Bidorbuy is the largest South African online platform that allows users to trade both through auctions and with fixed price deals. Now the marketplace supports a bitcoin payment option for sellers.

The bitcoin button has been added to the list of payment methods along with PayPal, cash deposits with Discovery Miles and others. Sellers can choose to include it on the checkout page, “Shipping & Payment” tab. A transaction fee of 2.28% applies. The users will need to scan a QR code or copy the wallet address, log in with BitX provider and pay from their own bitcoin account. Buyers can also include bitcoin payment as a filter option when browsing or searching for items.

The payments in cryptocurrency will be automatically converted into South African Rand and transferred to the users' Bidorbuy account. No bitcoin wallet is required, there is no charge-back risk and refunds will be done in Rands, the description on the Bidorbuy's website claims.

“We encourage sellers to offer bitcoin as a payment option because there is no risk and you will be reaching a large audience of new online shoppers,” reads the announcement.

For an online service, Bidorbuy has a long history: the company was launched in 1999 and gets about 1 mln visitors per month.

The news came just when the second annual Blockchain and Bitcoin Africa Conference started in Johannesburg, South Africa, bringing together experts and entrepreneurs from around the world.

Sonya Belova