eBucks today announced the launch of its innovative highest unique bid auction – a first for the rewards industry. eBucks is the first rewards programme in South Africa to allow people to use their points to bid in an auction. A further innovation lies in its model, which differs from the traditional online auction format (in which the highest bidder traditionally wins). A highest unique bid auction gives eBucks members the opportunity to use small amounts of their eBucks to bid for a product, with the peace of mind that the successful bidder is guaranteed to secure the product at a fraction of its retail price.

eBucks, one of South Africa's leading multi-partner programmes with First National Bank (FNB) as its biggest partner, is part of the FirstRand group of companies. The business model is based on partner companies allocating free eBucks to their customers to reward them for their loyalty. These customers then have a variety of ways to 'spend' their free eBucks on a wide range of products and services, thereby experiencing the reward of getting 'stuff for free'.

Lezanne Human, CEO of eBucks, said: "eBucks has a proud history of breaking new ground in the local rewards industry. We were the first rewards programme in South Africa to offer members the combination of non-expiring 'points', the ability to top up their eBucks balances with rands and the flexibility to pool or transfer their points."

She went on to say: "We constantly re-evaluate our programme and wanted to address the fact that some of our active members have low balances. In response we adopted a model that allows members to participate in an exciting auction process where they need skill to acquire the product, yet are guaranteed that they won't be drawn into paying a higher and higher price."

In keeping with the 'Greatest Rewards on Earth' theme of the Space competition that eBucks and FNB ran last year, in which they gave away a sub-orbital space trip, eBucks has launched its auction with a once in a lifetime Ferrari experience in Italy and ending with VIP entrance to the Monaco Formula One Grand Prix.

Michael Jordaan, CEO of FNB, said: "eBucks has allocated over R600 million worth of eBucks to its members since its launch nearly six years ago and has a very high level of member activity, with over 70% of allocated eBucks being spent monthly. As members use their eBucks, they traditionally look for ways to accelerate the earning of more eBucks, which in turn drives partner profitability. FNB leads the banking industry in terms of offering its customers the broadest range of financial services products from which to earn rewards 'points' (eBucks) from."

This initiative has been timed to leverage the phenomenon of accelerated e-commerce growth currently taking place in South Africa as well as the phenomenal uptake of online auctions internationally.

Recent reports released by the Online Publishers' Association on the uptake of e-commerce in South Africa, along with international ratings company Nielsen/Netratings, confirms this dramatic growth. The total combined (local and international) readership on South Africa's top websites has grown from 5,4 million unique browsers in the third quarter of 2005 to 6,7 million in June 2006.

Online retail auctions have furthermore been the fastest growing e-commerce phenomenon in South Africa in the last two years. According to Arthur Goldstuck of World Wide Worx in 2003 there were only 13 online websites, with this growing by a significant 230% to 43 in 2005. Whilst, in the USA, eBay is the most popular internet shopping site and the fourth most used site. It has just registered its 200 millionth user. There are another one thousand retail auction sites in the USA and the industry is still growing.

Human added: "As an innovative concept, online auctions are occupying an increasingly prominent worldwide e-commerce space, and one that is still growing, due to its excitement value."

The highest unique bid auction is not new to South Africa and is also widely used internationally. It differs from a typical auction in that it is not the highest bidder who wins, but the one who makes the highest, unique bid closest to the maximum ceiling price. An item retailing for R1400 would have a maximum bid price of about R100 so only bids below this price will be accepted. A nominal administration fee will be charged for participation in the auction and the number of bids per auction is limited. The number of bids per person in the auction is also limited. The successful bidder will be able to purchase the product for not more than R100, while all other bidders will have spent only a small amount of the eBucks that they have received free from their rewards programme.

About eBucks:

eBucks, the rewards programme offered by First National Bank (FNB) and RMB Private Bank, is acknowledged as one of South Africa's leading rewards programmes with highly active members spending in excess of 80% of the eBucks earned in any given month.