Today we went to Vator.tv and looked at their Keiretsu Forum Angel Competition, we were surprised to see the soon to open social entertainment, penny auction site PennyGrabber.com on their list of participants seeking venture funding from the “world’s largest angel investment community.” According to PennyGrabber.com, “PennyGrabber is the pioneer of social entertainment shopping.” We’re not too sure why they will be the pioneers yet, but it looks like their members may have online profiles, much like the popular social networking site Facebook.
If you would like to see PennyGrabber.com launch you may want to vote for them on the Keiretsu Forum Angel Competition, as well as the Vator Splash Competition, so far they have 24 votes in the Keiretsu Forum Competition and 3 in the Vator Splash Competition, the company with the most votes on January 18th and January 27th. respectfully, will be able to present their company to angel investors.
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From their Vator.tv profile: “PennyGrabber.com endeavors to become the one-stop destination for all online shopping. We will be a vehicle for product ratings and reviews, social shopping, and savings of up to 90% on high-end consumer electronics, clothing, house and garden products, jewelry, music, software, movies, and many other products typically purchased via e-commerce. Inversely, we will earn upwards of 750% per sale, while our customers save up to 90% off retail pricing. Currently, we are trying to raise a total of 1.7 mm in startup capital. The majority of funds will be used for inventory, and marketing. Other expenses will include warehouse spacing, utilities, equipment, and salaries.”
PennyGrabber.com Features:
Autobidder – As the name implies, this is an automatic bidder. You can use this when you don’t have the time to follow the auction live. You can set autobidder to make a bid for you some seconds before the countdown ends to increase your chance of winning. You can adjust all settings as you please – set item price floor and price ceiling within which you want the autobidder to make bids for you. Also, set the maximum number of bids that you are willing to make.
Cashback – if the auction has a cashback icon, then the last 1-3 bidders can get back either all or some of the bids that they used for this auction, depending on the specific auction. Click on individual auctions to see the details how much can you get back if you end up among the last 1-3 bidders.
24h Auction – these auctions do not end at 12am but last 24 hours.
Fast Auction – Just as a regular auction except that the countdown time is significantly shorter
Fixed Price Auction – Auction has a fixed price for the item. Regardless of the number of bids made the one who makes the last bid will win the item on the initial set price.
Zero Auction – Regardless of the number of bids made the winner of the auction will not have to pay for the item except it’s delivery cost.
Bonus Auction – Just as a regular auction except that it has a bonus item attached if bids exceed the number set in the “bonus auction” box.
PennyGrab It Now – Never lose your bids. With PennyGrab It Now, you can always buy the item at the retail price, and apply your used bids to that purchase as a discount.
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PennyGrabber January 13, 2010, 9:26 am
We want to express our gratitude to Penny Auction Watch, and to say thank you to all those who have voted for us on Vator.tv. We promise to bring our customers the most transparent, and fun shopping experience. This promise will extend to our e-commerce store, penny auction, and social network alike.
True January 13, 2010, 1:52 pm
Additionally… they do need 1,4 million as they claim… Digital Fruit charges far less… Tssk tssk, even before they launch they contradict their claims… "We promise to bring our customers the most transparent, and fun shopping experience. This promise will extend to our e-commerce store, penny auction, and social network alike." Being that DigitalFruit sells bots with their software and have made it evident, this was clearly pointed out in a recent article… it is most evident that Penny Grabber will do the same… So much for transparency. Great start fellas.
auctionwatcher January 13, 2010, 2:15 pm
You're welcome True,
I'm actually the admin/editor of Penny Auction Watch and I am sorry to say I did not know this very important fact until you pointed it out.
We do know that DigitalFruit.ee (out of Estonia) promotes bots, as you have read in a previous post, they call them Investment Protectors, and they use terminology that would make us think they know bots/shills are wrong.
This is a very concerning fact and I guess we will have to wait and see what happens in the weeks/months to come. Thank you for your comment, it was very much appreciated.
Also, please if you have the time- feel free to join pennyauctionwatch.com/forum 🙂
Thank you!
True January 13, 2010, 2:22 pm
Don't get me wrong, I'm not here to sham, but fact is fact… All the above features mentioned by pennygrabber: AutoBidder, Cashback, 24h Auction, Fast Auction, Fixed Price Auction, Zero Auction, Bonus Auction and PennyGrab It Now, come practically standard or are options as is mentioned on the digitalfruit software page: http://www.digitalfruit.ee/Penny+Auction+Solution…
PennyGrabber is not bringing anything new to the pennyauction world… apart from the 'social' side. and truthfully, would you like others to see you lose on an Auction? I would not. That is why psuedos are created for anonymity. If social was the way to go, swoopo would have implemented it along time ago, they have the means, the manpower and the research to know what is best and what is not. It is way to early to go social with this concept. But hey… this is my own personal opinion, we are all entitled to one, and I know that some visiting this page might disagree.
I noticed that their design (especially the icons + buttons) looks quite familiar to that of http://www.pennyauction.com.my/. Perhaps it is the same owners, or it is the same designer that did pennyauction.com.my meaning that pennyauction.com.my also uses the digitalfruit software?
auctionwatcher January 13, 2010, 3:01 pm
Thanks for your comments, they are much appreciated. However, it's hard to say whether or not Swoopo does sporadically use bots, we certainly hope not! I tend to think that they would not, look at their traffic stats/Alexa, compete.com, etc. I personally think bots are wrong any way you look at it, unless the site owner wants to pay for the bids they are using, it's still wrong!
Look at my latest post.
And yes, join the forum, it's free!! 🙂
True January 13, 2010, 6:44 pm
It is important to point out fact from fiction… Penny Grabber website is being developed by Digital Fruit. http://fruit.digitalfruit.ee/pennygrabber/dummy/public/imagepages/pennygrabber_3004_detail_.html
auctionwatcher January 13, 2010, 1:46 pm
You're exactly right True, we did not know that. Thank you!
True January 13, 2010, 6:56 pm
Oopsi… Typo error. When I wrote they do need 1,4 million as they claim… I meant they do NOT need 1,4 million as they claim.
I’m a bit fed up with these pseudo individuals that try to claim their websites cost a fortune to develop and that their software is proprietary and developed in house… Such a joke! Looks like another HungryHammer.com.
The idea is good, but they should have developed it in-house and not by an existing software company…
Nonetheless, perhaps it will work, perhaps it won’t. If social was the way to go, then swoopo would have already implemented it. Perhaps bidders wish to remain anonymous…
True January 13, 2010, 7:03 pm
Thanks ‘Auction Watcher’.
It would be interesting to see if the people that run PennyAuctionWatch mention this interesting ‘fact’ that was deliberately or not by the owners of Penny Grabber.
Attempting to lure investors for a 1,4 million investment for a website that cost a mere 8,000 USD to set up is… well stupid. Sorry to be so blunt. The golden days of the internet are over, even if pennyauction sites are the new trend.
True January 13, 2010, 7:46 pm
Hi Auction watcher… Thanks for reading my lengthy comments lol
As you might have noticed… I prefer to remain anonymous… 😉
Will consider joining the forum. I myself have been deciding on whether or not to create an auction platform, but was considering hiring a developer and a designer to put this together. I have tried lots of sites (especially swoopo) and lost quite a bundle too… there are many flaws to this business as there are ideas, unfortunately not many sites are professionally run, some are put together with basically nothing and the owners expect to make millions by adding a at times a really bad logo to slightly modified template that comes with a preset software that cost a few hundreds dollars.
Before entering the auction arena, one should seriously sit back and take time to reflect on the real competition out there. As there are some good sites.
I’m not saying they are all ‘saints’ it is obvious that even the giant swoopo must have to resort to the use of bots at a certain time, it is a prerequisite to remain financially solid. Otherwise they would go broke. Any business in the modern world, in relation to their business model of course, has no other option but to con the user/client in order to break even, it is undeniable and a necessity for survival.
Go to a restaurant, bar, night club, lounge… order a soda, the price you are charged is basically ten times the price paid to the supplier. Is that pricing normal? No it is not, but it is a necessity to remain financially sound. This is why and to my opinion, bots on auction websites are basically a similar form of ensuring financial stability. If used on a limited basis, on a percentage of auctions, and still allowing bidders to win auctions with a reasonable discount, I am not against the use of such a feature. However, if used intentionally to prevent bidders from winning and to deliberately cash in on their expense… well no. Unfortunately, there are many such websites out there, having experienced a few.
Sceptic January 14, 2010, 8:02 pm
Are you actually sure that person who writes under name Olavi in this thread is really he/she?
auctionwatcher January 14, 2010, 8:38 pm
It sure seems like it, IP confirms he's in Estonia.