Penny auction websites - Legit or scam?

[trader]

Lately I've seen many websites that let you bid on items for a penny at a time and win them very cheap, which doesnt make sense because how are they going to make a profit then?

For example:

Auction | Cheap TV laptop ipod auctions - bid & win on Swoopo

BidRivals US

Penny Auctions - Bidray | Bid & Win Penny Auctions!

Bid on Penny Auctions. BidCactus.com

What do you think about these types of sites? Any chance to get good deals from them?

[CastleKing]

I've heard of swoopo and bidray, dont think they are scams. Dont know about the others.

However, I would not recommend those types of auctions. They sell "Bidding packs" in which bids cost a certain amount. So for example if a bid costs $1, when you bid a "Penny" you actually paid $1 for that bid not 1c.

And most important, you lose all money you bid even if you didnt win the item. So I see it as closer to gambling then to being an auctions.

Plus there is no way to tell whether you are bidding against bots or real people.

So whether scams or not, I would stay away and go to "Traditional" auction sites where you dont lose money if you didnt win the item.

[PennyAuctionWatch]

Hi!

There are so many penny auctions and sometimes it is hard to know whether a site is a scam (with bots & shill bidders) many programmers sell scripts with autobot features to make it appear like there are many bidders on an auction, this is totally fraudulent but a lot of them don't care and are out to make a quick buck. However, there are some penny auctions that I have tried where I could tell there were no bots, such low traffic that people basically clean them out and they have to shut down (bad biz decision on their part), but it is a risky business on both parts seller/buyer. You have to watch your competition and take notes and be ready to lose money and walk away if you have to. Earlier this year I formed a penny auction watchdog blog and discussion forum, if RarityGuide doesn't mind me posting the link here, it's Penny Auction Watch: Penny Auction News, Reviews and Forums.

You can see just how blatant and ridiculous some of the penny auction sites with bot bidders are and learn more about the whole industry if you'd like.

Best Wishes!

Oh I also wanted to add: Check traffic ranking for Penny Auction Sites too pennyauctiontraffic.com has compiled a nice list of stats.

BidCactus is near or more popular than Swoopo! Items have been received by Penny Auction Watch members from BidCactus & Swoopo as well as BidRay. A lot of traffic=more competition- but some sites with low traffic and many bidders will= red flag right there..

[Tome]

It does sound similar to gambling, is there any regulating (ie Government or other 3rd party services) regulating these types of sites to make sure there is no foul play? Like for example if I go gamble in Las Vegas, I know that the Casinos there are monitored. I think it would make people feel safer if they knew this was regulated and they would be more inclined to bid.

For example one of the sites mentioned above (bidrivals) states this guarantee:

With our Fair Auction Guarantee you can be sure that we do not use any systems that automatically bid on our auctions (Autobids). We also guarantee that no employees of Bidrivals or their family members are allowed to bid on the auctions.

The Fair Auction Guarantee is our way of showing our users what we stand for, and is an important part of our core values. Bidrivals auctions are for the benefit of our members, and only members can bid on our products.

But how is that worth anything if there is no 3rd party verification of this claim?

[Neon]

True, although you could also say the same on Ebay or other auction websites, whats to say that they are not using bods to bid against people and raise the auction prices to collect more fees (I know ebay doesnt do that, but theoretically speaking)

[Tome]

well ebay has been here for a while and I know they monitor and take auctions against foul activity. Also they have some level of transparency: You can see feedback statistics of users that are bidding, and other relevant statistics from bid history such as how many auctions they bid on from the same bidder, retracted bids, and so on. I dont think any of the penny auction sites provides such transperancy.

But anyway, the point is that even lets say you lose to a bot on ebay, you dont win the item and you also dont have to pay anything. But if you lose on a penny auction site, you are left without your money AND without the item. Thats why its particularly important in those sites to know that they are not using bots to that compete against you and make sure you dont win.

[zoned]

I'm confused, why would I have to pay for an item I did not win

[Tome]

I'm confused, why would I have to pay for an item I did not win

Think of it less in terms of an auction, but more in terms of a game, or a raffle of sorts.

If they sell a $1000 item for $10, they must make the money someplace else. The profits come from all the people who lost on the auction.

[BlackDS]

Sites like that usually ride the line of legal. I'd just stick with Amazon and Ebay.

[isaacscott111]

There are some rules in running and joining online auctions. Penny auction websites have its own. If you think it is a scam don't join. However, if you really wanted an item because it is perhaps a collector's item, then it pays to spend a few dollars for it. I would recommend Online Auctions Site - EasyMud.com and see if it would make you happy.

[Baelog]

I would have to see some good bit of statistics before deciding if to join...

[Falcon]

What about beezid.com? I saw a commercial for it on TV. It said you can get a 50" flat screen tv for less than 10 dollars or a car for less then 700 dollars which also sounds too good to be true

[bidder]

I use these sites. Some of them are legit, others are scams.

I like the new one, Snaglo.com. I've had good luck with that one and I've won a couple things, like a laptop and some video games. I use them as presents for my family. They always have new electronics and stuff.

There's another one I like too, but I can't think of the name of it...

[Howard]

do you lose your bids when you dont win in beezid?

[pratapa]

Normally its the case that you loose the money spent on each and every bid. I have recently come across a new penny auction site which runs two types of auctions.

1) regular ones (better deals but risk losing bids) where, each bid will cost you only $0.25 compared to $1 on most other sites.

2) Membership auctions(only risk what it costs to enter but auctions go longer), where you just need to spend maybe 2 to 4 credits to enter an auction and bid unlimited number of times till you win!

check out Bidoasis.net

[ikkeh83]

bid2battle.com

Good news for Internet users who love shopping online, now you can get LCD TV, Ipod's, Cell Phones and many other exciting products at a ¼ of their retail price or even less. Bid2Battle for charity had a nationwide launch of their new and unique online auction site HOME. Bid2Battle provides an exhilarating and rewarding shopping experience to its users where they get a fair chance to win the desired auction/product at a very low price.

Bid2Battle offers branded consumer electronics and other products to its users. It also offers many proprietary bonus and reward programs to its users. Bid2battle's bonus program gives participants the opportunity to win credits /bids with each auctions won, which can be used immediately for bidding on other auctions. Bid2Battle for charity also provides their battlers with referral rewards for every new registrant that registers through them.
The starting price of every auction is often EUR 0.00 and there is a maximum price for every single auction to protect it’s users from overbidding. The highest bidder wins the auction when the timer reaches zero and no new bid is placed. The price is often very attractive compaired with the full retail price. A user at Bid2Battle can command a BidAssistant to place automatic bids for him/her when the user is not online. With a BidAssistant the user can determine the maximum price he or she is willing to pay for winning the product. The user can set a BidAssitant and the BidAssistant will do the battling for him/her. There are no additional costs for using this amazing feature.
Bid2Battle sets itself apart from other online auction sites because its main mission is to fight poverty and that’s why 25% of Bid2Battle’s profit is beeing donated to a charitable organization every three months. Customers at Bid2Battle can expect to receive top quality products from the best suppliers in the world.

[EricJohnson]

Lately I've seen many websites that let you bid on items for a penny at a time and win them very cheap, which doesnt make sense because how are they going to make a profit then?

For example:

Auction | Cheap TV laptop ipod auctions - bid & win on Swoopo

BidRivals US

Penny Auctions - Bidray | Bid & Win Penny Auctions!

Bid on Penny Auctions. BidCactus.com

What do you think about these types of sites? Any chance to get good deals from them?

Hey Mate,

I can understand your concern as more and more people started showing interest in Online auctions or Penny Auctions. I was also too skeptical when I first started bidding on these penny sites and lost huge amount of money. I recommended these sites as a gambling and cheating elements to the people. However, after I earned lot of experience gambling on these sites I can to know that it requires a luck and lot of intelligence to actually win the bargain.

You may get cheated initially by some of the penny auction sites but talking about Swoopo and Bidray etc they are genuine sites and often people present them in a wrong way after loosing their money on these sites.

It would be better if you can look at Brugle.com, it's a new concept of entertainment shopping where people together brings the price down of the product and everyone can buy the same product. Get more info @ www.brugle.com

[kochtech]

It seems that some of these sites are scams - but who knows for sure. Tonight I watched some auctions at MyEZBids.com | Safe And EZ Penny Auction! and it looked like the users were walking away with some really good deals. It's worth a look at MyEZBids.com | Safe And EZ Penny Auction!

[bidwinner]

My favorite site of this kind is 5050auctions.com

So far my winning percentage is the best at this site. Plus they give you half the bids you spend to win the item back into your account, so you can use those to win more. I like that a lot. Their shipping is pretty fast, and the items all come from amazon, so I can return them myself for amazon credit if I want something different.
I also like that after winning all I have to pay is 50 cents rather than an item price that can be over 50 bucks for something really good like on some of the other sites.

As for it being like gambling, shoot, almost anything in life is a gamble. But when you win here it's way better than winning in an auction on ebay, because the deals on ebay quite frankly, aren't that great. Sure there are times you don't win, and you've spent your bids, but it usually balances out to some pretty big savings when you get the hang of it, and learn the best times and items to bid on.
I'd definately recommend this site

[bidwinner]

My favorite site of this kind is 5050auctions.com

So far my winning percentage is the best at this site. Plus they give you half the bids you spend to win the item back into your account, so you can use those to win more. I like that a lot. Their shipping is pretty fast, and the items all come from amazon, so I can return them myself for amazon credit if I want something different.
I also like that after winning all I have to pay is 50 cents rather than an item price that can be over 50 bucks for something really good like on some of the other sites.

As for it being like gambling, shoot, almost anything in life is a gamble. But when you win here it's way better than winning in an auction on ebay, because the deals on ebay quite frankly, aren't that great. Sure there are times you don't win, and you've spent your bids, but it usually balances out to some pretty big savings when you get the hang of it, and learn the best times and items to bid on.
I'd definately recommend this site