Andy Higgins

Profile 

“South Africa, is that a country?”

The company he started claims to be Africa’s biggest online marketplace, so Andy Higgins’s profile should go a long way to attract a serious case of geek envy from regular guys.

Bidorbuy, often referred to as South Africa’s answer to eBay, was founded by Higgins in 1999, at the height of the dotcom boom. It was followed, over the next few months, by launches in India and Australia. The following year’s dotcom crash forced the closure of the Australian company. Later the Indian one was sold to a competitor in that country, leaving Higgins with the South African branch on which to focus.

Although the next few years brought more challenges, including staff retrenchments, the company slowly picked itself up to become one of the country’s top online marketing platforms.

Unlike online retailers, Higgins’s company doesn’t sell anything; rather, it provides a platform for buyers and sellers to connect. The company makes its money by charging the seller a commission of between 1% and 5% on all sales, except for high-ticket items such as cars and properties. For these, a flat listing fee per item is charged.

Higgins is also the author of Your Guide to Buying and Selling on bidorbuy.