I was told it's something like where you have to pay the money if you bid, even if you loose?


does that mean if you bid 1.25
someone posts 1.26
and you post 1.27

that you have to pay 1.25+1.27?

or do you just pay the highest amount you bid for the item?

are they really any good, do people really get items for cheap?

 

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are you talking about online auction site, like ebay, bidz, or similar sites?
If so, you're bidding on an item with a time limit. The last bid wins the auction. So, if you bid 1.27, you'll be paying the 1.27 + s & h and any other fee mentioned in the "fine print".
Be careful what you bid on, sometimes you don't get the "full scoop" on the item and could end up with something that isn't even worth your 1.27....

 

erm. i'm talking about penny bidding.... er... I was reading something and someone mentioned it and said "in penny bidding unless you are the person who wins and actually pays 1.67 for a 25 dollar item, you are kinda screwed. The item does get paid x10, just by the people who lost"

so that's why i'm confused. you have to pay if you loose?

 

Talking about sites like skoreit.

What you do is buy credits that allow you to bid. I am not sure how much these credits cost. Once you have the credits you use them to place bids and each time someone bids the price of the auction goes up by one penny.

So let's say 20 credits cost $10 and you spend 10 of your credits on an auction and you win it with an ending bid of $2.51. Well you spent $5 worth of credits plus you will pay the $2.51 that it cost you to win the auction. So you won that item for $7.51, then you probably have to pay S&H on top of that.

 

@-@ geez.


D: that's like what deviantart does. they have their "points" which are 80 cents per the dollar. because of this a lot of artists are drawing works for like 45 points, which is just over 50 cents.

Apparently it used to be 1 dollar for a deviantdollar. but people were actually able to think logically about this, so they got rid of the deviantdollars and added points.


of course, these penny things sound a LOT more nefarious.

 

Yea, and even if you don't win the auction where you spent 10 credits, you've spent $5 to make those bids. I don't know if those are the actual prices per credit...just using it for the sake of an example. I did try it out once and I ended up winning a $20 gift card that in the end ended up costing me about $15.

 

*sigh* if it's too good to be true....

and you aren't counting in the time you spent on the computer clicking. if you spent an hour of your time, that's at min wage 8.25/8.50 dollars worth of time.

 

All those sites are a racket. The good quality items, such electronics, etc. never go for anything low in price. The companies make money by the bidding process. They are racking up the money by people who think they can outbid each other, and end up perhaps paying more than the item's worth. With auto bids, u just never know when the auction will end. And are you really bidding against someone like yourself or is it rigged to just keep bidders bidding. Save your money and time, and stay away from these crooks.

 

Yea I agree with this. I watched some items get bid up to over their retail value after including how much it cost the person to actually place the bids.

I think you would have to spend alot of time on these sites and get familiar with how much the items *usually* go for so you can try and bid towards the price that they have sold for in the past but even then there is no guarantee someone won't just push the price up higher still.

 

From my extensive research into this very topic, I have can only conclude that penny bids are......

GLORY HOLES

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They pray on naive people.
An item will come up for bidding that could be worth, say $300.00
As an example, they have 30 people bidding on it.
10 people bid up to $10 each and drop out.---------------$100.00 total
10 more bid up to $15 each and drop out-----------------$150.00 total
The last 10 are serious and end up at say, 3 at $19--------$ 57.00 total
Another 3 at $19.25--------------------------------------$ 57.75 total
Another 3 at $19.50--------------------------------------$ 58.50 total
Another 2 at $19.75--------------------------------------$ 59.25 total
The last one wins it at $20.00 and pays $20, taxes and Shipping and Handling. Good deal for that person.
BUT!
The losers pay what they bid.
Remember all those totals, they come out to $482.50 plus the $20 winning bid. $502.50 total.
That's right, $502.50 for an item worth $300.00. Talk about marketing!
People are quite willing to risk $10 to $20 for a chance at winning an item worth $300.00.
At least, maybe 2 or 3 times, until they realize just what a scam this is. :wall:
The item cost the seller, say $ 125.00. Profit of $377.50.
More than a 300% profit.
Try doing that on the stock market.
Eventually, they will run out of a viable bidding base, and shut down, but I don't think that will be any time soon.
I feel for the ones sucked into this.

 

them getting the losers money doesn't bother me. it is gambling, pretty much. but the fact that 1 penny does not equal one cent on that site is what bothers me. you'd have to do equations to figure out what you are really paying.

 

There are a number of these sites popping up. Each one has their own processes and policies.
If you're found in breach of any of their regulations, you can find yourself expelled from the site with little in the way of recourse in re-acquiring the money you have as a balance.
If you want to become involved with this type of auction, do your research, and be sure you actually have a chance at winning an item.
Some of these sites could well be the winning bidders themselves without ever having actual items up for bid.
Caution should be the rule of the day.

 

Out of curiosity as well as giving you a more accurate representation of a site, I went to one and observed one auction to the end.
Here's how it worked. The company name has a critter in it that makes honey, not to actually give the name since I don't think kindly of the process.
The item was a $150 Amazon gift card.
Each penny represents 1 bid.
In order to bid, you have to buy bid packages that cost anywhere from $0.55 to $0.90 for each bid depending on the size of the package which consists of 30 bid packages to 1000 bid packages.
30 bid packages cost $0.90 cents each bid, and 1000 bid packages cost $0.55 cents per bid .
The item sold for $5.05 which represents 505 bids @ an average cost of around $0.70 cents per bid. That's assuming the packages are purchased in equal numbers of each type of package.
The winner still has to pay the $5.50 for the item on top of their bid costs plus shipping and handling.
So, you have 505 bids at $0.70 cents for each bid which equals $353.50 in bid costs, plus the $5.05 for the gift card which equals $358.55 for a $150.00 gift card.
Yes, the company is making money hand over fist.
The reality is they're going to sell a lot more of the 30 bid packages than the 1000 bid packages, so the real cost of each bid in this auction would have been more like $0.80 cents per bid and at 505 bids works out to $404.00 plus the $5.05 for the gift card which is $409.05 for a $150.00 gift card.
If you made 50 of those bids and lost out, it cost you @$0.80 cents per bid, $40.00 for the privilege of playing and you got nothing.
These sites have players that are good at this process and are good at last second bidding as well as having snipers for end time bidding. Your odds are not good.
It might be fun to play a couple of times to see for yourself, but be prepared for the likelihood of loosing in the bidding process.
Personally, I wouldn't buy a package of bids at a cost of any larger than I'd be willing to just throw away. At least for the first couple of items.
But then, that's just me.
Use caution.

 

If you want to have some real fun. Go to a local auction. I've been doing this for years and it's not only fun but profitable.
I don't have a single item of furniture or accessories that is made of the current material that most furniture is made of, that being particle board. I've filled my house with antiques made of solid as well as exotic woods which are made of solid, real wood, not the imitation crap available today at the same cost or less of current day products.
These items don't lose their value as well as having quality items.
It's educational, profitable and fun.
You'll find everything from utensils to china, jewelry, linens, Chrystal, furniture to collectibles and even cars and boats.
And in most cases, you buy it cheap. Cheap, cheap, cheap.
Something to think about.
But it's addictive. Have fun.