Young, educated city dweller who values the convenience of online shopping or selling is most likely to have a Bob Shop account, reveals a recent survey.

(11 March 2009) An average Bob Shop user is an educated, relatively young male who resides in Gauteng, reveal the results of a survey conducted during February 2009 on South Africa’s largest auction site and marketplace, bobshop.co.za. Out of 4369 people who participated in the survey, men accounted for 56.19% and women for 43.81%. Almost 70 % are between 20 and 39 years old. Education-wise, 32.52% have a high school diploma, 40.56% have a tertiary diploma, 12.40% have an undergraduate degree, and as many as 13.22% have a postgraduate degree. Most – 52% of them - live in urban centres. As for geographical location, about 40% of the participants live in Gauteng. However, the general Bob Shop population is spread all over South Africa, with Kwa Zulu-Natal coming in at second place with 16% and Western Cape following closely with 15.59%. Visitors from outside South Africa account for 1.82% of the community.

Although the survey was open to all visitors to the site, 81.37% of participants have transacted on Bob Shop before. Of the 3577 respondents who have experience transacting on Bob Shop, 84.3% have bought something, while 15.7% have sold something.

Users have an extremely positive perception of Bob Shop. Almost 94% of the buyers find Bob Shop system “good” or “excellent. A little more than 90% say that they have had a good or excellent experience with Bob Shop sellers. The percentages among the sellers are almost identical: over 93% are happy with the way the system works, and 88% are happy with the buyers too.

Only 1.34% of buyers who participated in the survey had a “poor” or “very poor” experience of any kind with the sellers. Still, about 40% say they are apprehensive about being cheated by a fraudulent seller. That percentage is practically the same among the respondents who have never transacted on Bob Shop.

“The actual number of fraud cases on the site is very low”, says Bob Shop director Andy Higgins. “Most sellers are honest people who treat their Bob Shop business very seriously. Even so, it is a good thing for both buyers and sellers to exercise a healthy dose of caution. If anything seems suspicious, it is best to seek advice from the Bob Shop community or our support team before money changes hands”.

Fear of fraud notwithstanding, South Africans are more and more ready to use bobshop.co.za. During the first two months of 2009, the number of registered users grew by about 10,000, reaching 337,000 buyers and sellers at the beginning of March. What users value most about Bob Shop is the convenience of shopping or selling online (89.95% of buyers and 97% of sellers); the availability of bargains (92.16% of buyers); and the variety of goods on offer (88.50% of buyers). The thrill of auctions is more appreciated by the buyers. Over 77% of them love the excitement of the bidding; in the case of the sellers, the percentage falls to (still high) 70%. About 40% of buyers value the social interaction with sellers. Among the seller, this percentage is somewhat higher – 44% of them say they like to interact with buyers.

A considerable number of sellers, 82.20% of them, value being able to derive an income from selling on Bob Shop.

Read bobshop in the Eyes of the Users for a more in-depth review of comments and suggestions that survey participants made.