beezid.com

[MrBug708]

Has anyone ever dabbled with the auctions on this site? Seems too good to be true and with having to pay for bids, might very well be too good to be true. Was wondering if anyhow has ever done anything with it

http://www.beezid.com/

[k0ruptr]

just watching for a few minutes, looks like the timer resets everytime someone bids in the last 5 seconds, so with with 1 second left, someone bids and it extends it 20 seconds. so seems kinda lame. but I dunno

[k0ruptr]

it seems like with that time extension thing, and you buying bids basically, it would take a ton of bids to win something so I'm not sure its as great as it seems.

[SackAttack]

Stop and think about how that works for a second, Bug.

It's not like eBay where you can bid a specific amount. You have to buy bids, and each bid only increases the price by a penny.

Meanwhile, each bid costs you a minimum of 60 cents on top of that penny.

So in order to move the price of that Xbox 360 slim from $1.00 to $1.30, you're paying at least $18. More likely, the high end on bid cost - $0.90 - is for the smallest package of bids - 30. So to move the price of that Xbox 360 from $1.00 to $1.30 is actually $27.30.

There's no "might very well" about it.

The other example of this kind of auction I've seen, they run for a certain amount of time, but a bid always adds another fifteen minutes (or whatever) onto the clock, and sometimes it just randomly adds more time.

The only person making happy transactions with a site like that are the owners selling the bids.

Stick with eBay.

[k0ruptr]

it also seems you could buy a pack of 50 bids and if you use them all and still actually not win anything, I think thats even how they get a lot of people. wow

[SackAttack]

Originally Posted by k0ruptr

it also seems you could buy a pack of 50 bids and if you use them all and still actually not win anything, I think thats even how they get a lot of people. wow

Pretty much. What happens is people don't factor in the cost of their bids into what they're paying in the auction. They get ecstatic at how cheaply they got that electronic gizmo, and ignore the $200 they spent in bid fees to get it.

[mckerney]

The greatest business plan ever? Or simply the most devious? - Front Office Football Central

[EagleFan]

If you are smart about that site it may be worthwhile but it's not as wonderful as it appears.

For example Just saw a PS3 go for under 50 bucks, which sounds great but it depends on how much the winner had to pay on bids. At the same time saw a 100 bid pack go for around 50 bucks. It all starts to cascade if the winner was using something like that.

If he had won a bid pack like that and happened to use them all on that PS3 the price could be up around 100, which still sounds great. But, how much could have been spent in trying to win the bid pack?


That site must be raking in the cash. If the average bid earned them just 50 cents they would have just made over 2300 dollars in profit selling a PS3.

Bravo to the creators of that site, they have found a way to print money.

If using the 50 cent average per bid they have just collecte almot 500 dollars in bid fees for a 100 dollar visa gift card. That is some nice profit (actualy, could go much higher as it is still extending).

[Bearcat729]

The best part about it is that every so often the get a car up on the site to sell. Usually something nice I think the last one I saw was a 2010 Mustang, and usually the end bidding is about $1,000.

I think a couple of my friends and I figured out the amount of money it took to raise the bidding to the end price made the site 10 times the original cost of the car.

[AZSpeechCoach]

I am always suspicious of something that uses carny-speak in the name. It's like they're advertising "Come here...we will rip you off. And we smell like cabbage."

[molson]

Their radio ads are infuriating. How can they be allowed to advertise "XBox 360s for $1.50!"

[EagleFan]

WhatI don't get is why people bid early on some of these items. Looking at a TV that has an 87 cent bid so far but there are still 2 hours left in the bidding. Isn't that pretty much a waste of your money? It's not like ebay where the bid that you make could potentially be enough to buy the item as no-one may want to overbid you.

[DanGarion]

I have one word for you.

Ripoff.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Originally Posted by EagleFan

Bravo to the creators of that site, they have found a way to print money.

If using the 50 cent average per bid they have just collecte almot 500 dollars in bid fees for a 100 dollar visa gift card. That is some nice profit (actualy, could go much higher as it is still extending).

This. I find it hard to call this a ripoff. This isn't much different than the lottery. Kudos to these guys for creating an addictive site that caters to people with gambling personalities. You're basically buying a lottery ticket every few seconds in the hopes that your competitors fall asleep at the wheel for 20 seconds. It may be a costly endeavor, but there's no question that it could become extremely addictive once you get a winner.

[DanGarion]

Originally Posted by Mizzou B-ball fan

This. I find it hard to call this a ripoff. This isn't much different than the lottery. Kudos to these guys for creating an addictive site that caters to people with gambling personalities. You're basically buying a lottery ticket every few seconds in the hopes that your competitors fall asleep at the wheel for 20 seconds. It may be a costly endeavor, but there's no question that it could become extremely addictive once you get a winner.

So what you are saying it's a ripoff? Lottery tickets are a ripoff as well. More money goes in compared to what goes out.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Originally Posted by DanGarion

So what you are saying it's a ripoff? Lottery tickets are a ripoff as well. More money goes in compared to what goes out.

Gambling is a loss leader obviously, but that doesn't mean there's not a market for it.

I don't know if anyone else noticed, but if you click on the sold items as they scroll across the top of the screen, it will take you to the sold screen. There it lists the retail price along with the number of bids that the winner made and then shows how much the winner saved. For example, on this $100 gift card, it shows a retail of $100 minus $26 in placed bids by the winner. So he received $74 for free. Of course, it doesn't show how much the losing bidders spent on their failed bids. That's where the real money is made as others have noted.

http://www.beezid.com/auctions/105888

[Passacaglia]

Originally Posted by Mizzou B-ball fan

Gambling is a loss leader obviously, but that doesn't mean there's not a market for it.

I don't know if anyone else noticed, but if you click on the sold items as they scroll across the top of the screen, it will take you to the sold screen. There it lists the retail price along with the number of bids that the winner made and then shows how much the winner saved. For example, on this $100 gift card, it shows a retail of $100 minus $26 in placed bids by the winner. So he received $74 for free. Of course, it doesn't show how much the losing bidders spent on their failed bids. That's where the real money is made as others have noted.

http://www.beezid.com/auctions/105888

Close. It shows a retail of 11.09, with $26.40 bids placed by the winner. Add in 6.99 shipping, totaling 44.48, so 55.52 in savings by the winner. But the idea is the same -- you can "win" money through this, but you can also lose. Pretty much like any other gambling game.

[EagleFan]

Originally Posted by Passacaglia

Close. It shows a retail of 11.09, with $26.40 bids placed by the winner. Add in 6.99 shipping, totaling 44.48, so 55.52 in savings by the winner. But the idea is the same -- you can "win" money through this, but you can also lose. Pretty much like any other gambling game.

The question really isn't now much money did the winning bidder save this time, it's how much did he waste on bids that he didn't win. Maybe he spent 26 dollars in bids 5 other times trying to win the same thing.

While I don't detract from the site owners as they found a way to maje a great profit margin, I do question the people that bid at these sites. They are feeding an addiction. Word of mouth advertising is the worst for these kind of things as well. You know damn well that person A who just won a bid of a PS3 for less than 50 dollars is telling everyone, this site is great, I only had to pay 50 dollars for the PS3. Kind of like people that go to a casino and at one point during the night they hit a payout of 500 dollars. They may end up walking out of there only a few dollars ahead, or worse behind, but their story is "I won 500 bucks at the casino last night."

[Passacaglia]

Originally Posted by Passacaglia

Close. It shows a retail of 11.09, with $26.40 bids placed by the winner. Add in 6.99 shipping, totaling 44.48, so 55.52 in savings by the winner. But the idea is the same -- you can "win" money through this, but you can also lose. Pretty much like any other gambling game.

Originally Posted by EagleFan

The question really isn't now much money did the winning bidder save this time, it's how much did he waste on bids that he didn't win. Maybe he spent 26 dollars in bids 5 other times trying to win the same thing.

While I don't detract from the site owners as they found a way to maje a great profit margin, I do question the people that bid at these sites. They are feeding an addiction. Word of mouth advertising is the worst for these kind of things as well. You know damn well that person A who just won a bid of a PS3 for less than 50 dollars is telling everyone, this site is great, I only had to pay 50 dollars for the PS3. Kind of like people that go to a casino and at one point during the night they hit a payout of 500 dollars. They may end up walking out of there only a few dollars ahead, or worse behind, but their story is "I won 500 bucks at the casino last night."

Yep.

[Flasch186]

Im very disappointed to hear the ads for Scoreit.com(sp?), the same style site listed above, on ESPN radio.

[Lathum]

Yet they are trying to outlaw online poker.

Mind blowing

[RendeR]

Saw an ad, went to check it out. Saw a brand new camero up for bid.

price at the time was 1327.59

If you take an average cost for buying bid packs at 75 cents a bid thats sitting at: $99,569.25 for a 30K car off the lot. And that wasn't the final price.

I find it absolutely disgusting to see how much the people on these sights are making off people being really stupid in some cases and seriously addicted to the action on others.

Its just sick.

[Logan]

So...how do I invest?

[Mustang]

I laughed when I saw this a few days ago...



Three "penny auction" websites have formed a trade association to promote integrity in the industry, which has "been wrought with poor perceptions and a bad reputation."

BigDeal, BidCactus and Swoopo formed the Entertainment Auction Association to help rid the industry of deceptive practices. Penny auctions charge consumers to place bids on auctions, and a class-action lawsuit was recently filed against QuiBids LLC alleging deceptive and unfair trade practices and fraud.

BigDeal.com CEO Nicolas Darveau-Garneau said, "The founding of the association is an important step in strengthening the industry by weeding out those companies that engage in fraudulent behavior. Our goal is to have customers feel secure that any company that is part of the association runs a website that is ethical, transparent, and safe to bid on."




Summary: We are all fucking you over, we just wanted an association where you feel better about getting fucked over.

This is like NAMBLA getting together and thinking it is ok just because they have an association.

[ShaqFu]

It's totally legit. I got an Amazon Kindle ($139.99 MSRP) for $9.06. It cost me 18 bids, valued at $5.22. Toss in the $9.99 shipping and handling. Total price $24.27.

Moving forward:

Call of Duty: Black Ops ($59.99 MSRP) cost me $1.60 plus 27 bids valued at $8.64 and $6.99 for shipping. Total purchase $17.23.

In BOTH cases I could easily move these items on eBay and make a fairly nice profit.

The key with the site is to not throw good money after bad. You have to do a boatload of homework ahead of time, researching bidder histories, item histories, etc. You need to know if it's worthwhile going up against the bidders in any given auction and at what points you should start bidding.

You will lose some auctions, that is expected. However, the site does a good job of giving out bonus bids and offering otherwise discounted bids. So, there is plenty of room to lose some auctions and be assured of coming out ahead.

The site pretty much makes its money off those who do not know how to properly use the site.

[fantom1979]

I thought bids cost $0.60 to $0.90, but you seem to have only spent around $0.30 per bid. Did you win those bids in another auction?

[Passacaglia]

How much would you say you've spent on bids for items that you didn't win?

[ShaqFu]

Bid Pack for 200 bids cost $120 ... but I had 151 bids left after the fact. So I have put a few bids towards auctions I didn't with. Assuming the 60 cent average ... still just over $30 in bids spent ... it's all about strategy (and luck).

[ShaqFu]

Should add, that they also give you bonus bids an some of those get factored into those wins ... lowering the cost you see.

[Mustang]

So.. on the Kindle, how long did you have to wait from your first bid until you won it? Did you have to sit there and watch it?

[DanGarion]

Swoopo has declared bankruptcy.

[Flasch186]

Due to technical issues, Swoopo is currently not available.

We're working as hard as possible to restore the service.

When the site is working again, we will add ten minutes to the countdown of live auctions, to allow all bidders the chance to get back on-line and start bidding. Please check back regularly.

We're sorry that you're not able to bid at the moment, but we will be back soon.

Your Swoopo team

How much did their bidpacks cost?

[fantom1979]

Originally Posted by Flasch186

How much did their bidpacks cost?

According to wikipedia, $.60 per bid

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Site gave her around $50K + $10K in bids to make this ad.............

[Flasch186]

money well spent... she gets naked in it right?

[JediKooter]

Originally Posted by Flasch186

money well spent... she gets naked in it right?

*Fingers crossed*

[fantom1979]

That advertisement is so fetch.

[Marmel]

Originally Posted by fantom1979

That advertisement is so fetch.

fantom, stop trying to make fetch happen. It's not going to happen!

[Passacaglia]

She got 10K in bids? How annoying would it be to find out that you got outbid by Lindsay Lohan?

[MikeVic]

Originally Posted by Marmel

fantom, stop trying to make fetch happen. It's not going to happen!

That was Lohan at her peak. and the movie was actually good too.