subject: Free Penny Auction - How to Get Free Bids [print this page] Free Penny Auction - How to Get Free Bids
Penny auctions are online sales that offer merchandise to the highest bidder, but with a twist on the traditional auction model. Unlike eBay, for instance, penny auction sites use a different sales model that requires that users pay a fee for every bid placed on the auction.
Penny auction bids come in a wide range of prices but typically average fifty to seventy five cents per bid. Penny auction bids can be bought in "packs", generally in groups of 20 to 100 bids at a time. Sites generally do not discount the per-bid price on quantity purchases, but packages of bids are often put up for auctions, making it feasible to acquire a package deal of bids at less than the full retail cost.
At some sites, new customers can get free penny auction bids when they buy their first package of bids. These free penny auction bids are often offered as a bonus to new bidders.
The bidding procedure works much as it does with any other on-line auction site. Users may fill out a form and submit their offers manually or they might use an automated "bot" to submit bids for them. When utilizing a bot, the participant indicates the maximum number of bids they wish to place as well as the maximum price they are prepared to pay for the item itself. The bot will bid as a proxy for the participant and will continue to bid till the auction is won or the maximum price or number of authorized bids has been reached.
Penny auctions have no set time limit. Each bid positioned within the last 10 or fifteen seconds from the public sale extends the quantity of time remaining by a couple of seconds and also increases the item's price. The auction continues until time runs out and no one is bidding any longer.
There are various penny auction strategies, but you may be better off trying it on your own to see what works.
The fun part of penny auctions is that one can have the ability to purchase rather expensive items at a fraction of the retail cost. Personal computer systems can frequently be had for less than $100, though bidders must take into account the dollar value from the bids they have placed when looking at their total cost. If a bidder wins an auction for a TV for $10 but also placed 500 bids at fifty cents each, then the price from the TV is now $260. Of course, $260 is still a good deal for a television.
Some people worry about penny auction scams, but the biggest "scam" to watch out for is simply to make sure you don't spend too much money on bids.
Bidders who bid but don't win have still spent money on their bids, so they frequently end up with nothing to show for their efforts. At least one website offers losing bidders the opportunity to buy merchandise making use of the value of their already-placed bids towards the price of the item in question. This gives even the "losers" something of value.
