SeyBay brings on-line shopping to Seychelles |28 March 2005

Run as a free classified adverts site, the website was started by Michael d'Offay, who told Business Nation that the main aim of the new web page is to offer a free on-line market place to Seychellois people, whereever they are.

"My mission is to give people the service," he said, adding, "there is a need for this website in Seychelles, it is for free and for the people."

After the launch in January the popularity of the site has grown as word of mouth, fly posters and efficient service have got over 14,600 people for the past two weeks double clicking back to the site. Many of the site visits are being made from overseas and the web site's founder said that the numbers are growing fast.

Mr d'Offay said that the low resolution graphics have kept each of the site's pages easy to use and quick to open, specially designed for quick access modem connection in Seychelles.

The site has space for everything from jobs and jewellery, construction material and cars, to animals and houses.

And by publishing on-line, Mr d'Offay pointed to the opportunity to attract overseas customers.
The easy-to-use advert placing system allows users to key in their message and contact details, hit send and then wait for their message to appear on-line and the enquiries to come in.

Adverts usually appear on-line within 24 hours of having been sent.
Mr d'Offay, who described running the system as “a labour of love”, said that the biggest expenditure so far has been the amount of time he has dedicated to keeping it going.

Catering to both private individuals and businesses looking for an on-line free presence, the site allows users to post pictures of the goods for sale alongside their written adverts.

The site even takes care of long lists of goods offered for sale, with the first few lines of the advert printed, followed by a link to another SeyBay page where the full list is shown.

"Not every thing is about the money," Mr. d'Offay added, "when I see that someone has linked to my website or when I get an e-mail of appreciation, then for me, it is all worthwhile".
Check it out at, www.seybay.com