eBucks follows online trend

By Staff Writer for eBucks
Johannesburg, 03 Aug 2006

Members of FirstRand Bank`s eBucks customer loyalty rewards programme can now use eBucks points to bid for high-value items in an online hybrid of auction and lottery systems, a "unique bid auction".

"We chose the unique bid auction for the latest eBucks innovation based on the phenomenal uptake of online auctions internationally," says eBucks CEO Lezanne Human.

In the eBucks unique bid auctions, participants will use 20 eBucks to enter a bid for a particular item. The winner is the bidder who places the highest unique bid.

For example, an item retailing for 14 000 eBucks (R1 400) would have a set maximum bid of 1 000 eBucks. If several bids of 1 000 and 900 are entered, but only one person bids 800, then that bidder will win with the highest unique bid.

The winning bidder will pay only 800 eBucks for the item, while all the other bidders will have spent only a small amount of eBucks received free from the rewards programme.

First rewards programme

For the buyer, the system offers the chance of acquiring an item at well below its true value by entering a unique bid, while the seller receives the winning bid, as well as the entry fees from all the other bidders.

Human says eBucks is the first to offer a unique bid auction. "We constantly re-evaluate our programme and wanted to address the fact that some of our active members have low balances with this fast-growing and innovative concept," says Human.

According to Arthur Goldstuck, MD of World Wide Worx, online retail auctions have been the fastest growing e-commerce phenomenon in SA in the past two years.

The first item up grabs on the eBucks unique bid auction is a Ferrari experience trip to Italy, followed by the Monaco Formula One Grand Prix.