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I thought it might be useful to post some of the equivelents to popular euro/US sites that I've come across in South Africa, for those who are used to doing everything online. I'll add to this as I come across others.

Auctions, P2P selling, Classifieds (like Ebay)
Although Ebay.co.za exists, it isn't really being used a great deal, possibly because it seems people prefer to buy rather than bid. Instead, try BidorBuy.co.za,  Gumtree.co.za or Junkmail.co.za

Online Paymant and Rewards
Online payment schemes like Paypal don't seem to be huge yet, though there's a push to encourage the use of Payfast. Many sellers still use bank transfers, cheques, or cash on delivery. eBucks seems to be the default reward scheme.

Cars (like Ebay Motors / Autotrader)
Autotrader.co.za exists and seems to get good traffic in South Africa, or again a lot of people simply prefer Gumtree.co.za or bidorbuy.co.za. Cheap car rental also seems big in SA, for example check out beetles.co.za

Books, CDs, etc (like Amazon.com)
Try the wonderfully-named Kalahari.net, noting the similarities in layout

Maps (like Google Maps / Streetmap)
Google Maps is pretty useless when it comes to Africa. Whilst they catch up, Streetmaps.co.za have a fantastic service, with a fast search that will offer you both streets and areas in results. Trust me, this site is invaluable when you're a newbie in Johannesburg.

Weather (like metcheck, wunderground, etc.)
Aparently South Africans check the weather a lot less than me, being a brit :)  Anyway, if you do need a fix, try Weather.24.co.za for a good, quick icon forecast, or weathersa.co.za for a wordier breakdown.

Tagged as south africa, websites + Categorized as Blog