Win, Win, Win at the Pay-to-bid Auctions
Pay-to-bid auctions are becoming increasingly popular. In the past three years, we have witnessed their proliferation on the internet. With their popularity, it is becoming increasingly difficult to win the auctions. For this reason, it is important to understand the key strategies that can help you win.
Pay-to-bid auctions, or penny auctions as they are known, combine gaming, online shopping and auctioneering. Here, you pay for a bid package (e.g. 10 bids for £5). You place a bid on an item. That item increases in price by 1p per bid (regardless of how much it cost you to buy the bid). The timer increases by several seconds each time somebody places a bid. The auction is won when the timer reaches zero. The winner is the last person to place a bid.
There are several key strategies involved in winning the pay-to-bid auctions:
• Most winners choose to play during off-peak times. This is because there are fewer competitors and this in turn makes it easier to place a bid and have the timer run out before another person bids on top.
• Some people like to trick other players by placing several bids in a row. They place their bid, the timer returns to its original setting, or for longer auctions has 20-30seconds increase. When the timer reaches 2-5 seconds, they place another bid (even though they would have won, were it to reach zero). Other players then think there are two players in the bidding war. Once the player lulls competitors into a false sense of security, they stop placing the second bids and the timer hits zero. It is crafty, but it works. Sometimes sites will show the name of the bidder, so this strategy is void. However, the clever ones play in teams, so be sure to befriend your fellow players in an ‘I’ll scratch yours if you scratch mine’ style (e).
• Take advantage of any free bids the sites offer. New customers are always offered freebies, so shop around for new sites.
Learn to play at http://www.bidvid.com/.
