1) Plenty of closed auctions – A sure way to know how good a penny auction site is or if it is even real, is how many closed auctions they display. A good site will have a list of both the best deals grabbed by users as well as the most recently closed auctions. Look out for when an auction closed if a site has auctions closing regularly (at least 20 a day) then you know you’ve found a good site!
2) A great range of products – Another way to tell if I site is any good is the sort of products they offer. A good site will offer auctions such as Electricals, Vouchers for high street brands and bid packages. An auction site that offers mainly bid packages should be treated suspiciously.
3) A lot of results – Search the name of the website you have found in Google and see what results come up. Look out for links for forums, reviews, Wikipedia and social network sites such as Facebook. Read the reviews of others and join a forum or social networking site and see what other users think of the site.
4) Good press – Any established penny auction site will have good coverage from external sources. Look out on the company’s website for coverage from National Newspapers, TV Channels and Magazines.
Monday, 7 June 2010
Tuesday, 1 June 2010
How to win online penny auctions
Penny auction sites are a great way to grab a bargain on top brand products. Unlike traditional auction sites such as ebay, penny auction sites are pay-to-bid but the savings you can make are fantastic. Here we lay out the top 5 tips on how to win on penny auction sites.
1. Learn about the site and its users
Take a look around the site and get a feel for the layout, take advantage of FAQ’s and watch how other users bid. You are most likely to win when you know who you are up against.
2. Get the right time and right product
There are often quieter times on penny auction sites such as breakfast time when many people are getting ready for work or the school run. Also at first bid on smaller products such as bid packages and vouchers to get a feel for the bidding process and you have a much greater chance of winning.
3. Get Free Bids
Some penny auction sites give users free bids upon registration and sites like MadBid.com reward users with loyalty schemes such as ‘claim your daily free bid’ where you can claim a free bid daily for up to 15 days when you purchase a bid package.
4. Make sure the site is genuine and secure
Sometimes penny auction sites can seem too good to be true and in some cases they are. Look out for sites that have secure payment systems such as C.O.M.O.D.O Authentic Secure. Also look out for sites that offer a ‘Buy Now’ feature on selected auctions as this reduces risks when bidding and gives you a back up plan.
5. Research the site
Search the site name on Google and look for articles about the company from trusted sources such as national newspaper, tv channels and user forums.
1. Learn about the site and its users
Take a look around the site and get a feel for the layout, take advantage of FAQ’s and watch how other users bid. You are most likely to win when you know who you are up against.
2. Get the right time and right product
There are often quieter times on penny auction sites such as breakfast time when many people are getting ready for work or the school run. Also at first bid on smaller products such as bid packages and vouchers to get a feel for the bidding process and you have a much greater chance of winning.
3. Get Free Bids
Some penny auction sites give users free bids upon registration and sites like MadBid.com reward users with loyalty schemes such as ‘claim your daily free bid’ where you can claim a free bid daily for up to 15 days when you purchase a bid package.
4. Make sure the site is genuine and secure
Sometimes penny auction sites can seem too good to be true and in some cases they are. Look out for sites that have secure payment systems such as C.O.M.O.D.O Authentic Secure. Also look out for sites that offer a ‘Buy Now’ feature on selected auctions as this reduces risks when bidding and gives you a back up plan.
5. Research the site
Search the site name on Google and look for articles about the company from trusted sources such as national newspaper, tv channels and user forums.
Penny auctions – Is it a scam?
Penny auction websites have recently grown in popularity and number and like many phenomenon’s for every good site there are 10 bad ones. Below we have listed the three things to watch out for when looking at penny auction sites and choosing a site to bid on.
Get in touch...
• First of all find out if and where the company is registered in the UK. If not steer well clear, look for a company registration number.
• Look for contact details such as phone numbers, e-mail addresses and a postal address. If a site does not have all of these then you could face problems in the near future. Not only does this show that it could be difficult to get hold of anyone but it raises questions as to where they are based.
Be Smart...
• Look for a bidding history on the site... If there isn’t one don’t sign up. A bidding history shows that others are using the site and allows you to figure out your competitors.
• Look for latest winners... Make sure there is a list of recent winners as this indicates that other people are winning auctions and helps give you an idea of what price a product tends to go for.
• Sign-up to a site which offers at least one free bid so that you can try before you buy and find out if penny auctions are for you.
Be Safe...
• As when you are shopping online it is important that you shop safely on penny auction sites.
• Look out for sites that accept payment via multiple methods such as PayPal, Debit Card, Credit Card and uKash.
• Look out for sites with accreditation such as Verified by Visa and MasterCard SecureCode as well as McAfee Security. These logo’s are a sign of safety.
Get in touch...
• First of all find out if and where the company is registered in the UK. If not steer well clear, look for a company registration number.
• Look for contact details such as phone numbers, e-mail addresses and a postal address. If a site does not have all of these then you could face problems in the near future. Not only does this show that it could be difficult to get hold of anyone but it raises questions as to where they are based.
Be Smart...
• Look for a bidding history on the site... If there isn’t one don’t sign up. A bidding history shows that others are using the site and allows you to figure out your competitors.
• Look for latest winners... Make sure there is a list of recent winners as this indicates that other people are winning auctions and helps give you an idea of what price a product tends to go for.
• Sign-up to a site which offers at least one free bid so that you can try before you buy and find out if penny auctions are for you.
Be Safe...
• As when you are shopping online it is important that you shop safely on penny auction sites.
• Look out for sites that accept payment via multiple methods such as PayPal, Debit Card, Credit Card and uKash.
• Look out for sites with accreditation such as Verified by Visa and MasterCard SecureCode as well as McAfee Security. These logo’s are a sign of safety.
Thursday, 4 February 2010
ONLINE AUCTIONS MORE GENEROUS THAN ALISTAIR DARLING
Online auctions continue to dish out top-of-the-range goodies while the chancellor tightens our belts for us.
After giving billions of pounds of our money to the country's top banks so they can lend it back to us at a massive profit, Alistair Darling had some more good news for us all this week. Bingo executives planning to upgrade their boilers would have been yelling "jackpot" at the top of their voices when the chancellor presented us with his practice budget on Wednesday. For the rest of us, everything in the shops is going to be more expensive and whatever it is that the government does that you like is probably going to stop because there's no money left.
Britain is in worst financial shape than Leeds United on the day the fish tank bill arrived. We owe money from Sheerness to Shanghai – and I do mean 'we'. The only reason the government can borrow £170 billion this year is because the investors and pension funds buying the debt know us taxpayers are good for it.
With this big black cloud hanging over us all, it would have been nice of Mr Darling to spread some seasonal cheer beyond Bingo bosses with crummy boilers. Free back rubs perhaps? Tax breaks on World Cup tickets? Or how about a week-long Christmas bank holiday?
The truth is, if you want to feel good, don't leave it to the politicians. They're too busy buying giant TVs, duck spas and porn with your money. If you want to get your hands on some seriously cool stuff in time for Christmas you're going to have to go out and get it for yourself.
Get signed up to an online auction site and test your wits against the experienced punters who regularly take home new cars, piles of cash, PS3s, DVD box sets and bottles of designer perfume for a fraction of their retail value. Unlike bingo – a poor man's online auction – sites like MadBid require skill, guile and bravado. You need a quick mind and a steady finger rather than a pair of fat ladies to outthink the competition and land the biggest bargains.
Credit crunch or fruit punch, when it comes to online auctions it's your bottle and your brains that matter, not your country's debt rating. If you've got what it takes to be a successful MadBid bidder you can have Christmas fit for a king and not even worry about what VAT stands for.
After giving billions of pounds of our money to the country's top banks so they can lend it back to us at a massive profit, Alistair Darling had some more good news for us all this week. Bingo executives planning to upgrade their boilers would have been yelling "jackpot" at the top of their voices when the chancellor presented us with his practice budget on Wednesday. For the rest of us, everything in the shops is going to be more expensive and whatever it is that the government does that you like is probably going to stop because there's no money left.
Britain is in worst financial shape than Leeds United on the day the fish tank bill arrived. We owe money from Sheerness to Shanghai – and I do mean 'we'. The only reason the government can borrow £170 billion this year is because the investors and pension funds buying the debt know us taxpayers are good for it.
With this big black cloud hanging over us all, it would have been nice of Mr Darling to spread some seasonal cheer beyond Bingo bosses with crummy boilers. Free back rubs perhaps? Tax breaks on World Cup tickets? Or how about a week-long Christmas bank holiday?
The truth is, if you want to feel good, don't leave it to the politicians. They're too busy buying giant TVs, duck spas and porn with your money. If you want to get your hands on some seriously cool stuff in time for Christmas you're going to have to go out and get it for yourself.
Get signed up to an online auction site and test your wits against the experienced punters who regularly take home new cars, piles of cash, PS3s, DVD box sets and bottles of designer perfume for a fraction of their retail value. Unlike bingo – a poor man's online auction – sites like MadBid require skill, guile and bravado. You need a quick mind and a steady finger rather than a pair of fat ladies to outthink the competition and land the biggest bargains.
Credit crunch or fruit punch, when it comes to online auctions it's your bottle and your brains that matter, not your country's debt rating. If you've got what it takes to be a successful MadBid bidder you can have Christmas fit for a king and not even worry about what VAT stands for.
Saturday, 2 January 2010
How will a Trader in Stock Exchange Bid on Penny Auctions
Game theory is “the mathematics of strategy”, it assumes that if all players in a game play the most rational strategy the result of the game is predictable. “Successful bidding isn’t just what you bid on, it is also the way you bid.”
Just as with a good strategy, “knowledge and information are two critical success factors in bidding for the best approach to winning, you want to build your knowledge and find quality information first. The way in which the different types of bidders utilise knowledge and information to build their bidding strategies gives rise to different types of bidding techniques and winning trends.
Bidders’ Strategies and Bidding Trends
The identification of bidding trends is essential to determining a bidder’s strategy. Penny auction bidding strategies are based on the identification of the bidding trends.
Bidding on News
Another important technique is News Playing. The basic strategy is to avoid bidding if the website you are bidding on is in the news or bid when there is no news about the site. Typical events that can cause lot of people coming on the website which inflates the cost of products are positive news reports about the website, News on Penny Auction or large advertising, marketing or PR stunt. Example Swoopo was in news when it got a large VC funding in the US. Two impact, immediate impact of news was high growth in traffic and long-term impact Swoopo will do much bigger advertisement campaigns and hence more competition.
Suggestion – Follow your auction site on Twitter, Facebook etc and setup a Google news alert for your company
Guessing the Players
The whole system is highly dynamic. Big movements in a small time are possible. The penny auction bidder has to guess the action of the major actors on the auction market. The interpretation of the signals of the big players is crucial. Most big players will enter a penny auction early in the game if they smell quick win. Understanding the actions of big players can give a good insight into how the future of that auction will pan out.
Suggestion – Keep a record on big players and possibly their winnings
Bubbles
Price of a stock is much higher than the value of a product. The Bubble comes into existence due to high speculations and is by far the most dangerous to short term speculations. It is easy to predict by comparing the price and average closing price of all the products.
A Bubble comes into being when unsophisticated/new players get pulled into an auction where they hope to make big returns. More they get into that auction more they get a feeling of being invested. An unsophisticated player doesn’t think in terms of sunk cost and doesn’t set a limit beyond which he/she will stop the bidding. Sophisticated or long-term player can still profit during these bubbles by understanding and following the unsophisticated players quite closely. Once the unsophisticated players move out the more patient players dive in for a kill.
But bubble remains the most dangerous and unpredictable auction and even sophisticated players stay out.
Suggestion – Avoid bubbles like plague
Just as with a good strategy, “knowledge and information are two critical success factors in bidding for the best approach to winning, you want to build your knowledge and find quality information first. The way in which the different types of bidders utilise knowledge and information to build their bidding strategies gives rise to different types of bidding techniques and winning trends.
Bidders’ Strategies and Bidding Trends
The identification of bidding trends is essential to determining a bidder’s strategy. Penny auction bidding strategies are based on the identification of the bidding trends.
Bidding on News
Another important technique is News Playing. The basic strategy is to avoid bidding if the website you are bidding on is in the news or bid when there is no news about the site. Typical events that can cause lot of people coming on the website which inflates the cost of products are positive news reports about the website, News on Penny Auction or large advertising, marketing or PR stunt. Example Swoopo was in news when it got a large VC funding in the US. Two impact, immediate impact of news was high growth in traffic and long-term impact Swoopo will do much bigger advertisement campaigns and hence more competition.
Suggestion – Follow your auction site on Twitter, Facebook etc and setup a Google news alert for your company
Guessing the Players
The whole system is highly dynamic. Big movements in a small time are possible. The penny auction bidder has to guess the action of the major actors on the auction market. The interpretation of the signals of the big players is crucial. Most big players will enter a penny auction early in the game if they smell quick win. Understanding the actions of big players can give a good insight into how the future of that auction will pan out.
Suggestion – Keep a record on big players and possibly their winnings
Bubbles
Price of a stock is much higher than the value of a product. The Bubble comes into existence due to high speculations and is by far the most dangerous to short term speculations. It is easy to predict by comparing the price and average closing price of all the products.
A Bubble comes into being when unsophisticated/new players get pulled into an auction where they hope to make big returns. More they get into that auction more they get a feeling of being invested. An unsophisticated player doesn’t think in terms of sunk cost and doesn’t set a limit beyond which he/she will stop the bidding. Sophisticated or long-term player can still profit during these bubbles by understanding and following the unsophisticated players quite closely. Once the unsophisticated players move out the more patient players dive in for a kill.
But bubble remains the most dangerous and unpredictable auction and even sophisticated players stay out.
Suggestion – Avoid bubbles like plague
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