Consumer Reports Investigates Penny Auctions
Last Updated on Friday, 28 October 2011 03:20 Written by a2e Friday, 28 October 2011 03:20
The discounts offered on online penny-auction sites might be tempting, but Consumer Reports said an investigation of online penny-auction sites revealed that most users end up spending a lot of cash only to end up empty handed.
On sites like Bidcactus, Bid Rivals, HappyBidDay and QuiBids, which sell items such as an $1,800 high-definition television for $73, "actually winning a big-ticket item for pennies on the dollar from one of these sites can take an extraordinary amount of effort and is hardly a given."
Unlike traditional auctions, bidding isn’t free. Consumer Reports explains, you must buy bids up front – typically for 50 cents to $1 each. To get bids, you register a credit or debit card or use PayPal. Bids are sold in packs, with the minimum pack costing around $25 to $60, depending on the site. Unused bids are refundable on some sites though sometimes within only 30 days of when you buy them. One key difference between traditional and penny auctions is that any bids you make are gone, whether or not you win.
http://www.auctionbytes.com/cab/abn/y11/m10/i17/s05
Go to Source
