Beware of Penny Auctions

loftypeak

be careful!

yvonne13_2

The same user names cropping up over and again? do you mean winners or just bidders? If your talking about winners name I would write to the company with proof of what you think is going on

paddyrg

Scared? Not a good sign. That said I find those sites very murky and I wouldn't be in the least shocked if some of them were not content with selling bids at a massive rate, but also like to shill bid themselves to drive up bids/prices.

DCFC79

loftypeak wrote: »

be careful!

scared of what

anymore information forthcoming

DebtHater

DCFC79 wrote: »

scared of what

anymore information forthcoming

You didnt miss alot, I saw the original post before OP changed it.

Basically the OP was complaining that they never seem to win and its costing them a fortune in "tickets".

Funny story, I was listening to some work colleagues talking a few months ago and they were thinking of setting one of these up as a full-time company, doing it all properly etc. They were excited about the "amount of money to be made from these mugs who want a bargain" and then went into detail about how these websites work. In reality, there is only one actual item but they can run multiple auctions (very much like a tournament) until they have a winner. Or they can run one main auction and charge over the odds for membership/tickets for people to use to bid. So all in all, a lot of people wont win the auction but will all chip in pennies or pounds, the winning bidder gets a bargain and the website makes a huge profit on the item.

People using these types of sites think "oh its ok, I only spent £2" or something like that, but they dont realise that there could be hundreds of other people all putting in money. The only winners are the website owners, and a very very lucky winning bidder. That said, you dont know exactly how much that winning bidder has wasted elsewhere on the site, so it may well have just been cheaper (and easier!) to buy the item from a shop.

loftypeak

Watching an iPad sale last night, RRP was £329.00, I stopped watching when the bidding reached £19.33. Sound like a good deal? That's 1933 bids at 0.60p each. I make that £1159.80, sounds like a good earner to me - the question is who is paying? Draw your own conclusions!

DCFC79

loftypeak wrote: »

Watching an iPad sale last night, RRP was £329.00, I stopped watching when the bidding reached £19.33. Sound like a good deal? That's 1933 bids at 0.60p each. I make that £1159.80, sounds like a good earner to me - the question is who is paying? Draw your own conclusions!

people have the option of not using them sites, you also have the option of using it as well,

trumpton

In my view one of the worse things Labour ever did was make gambling easier. Now everywhere you look there are adverts for web bingo and online poker, and these very dubious bid sites. Sure, it's your choice, but there will always be people who are easily swayed and need protecting from themselves. Gambling is hugely addictive.

These site are currently not subject to gambling regulations, though to me they are no better than buying a raffle ticket. The companies must be raking in the cash for very little outlay. They don't need to fix the outcome, because as loftypeak says they don't need that many bidders before the cost of most items has been covered. The fact that one guys gets a Fiesta for a £20 bid makes people think they are in with a chance - the reality being that of the thousands of bids made, only a handful of people get an item.

adrenalin

i had a go with free bids promotion on some these sites, i watched them a while too was interesting and funny when people bid again in last second i.e mad bid and once i was 2nd last to bid, was rather frustrating. I could see how this nearly winning could be encouraging to buy some but i just left it as know how they work. Mad bid was one i tried.

ayayay

It makes me angry that these people are allowed to call them auctions. They're not - they're lotteries.

trumpton

Exactly. Using the phrase 'auction' makes people think they actually have a chance of 'winning'.