Has anyone tried those penny auction sites?

[mijctj]

Just wondering if anyone has used those penny action sites yet? How good were the deals that you got?

Cheers

[melanciaa]

I tried one named Quibids or whatever its name was. The auctions are for pennies but you have to pay to bid. You buy a certain amount of bids and use those to bid on the products. Once your bid quantity goes down you have to buy more. Some people have told me to try to bid right before the auction ends but if you do they add more time to the auction. I have not won anything from them yet and gave up a long time ago.

[Barbara Ward]

I have done a lot of research on auction sites, and found out you can lose a lot of money on them. I have tried Zeek Rewards, but the bids cost $1.00 each. Very expensive. I lost money.

Pearly

[TommyH]

Originally Posted by Barbara Ward

I have done a lot of research on auction sites, and found out you can lose a lot of money on them. I have tried Zeek Rewards, but the bids cost $1.00 each. Very expensive. I lost money.

Pearly

Hi Everyone,

Sorry to hear about your experience with these sites. Great deals can be had through penny auction sites, but its best when you are first starting out to try to win something on the lower price side those are easier to win. I have won a few 25-50 dollar gift certificates for under a dollar with these sites. Haven't tried any big ticket items yet.

Yes, it does cost per bid but some sites like Zeekler you will get free bids up front to play around with to see if you like how the site works. I know that Zeek Rewards is more the business opportunity then the actual auction site, so when you look there that's why bids are 1.00. Those are VIP bids and affiliates earn by giving those bids away.

At Zeekler you can purchase a variety of bids, they have VIP bids that are 1.00 each and these are allowed on special auctions. The normal bids are .65 to purchase with the smallest bid pack being 50 bids. The price per bid is the same as other sites but you don't have to purchase a large pack to get started.

Also the great thing with Zeekler is if you sign up you get bids for free, and some will get additional bids given to them even after they sign up. I have signed up with a few other sites that say you will get free bids but in order to receive them you must first purchase a bid pack. With Zeekler you get the free bids first, then get to choose if you want to purchase a bid pack.

The other way the penny auctions work. This is so you don't lose money, when you bid on something if you don't win it and you were using bids you paid for you have the option to buy the item at the end of the auction for the price minus what you spent already in bids. For example, if you are bidding on a 25 dollar gift card or Cash option, you use 10 bids trying to win it (bids you purchased not free ones) but you don't win. At the end of the auction your 10 bids (6.50 can go to the purchase) so you can still get the 25.00 card buy paying the additional 18.50. This way you do not lose the 6.50 in bids.

A few tips at winning items. When you first start off try for smaller things and/or things you had already planned to buy. This way if you don't win the item you can still purchase the item. You wont lose any money in bids and you gain the chance to get the item at a lower cost. Watch the auction, if you see more then 5-7 people bidding in the last 5-10 minutes (there is an area to see this on the auction) it will probably go on for a while. Best time to bid is when there is 5 or less people bidding. For bigger ticket items look at previous auctions or upcoming ones and see how much it actually went for. View a few of these to get an idea (however it can range from time of day and what day it nears its end) What I have found is items that end during the week but before 5 tend to go lower then something that ends Friday during prime time. Also see if there is another big ticket item ending around the same time. If so the second item might get overlooked by others and can be had for a really low price.

If you would like to get some free bids click the link in my signature that says "save money" or if you want to learn more about the business side you can click the other link or send me a PM.

Hope this helps some folks out with the penny auction sites.

[ReneeBrown]

My personal experience is its pretty much a gamble but there are people that luck out and get big ticket items for a ridiculous amount.

[TommyH]

I think with them best thing when starting out is to bid on something you had already planned to pay retail for. Reason for this is if you run out of bids and don't win the item at a low price most sites allow you to still purchase the item for the retail price, minus the amount you spent in bids.

For example. You know this weekend you were going to order that 200 dollar Kindle Fire online. You see that the there is one on the penny auction site. If you buy 100 dollars worth of bids, you can bid on that item. You might get lucky and get that Kindle for 15 dollars with maybe 5 dollars spent in bids. So the 200 dollar Kindle you got for 20 dollars.

But lets say worse case you don't win and use all your bids (100 dollars worth). Well when the auction closes you can still purchase the Kindle for 100 dollars more. $100 you spent on bids and the extra $100 to pay for the total retail. You still only pay what you were going to, but you had the chance to get it for a lot less.

The only way you really lose is if you are bidding on something that you really don't intend to pay full retail for to begin with. Then when you don't win it for cheap, all the bids you used go down the drain. If this is the case then you only want to use a few bids whatever you are willing to risk, unless you have a lot of free bids, or bids you won from bid pack auctions.

[Ostephens]

I do the Zeek Rewards site as well.

[Ostephens]

Tommy you are so right on this and I like how you explained it as well!

Originally Posted by TommyH

I think with them best thing when starting out is to bid on something you had already planned to pay retail for. Reason for this is if you run out of bids and don't win the item at a low price most sites allow you to still purchase the item for the retail price, minus the amount you spent in bids.

For example. You know this weekend you were going to order that 200 dollar Kindle Fire online. You see that the there is one on the penny auction site. If you buy 100 dollars worth of bids, you can bid on that item. You might get lucky and get that Kindle for 15 dollars with maybe 5 dollars spent in bids. So the 200 dollar Kindle you got for 20 dollars.

But lets say worse case you don't win and use all your bids (100 dollars worth). Well when the auction closes you can still purchase the Kindle for 100 dollars more. $100 you spent on bids and the extra $100 to pay for the total retail. You still only pay what you were going to, but you had the chance to get it for a lot less.

The only way you really lose is if you are bidding on something that you really don't intend to pay full retail for to begin with. Then when you don't win it for cheap, all the bids you used go down the drain. If this is the case then you only want to use a few bids whatever you are willing to risk, unless you have a lot of free bids, or bids you won from bid pack auctions.

[CynthiaW]

Originally Posted by mijctj

Just wondering if anyone has used those penny action sites yet? How good were the deals that you got?

Cheers

To answer your question, yes, I've used one of those penny auction sites. To be honest, I haven't won anything yet, but I'm using up free bids to "test the water". I do know real people who have won and got amazing deals. So, I do know they do work.

I agree with Tommy, only consider bidding on something you're considering paying retail for anyway.

HTH!!

[embereli]

I tried Quibids and won two gift cards off the bat. Turns out I was in the beginner auction section where there are lots of auctions and less competition and it is easy to win. They do that to make you think winning is going to be a cinch. Then suddenly they put me in the regular auction, where there are fewer auctions and a LOT of competition. So it appeared to be a scam, or bait and switch at the very least. I avoid them now.