Anyone ever played around with a penny auction site?

It's a neat idea.  Buy an item for 5% of its retail price, or that's the hope.

Like ebay, or GunBroker, they are auction sites.  The difference is that, rather than saying "I bid $500," you simply click a button labeled "Bid."  And teh cost of the item increases $0.01.  Each time anyone makes a bid, the item's price goes up one cent.  And, if that bid comes in the last 30 seconds of the auction, the countdown timer is set back to 30 seconds.

As you may suspect, there's little bidding over the first few days of an auction, not until that timer gets down to under a minute.  I watched a new M1A reach that mark with just $0.14 bid.  But then, every 30 seconds or less, that price went up.  For nearly an entire day, that bid stayed in the last 30 seconds, sneaking up 1 penny at a time.  Someone eventually won it for $15.54.  $15.54!!!  For a new Springfield Standard M1A!

The caveat?  There has to be one, of course...

Each bid costs the bidder real money.  In the case of the auction site I was watching, bids cost $0.60 each.  You get 5 free bids for signing up.  After that, you have to pay. 

So, let's do a little math.  $15.54 means that 1,554 bids were placed on that rifle.  That makes $932.40 spent by bidders.  Meh, not a stunning amount of money.

But, as I type, there's an auction for an LWRC-M6A2-SPR that's reached $218.63.  21,863 bids at $0.60 is $13,117.80.  Assuming the gun sold this second (which it has not), while one lucky SOB get a tacticool gun for under $220, the auction site has sold that same gun for over $13,000! 

They could buy guns at full retail and still make a killing.

Why, oh, why didn't I think of this???

whats the website?

Damn. Pretty smart

Thanks I always wondered how those sites work.

http://www.guns4pennies.com/

And the gun in question is up to $225.15

Better drink some 5Hour Energy...

I never did bid but I always check it out... It's amazing how cheap you can get a firearm...

Read into this. These sites are a scam. Your bids are non refundable. If you don't win, you lose your money anyway. Also, each "penny" actually cost more than one cent.  Total scam

I registered just to see what the prices of the bids are. They start buying bids in packs of 30 for $30. As you buy more bids per pack the lower the bid price gets. But even so the price is not much less than $1/bid. You can bid on 250 and 500 bid packs. It looks like a scam to me.

Whenever something seems too good to be true, it usually is.

I know someone that used the site. He said that you have to buy bids. It's hard to win because the bids go up by one cent each time. He wasted money buying bids and bidding and never won anything. He doesn't use the site anymore.

I doubt it's a scam, but I wouldn't waste my hard earned money trying to win.  These types of auctions have been around for years.  But like King said, if it's too good to be true.  I wouldn't be surprised if you couldn't program your computer to do the bidding for you. 

It's not a scam, at least, not in the way I would use the word.  They deliver exactly what they promise. 

It is an indication of how much effort and money people are willing to waste in the hopes of "beating the system" or getting something for nothing.  Much like lotteries.  I mean, how do you think that a lottery jackpot gets to be $25 million?  Because people have spent $25 million buying tickets.  This isn't really any different.

Oh, that gun ended up going for $232.18. 

 

If you data mined that site, you could probably get a good idea of what prices things go for and just bid for stuff in a certain range.

^^^see, that right there is the scam. The gun didn't sell for $232.64, because the buyer paid for every bid. In actuality, if this guy bid 1000 times or even 2000 times to get the gun, he paid waaay more than the $232. Its acutally quite genius, but also very deceptive.
Eventually these sights will close up, as more people are attracted to them, the number of bids will go through the roof, making them not worth buying from.

It's not a scam, at least, not in the way I would use the word.  They deliver exactly what they promise. 

It is an indication of how much effort and money people are willing to waste in the hopes of "beating the system" or getting something for nothing.  Much like lotteries.  I mean, how do you think that a lottery jackpot gets to be $25 million?  Because people have spent $25 million buying tickets.  This isn't really any different.

Oh, that gun ended up going for $232.18. 

 

Wow, what a great idea.

Each bid costs $1.00 to buy and is worth 1 cent.

$232.18 x 100 (cents) = $23,218.00

So while the buyer bought the gun for $232.18, the website made $23,218.00.

Sign me up for that one. I'm going to open my own site like this. 

^^^see, that right there is the scam. The gun didn't sell for $232.64, because the buyer paid for every bid. In actuality, if this guy bid 1000 times or even 2000 times to get the gun, he paid waaay more than the $232. Its acutally quite genius, but also very deceptive.
Eventually these sights will close up, as more people are attracted to them, the number of bids will go through the roof, making them not worth buying from.

While every bid was paid for, this buyer did not pay for every bid.  In this particular case, this guy was Cinderella, and did actually win it with 1 bid (it shows you the bidding history).  You better believe that he's out there right now, telling his buddies what a great deal he got!  And he's right, he did.  As did the auction site. 

Now, everyone else who placed a bid, or hundreds of bids, well...

But to call it a scam?

1.a confidence game or other fraudulent scheme, especially for making a quick profit; swindle.

verb (used with object)
2.to cheat or defraud with a scam.

The site delivers exactly what it promises.  Unlike, say, televangelists. 

Quote from: Tom_G on December 04, 2011, 08:40:23 AM

It's not a scam, at least, not in the way I would use the word.  They deliver exactly what they promise. 

It is an indication of how much effort and money people are willing to waste in the hopes of "beating the system" or getting something for nothing.  Much like lotteries.  I mean, how do you think that a lottery jackpot gets to be $25 million?  Because people have spent $25 million buying tickets.  This isn't really any different.

Oh, that gun ended up going for $232.18. 

 

Wow, what a great idea.

Each bid costs $1.00 to buy and is worth 1 cent.

$232.18 x 100 (cents) = $23,218.00

So while the buyer bought the gun for $232.18, the website made $23,218.00.

Sign me up for that one. I'm going to open my own site like this. 

"KingKeoni's Pawn-n-Bid"
I like the sound of that...

I will start the bidding at !!!!!

Sorry, just had to add this product description:

The Springfield Armory Range Officer is a new 1911 designed to go from box to competition without any modification. The gun receives the same precision manufacturing as the high level TRP and Trophy Match guns Springfield builds, but removing any of the features these pistols have which aren't appropriate or necessary for a basic compettion gun. This gives you a handgun with a precision fit slide and frame, match grade 5" barrel, competition tuned trigger, and adjustable sights with a dovetailed front. Simply put, this guns is built to produce 1" groups at 25" and allow the shotter to get started in the competitive world, shooting IPSC, IDPA, steel, bowling pins, even bullseye. Due to the ease of customization of the 1911 platform, as the shooter growns and becomes more specialized in their competitive needs, the Range Officer can be upgraded and grow with them. Included in the package is a polymer holster and double magazine holder, meaning all the owner needs to add is the ammo before stepping up to the firing line.

Aside from the numerous laughable typos, I love the fact that Springfield is making a gun specifically designed to produce 1" groups at 25".  If ANY gun I own can't produce 1" groups at 25", I swear that I will give ti away!

Sorry, just had to add this product description:

Quote

The Springfield Armory Range Officer is a new 1911 designed to go from box to competition without any modification. The gun receives the same precision manufacturing as the high level TRP and Trophy Match guns Springfield builds, but removing any of the features these pistols have which aren't appropriate or necessary for a basic compettion gun. This gives you a handgun with a precision fit slide and frame, match grade 5" barrel, competition tuned trigger, and adjustable sights with a dovetailed front. Simply put, this guns is built to produce 1" groups at 25" and allow the shotter to get started in the competitive world, shooting IPSC, IDPA, steel, bowling pins, even bullseye. Due to the ease of customization of the 1911 platform, as the shooter growns and becomes more specialized in their competitive needs, the Range Officer can be upgraded and grow with them. Included in the package is a polymer holster and double magazine holder, meaning all the owner needs to add is the ammo before stepping up to the firing line.

Aside from the numerous laughable typos, I love the fact that Springfield is making a gun specifically designed to produce 1" groups at 25".  If ANY gun I own can't produce 1" groups at 25", I swear that I will give ti away!

Man, I wish you had a blunderbuss.