Penny auction is the latest internet craze that everyone is going crazy about and with dozens of sites to choose from, you can have a chance to avail the item in the featured offer that you have been eyeing to have for so long at an incredibly low price.  Penny auction works by paying per bid and placing your bid on the item that you would like to have.  You are actually contending against fellow bidders that are also after your item.  The last bidder is the winner when the timer ends.

Penny auction is great but there is catch.  Most penny auctions follow the same format of increasing the time whenever there is new bid, giving others a chance to place on their own bid for the item.  You can not always win the bid but there will always be a next time.  Another trouble with bidding is that it can be so addictive so caution must always be observed.  The moment you noticed that all you do is place a bid then it’s time to stop and assess everything because it is possible that you are beginning to catch a different kind of addiction.

There are penny auction sites that have bad reputation because of some players that do no follow the rules of the site.  There are bidders who work as a team and bid on the same featured product and sometimes they work together to single out a bidder until that bidder was forced to withdraw from the bid.  The sad thing about it is that it is hard to trace those bidders doing the unfair practice of bidding in penny auction sites.  Many can still get the item they want even if there is such occurrence of unfair practice.

In order to have a fair chance over the big prices, you need to know the penny auction sites that are strict in monitoring their bidders.   They can actually trace the IP address of the bidder and forbid the same IP address to bid for the same item under different name to avoid malpractice.  Someone actually got one of the latest notebooks available in the market today at only $3!  That is a bargain that many will surely find amazing.

 

The Strategies at Penny Auction

In engaging with penny auction sites there are certain strategies that you need to know in order to win the bid.  Each penny auction sites give some free bids to their users.  With the free bids in your possession, you can actually bid on bid packs that come in free and instead of spending money right away you can use the free bid.  In bidding for a free bid pack, look for something that has little or no contender and while you’re at it be on constant look out for promotional items that can come in a very low price.

Some penny auction sites even offer referral programs to their loyal patrons which can earn you some free bids when your friends sign up.  Once you are ready to bid remember to bid on things you can afford to lose.  Each time you place a bid, you spend around .60 cents on the average.  It may not always be the case since the bid price varies from site to site.  You need to be observant when bidding at penny auctions and pick an item which can be of use to you but luckily there are no bidders and sneak in a bid at the last minute.

To sum it up, there are strategies that veteran bidders of penny auctions use.  One of the strategies actually calls for you to place your bid at the last possible second.  Some sites allow bid bot that you can use to place bid in your behalf at the last second and that is also one of the proven strategy that you can use.

Like the actual auction, penny auction is an online bidding process where you have to bid in order to win the item. From time to time, the price of the item increases and the last, highest bidder wins when the countdown timer runs out. What makes penny auction different from other online auction websites is their “bid packages”. You have to buy these packages for you to bid. Different websites have different packages and you can buy increments from $25 to $100.

 

Bidding on Penny Auction Websites

You need to register an account first before bidding on penny auction websites. As soon as you made an account, you can bid on an item as long as there is still time left. However, the difference with other auction site is that every time a bidder bids on certain item, the time will reset for 10 seconds longer. This can be compared to live auction and other bidders are given the chance to win the item.

If you are new in penny auction, you need to know more about the different strategies in order to win the auctioned item. There are common strategies and techniques that are practiced by expert bidders. One of the most common techniques is bidding on the last minute. After placing each bid, there is an automatic bid that happens and it can be manually placed if you bid on the last minute. You have an option to use a timer when you bid.

There is another option when bidding which is practice by experts is placing a large bid early on the auction. This sets off the tone where you are at the advantage end because other bidders can see your willingness to take the item.  However, if you are practicing this bid make sure that you are willing to spend as much as you can since there are other bidders who also think the same as you do.

 

The Do’s and Dont’s of Penny Auctions

If you want to win as much auctioned items as you can, you need to know the effective ways on how to bid and also know the ineffective practices and mistakes committed by others. Although penny auction may not mean too much, you should still keep your bank accounts in check.

• Only bid on the things you need.

Penny auction websites have most of the things you can see in the retail store and the prices are very luring and tempting. However, you should stop yourself and only think of buying the things you need. If you found the item you need, it is best to bid on the “Buy It Now” items so you can purchase the merchandise right away. If you’ve ever read a Quibids review, that is one example of a penny auction who offers “Buy It Now” on every auction.

• Always know the website

There are different penny auction websites flocking the internet today and you need to know what the site offers. Online scams are happening these days and you don’t want it to happen to you. Thus, you need to do a little research about the website like knowing the reputation and the “about us” information. It is also crucial to know the payment modes, terms and conditions and how the package will be delivered when you purchase. Be wary of the hidden fees that some penny auction websites have.

• Know the prices

Some penny auction websites have an MSRP listed some item up for bid can be too much as compared to the retail price online. You should be able to make comparison between online and the actual retail before making the bid. Use some online reference like Amazon so you can compare the prices and see if your bid is worth it.

• Keep your bank accounts in check

Using penny auction is fun however you also need to keep up with your expenses like paying bills, and other everyday expenses. Don’t let your credit card bill increase and increase because of your purchases in penny auctions.  Don’t spend more than you can afford and don’t spend on things that you are more willing to lose.

Gambling, lottery, slots…man has always been fascinated by the magic of hazard that would blessingly award him with money and expensive objects earned through labor-free methods. And while Vegas became a legendary place, people kept running around to taste its zest straight to the core or all over the world. Excessive shopping, on the other hand(or should we say on the same one?!), has also been since forever a life-consuming drug that may wreck one’s mind and pocket. The two things combined have created few years ago a business that blew the art of brain-washing the intellectually challenged away: penny auction sites.

Also called a bidding fee auction, a penny auction is actually a waiting game in which the wait might make you poorer during a long long stare at the display of your computer, the places where this kind of auctions mainly carry on being internet websites. The way they work is pretty simple, as pretty simple it is to indulge people that desire fast winnings: the object to be bid on is usually a gadget, something expensive that can easily allure anybody. The sale price is a significantly low one, maybe even the tenth part of its retail price.

Whoever wants to bid for it has to buy bids first, moreover to buy their right to bidding with relatively small amounts of money. Every bid placed increases the sale price of the object with a very low percentage of it  and also extends the time of the auction by a few seconds. The person lucky enough to bid the last gets to buy the item at the final price, but the auctioneer gets the money from all the bidders that paid their fees to enter the bid and the price that totals for the object to be bid on. Still not sure who gets out of this affair more wrinkled up?Lets talk numbers for a little bit:say there is an Ipad at stake sold for the amazing price of $50 instead of its real one of $800.

With 1000 bidders that each pays a fee of 1 dollar, the price of the item increases with 5 cents a bidder and therefore its final price is $100 dollars. Every bid also adds up 15 seconds to the auction period and finally, after a very unstable time and money wise deal, the person who wins the auction and already invested $30 dollars in bids gets to buy a $130 Ipad. The auctioneer draws together $1000 from bidding fees and $100 as for the item’s final price-the retail price of it being $800, the profit adds up to $300. Yes, it takes only simple math and  symptoms of the endowment syndrom in order to make this type of business very successful.

One of the most well-known site that ever worked based on this scheme was swoopo.com, operated by Entertainment Shopping AG and based in Munich, Germany. Before it changed its name in 2008 in the one that became famous, it was called Telebid. This site turned penny auction into a fab that crazed people all over the world and developed in such manner that thousands, regardless their time zones, would log in and bid against each other. Besides the mechanism already described above, the website had other features designed to raise bidder’s hopes such as the Bidbutler-a service that would automatically place bids for you(in exchange of extra fees, of course)in the last 10 seconds of the auction.

When several Bidbutlers would bid against each other, the one with the more bids left at the end would win. The site managers claimed swoopo.com didn’t make as much money as expected within the years it worked and even filed for bankruptcy after closing the site in 2011. There is a controversy over the fact that the owners of the site might’ve dug their own holes in order to escape dealing with the law.

Penny auction, online or however they would take place, are to be forbidden in more and more countries. The United States are the first ones to take action in this direction and there are good hopes that this addictive so called „devilish” activity will be banned within their territory for good as a blinding, unhealthy vice like many others.