An About page. How original.
You clicked it though. So here we are. Let's make this worth your while.
What we're building
Awkies is South Africa's auction platform that actually makes sense. We connect trusted auctioneers with bidders who want a fair, transparent, and (dare we say) enjoyable auction experience.
No dodgy dealings. No hidden fees that make you wince. No auctions that feel like you need a degree to understand them. Just real auctioneers, real items, and real people finding great deals.
Why "Awkies"?
Look, auctions can be awkward. Raising your paddle and hoping you didn't just accidentally bid on something you can't afford. Not knowing if you're being outbid by a real person or a bot. Wondering if that "antique" is actually from your gran's garage sale.
We named ourselves after the thing we're trying to fix. It's a reminder to keep things simple, honest, and maybe a little bit fun. Because auctions don't have to be awkward.
What we believe
Trust is everything
Every auctioneer on our platform is vetted. We don't just let anyone set up shop. Your bid goes to real people selling real things.
Transparency wins
Fees are clear. Bidding is fair. You can always see what you're paying and why. No surprises, no awkward moments at checkout.
Local matters
We're proudly South African, built for South Africans. Our auctioneers are in your communities, selling things you can actually go and collect.
Keep it simple
Auctions should be accessible to everyone, not just the pros. If your ouma can't figure it out, we've failed.
The people behind the awkwardness
We're a small team based in South Africa who spent way too much time in WhatsApp auction groups. You know the ones.
We watched people accidentally outbid themselves. We saw bids get deleted or edited after the fact. We witnessed someone place a bid lower than the current highest bid and genuinely not understand why that was a problem. We refreshed group chats at 2am trying to figure out who actually won. It was chaos. Beautiful, hilarious, deeply frustrating chaos.
Somewhere between the "Sorry, wrong group" messages and the auctioneers manually tallying bids in a spreadsheet, we thought: there has to be a better way.
So we built it. Something that actually keeps track of bids. Something where you can't accidentally (or "accidentally") edit your bid after the fact. Something our tannie could use without calling us for help.