There is a new shopping platform in town, and it takes on an approach that has not been exploited extensively, at least in the local market, and that is bidding. The marketplace is called BidPesa, and looks forward to being Kenya’s top online auction platform with up to 95 percent off for products, as well as FREE Next Day Delivery for customers within Nairobi.
How it works
Interested online shoppers who want to use this service can start using BidPesa by signing up for a free account. You can use your Google or Facebook accounts for registration purposes. Only five fields need to be filled (username, email, password and its confirmation as well as a phone number that will be tied to the account), so it is a quick process. Customers who have signed up can share invite links to friends, where they get KES 50 onetime fee per user. Also, the new customer earns 10 free bids in addition to those purchased.
Having done that, you can add bids to the created account. Possessing these bids is important because it is the only way you will be able to participate in BidPesa.
So, how do you purchase bids? Well, the system uses MPESA’s paybill option for the moment. The product’s business number is 748604, and the account number is ‘Bidpesa.’ Afterward, you enter the number of bids you want to buy. It should be remembered that 1 bid goes for KES 10. Upon completing this process, you will receive a confirmation text citing the number of bids purchased.
Using these bids is based on what a user wants to buy, so anytime a bid is placed, the price of the product in question shoots up by a shilling. Also, used bids are deducted from your account.
Similar to other online auction systems, BidPesa utilizes a timer for bids. For instance, once you have placed a bid, a timer will lock you out to allow another participant to place their bids. In the end, the item belongs to the person who bids the last before the timer stops. He or she will need to check out, pay for it and wait for delivery. Alternatively, successful bidders can resell the item to BidPesa and get 20% less cash.
On the other hand, there are cases where a customer will not be the highest bidder when the auction concludes. For this scenario, they can invoke the ‘buying out’ feature that resets their bids for the product to zero based on retail price, so it is a win-win situation.
The mere existence of BidPesa marks a pervasive transaction mechanism for ecommerce that aims to save time and money for both buyers and sellers, as well as offering an opportunity to compare the price of a product online before committing to it.
