive, but set your shipping cost for each auction accordingly to cover your shipping cost. Remember to include in the shipping information that there may be customs tax payable by the buyer, just to make sure the buyer is aware of that and avoid any unnecessary issues there (some people may overlook the customs tax when bidding, so always better to mention it).

As a new seller on any site, I would always recommend starting off with lower value items (up to around US$150 or so). You will not just get kicked off of BoB for listing high value items like you will on ebay, however you also may not get the prices you want if you have no/low feedback, as people are more wary about bidding on expensive items from sellers without feedback. For items above US$150 value, I would recommend building up around 20 or so feedback first so people know you are an honest and reliable seller. That is not essential, but I would recommend it if you want to get top prices for the more expensive items :)

My advice would be to purchase a few lower range watches from Bidz.com Brand Name & Jewelry Auctions - Live | Rings, Watches, Sunglasses (pierre cardin and police watches sell pretty well on BoB), and sell those off on the Crazy Wednesday and Snap Friday auctions. They are quick selling items, which fetch decent profits, but are not overly expensive and so are perfect for building a reputation at the beginning :)

Good luck and enjoy the profits on BoB :)

When shipping international being cheap can be very costly.
You should ALWAYS ship out EXPRESS mail when shipping international because the tracking number is very important. If the buyer knows you didn't ship out express he can easily take advantage of you and just say that he never received the package and win.
There's no proof so protect yourself shipping via international express mail no matter the cost.

Any idea of how they treat sellers who sell high-end identical vero ⊗⊗⊗⊗ or legit vero items?

What about disputes for items "not as described" how do they treat that? (Unlike eBay which favors with the buyer)

ebay russia is good too.lol

Vero items are no problem on BoB.

For "not as described" disputes if they are taken further to BoB admins, the BUYER must provide proof that the item is not as described. The age old stand of "innocent until proven guilty" applies to any disputes

I was thinking about getting a passport to sign up as a seller, do you know if you need the passport card, book or both?

Are DVD Boxsets profitable?
The only thing I don't understand is the currency. Since I'm on a mac, I wonder if they have a currency translator for the whole website.

LOL :)
You won't believe I checked it out....:)
It's called ebaytoday.ru... The prices are same as in US....

Do you really need a currency translator?... Just keep in mind that
1 US Dollar = 7.29288 South African Rand...

I would interested in checking out this option. If you are having to use your passport # how stealth can it be? I was just wondering. Also I have head in previous forum post on bidorbuy.co.za that no vpn is needed and use can log on from the us and sell??

Whatever your country uses as a valid passport. As long as the passport is valid it will be fine :)

Depending on the price you can get them, they could be popular yes. Dont try to send f*ake box sets through though. At the moment SA customs are hitting very hard on pirate DVDs and box sets and most are not coming through customs.

There may be a MAC application which can do currency conversions for a full site in the background, but I do not know of any.

You can use the currency calculator at Currency Calculator

Also keep in mind that the currency exchange rate changes from day to day. A currency calculator is available at Currency Calculator

Correct, no VPN is needed. You can register and sell from anywhere in the world.

Please read my previous post in this thread regarding using stealth. Stealth is NOT needed on BoB, as your account will remain good for a lifetime as long as you stay an honest and reliable seller. Stealth accounts will quickly be shut down, as BoB do thorough checks on your documents unlike ebay who just look at the name on the docs. BoB is NOT ebay, and do NOT just shut down legit sellers for no reason. Stay legit and you will have an account which will last a lifetime :)

Is there a place on the sit to find out completed listings?

This Bid or Buy site - seems like everything is buy it now? And yes - the completed listings...seems a bit unreadable.

As for eBay Russia...maybe I am on the wrong website but you have a solid translation program to use for working with the website?