BidBlink

[rockybiduser]

Hi Rockybiduser, this is hoop55. I'm pretty new at this auction game, but right now I'm feeling pretty good; I just got noticed on PAW! :-) You aren't the only one that was surprised that Auction lasted so long. It actually went for about 7 hours. One thing I found out about these auctions; unless I'm willing to use autobid at any time, which I'm not, I've got to remember to make a trip to the restroom just before the auction starts. I'll never forget again!!! First auction of the day at Bidblink, and it ended 2nd to last. I'm still trying to work out my strategy, but basically I try to not autobid, unless I have some reason to think it would end the auction real quick. I just tend to nag the autobidders. They go at each other for awhile, then one quits, then at 2 sec I jump in again. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. Actually I only lost $3.39 on that auction; I should have just used the buy now option about 6 hours sooner. Later, Hoop

Hi hoop55 i know you from here and I was surprised how much of time you spent in putting those bid for 6 hours and still you didn't win.I was checking that auction from my work and it didn't ended till i reached home.I think its a good strategy for saving bids but not for winning the auction after I saw the end result in that auction. The site is good and now a days they are getting lot of visitors as they have the advantage of not loosing much if you lost an auction.Good luck to you on your next bid.

[hoop50]

Hi Rockybid, actually I did win the auction, but I lost $3.39 on it. :-) So far, this strategy seems to be working. I've only had 7 wins, and 3 losses. If you'll check the 7 wins you'll see I'm way ahead. 2 of the losses was because the bid didn't go through; I know what I did and it won't happen again (I hope). The 3rd loss was a lark that I tried to see if I could win in 5 minutes; it didn't work. Hoop

[rockybiduser]

Hi Rockybid, actually I did win the auction, but I lost $3.39 on it. :-) So far, this strategy seems to be working. I've only had 7 wins, and 3 losses. If you'll check the 7 wins you'll see I'm way ahead. 2 of the losses was because the bid didn't go through; I know what I did and it won't happen again (I hope). The 3rd loss was a lark that I tried to see if I could win in 5 minutes; it didn't work. Hoop

glad that you are winning.But imagine if everyone adopt your strategy, auction will never end
But I must say you have a lot of time and enough patience to bid at 2-3 seconds for hours .If you are cool to that and winning may be you should stick to that.Whats your take on this site. I like this site as i mentioned multiple times already.They are good in shipping the items and now a days I found lot of new bidder which is good for them and we need honest site to be around.

[hoop50]

Hi Rockybid, the auction would still end if everyone adopted my strategy, it would just take longer. :-) I really like this site. But my experience is very limited. I tried Bidcactus first and didn't do too good mostly because I didn't have enough bids. They do ship quick and customer service is great; I've contacted them with questions from time to time. Their bids are certainly cheap enough; it allows me to buy a ton of bids to see if my strategy works. The only other site I've found that has bids that cheap is For 10 Cents, but there has been negative postings on here about them. Do you know anything about them? Or do you know of another site with real cheap bids? I'm looking to expand my act already. :-) Thanks, Hoop

[rockybiduser]

cheap bid is not always nice and bidblink is an exception. They have a HP netbook today up for auction. go for it. Good luck..

[goldtrimcharm]

Is anyone else a little put-off by the fact that BidBlink has thrown in new "tiered" auctions without any notice anywhere (other than on the particular auction page)?

According to their "How It Works" Page, you can chose between Single Bid and Auto Bid. "Single Bid - Click on the "Bid" button to place a single bid and lower the price of the item by 1¢."

Now it costs two bids with less than 45 seconds left, and THREE bids with less than 15 seconds left, for a manual bid.

On one hand, it seems counter-productive in alot of ways. I think it will discourage alot of folks from bidding on those auctions. It will for me, for sure!

But if they want to switch things up, shouldn't they at least put that in their "How it Works" page or their FAQ or something?

[bidblink]

Hi goldtrimcharm,

We apologize for any confusion caused. We are trying out a new auction format to add a little more strategy to the game.

We did write about it on our BidBlink Penny Auction Blog: Tiered Penny Auctions

We label each auction with a little icon on the the main auctions listing and then on each auction details page it goes into detail on what it is. However, as you point out, this probably isn't so obvious.

I really do like your suggestion on putting details about each auction type in the How It Works.

In general, is there any feedback you have on this auction style?

Thanks,
Ryan
BidBlink

Is anyone else a little put-off by the fact that BidBlink has thrown in new "tiered" auctions without any notice anywhere (other than on the particular auction page)?

According to their "How It Works" Page, you can chose between Single Bid and Auto Bid. "Single Bid - Click on the "Bid" button to place a single bid and lower the price of the item by 1¢."

Now it costs two bids with less than 45 seconds left, and THREE bids with less than 15 seconds left, for a manual bid.

On one hand, it seems counter-productive in alot of ways. I think it will discourage alot of folks from bidding on those auctions. It will for me, for sure!

But if they want to switch things up, shouldn't they at least put that in their "How it Works" page or their FAQ or something?

[Jonathan]

Any feedback on the Tiered auctions yet? I'd love to hear what you guys think.

Also, we just added some Black Friday auctions and promo codes:

http://www.bidblink.com/blog/black-friday

Basically, use promo code 'BLACKFRIDAY' for 10% more bids on your next bid pack purchase. Because of our unique Buy Now feature, this will basically allow you to bid at under 10 cents, and buynow with each bid worth 10c. Yay for black friday!

Best
Jonathan
BidBlink

[rockybiduser]

Any feedback on the Tiered auctions yet? I'd love to hear what you guys think.

Personally I won't like it. Recently i noticed that auction are on an average running longer.So I would suggest the timer to increase max 15 sec once the auction price hits zero to complete it faster.

[Zyxi]

Attn BidBlink Operators

I have seen the first unusual bid behavior at your site and wanted to ask if you could explain what was happening. In the auction for the 100 amazon card on 11-27 to 11-28 PST there were bids that made no sense. The price is well under neg 140 right now as I am writing this question and I have not been watching since the beginning but have been watching for around the last 9+ hours.

Let me preface this with telling you I did not bid on this and only watched but would like to hear from you about the behavior below after you review your logs.

This auction had one autobidder and then manual bids from one other that didnt appear human from the pattern.

During this auction jstep4 had the autobidder and for hours he kept it going which doesnt seem unusual at all. I have done this on previous auctions.

The part that makes no sense is that there was one "manual" bidder that every time the clock got to 1 second they bid with amazing consistancy. This wouldn't be unusual either except the auction went between just the two of them with no other bidders for extremely long times.

It would appear if there are only two bidders at a USA site at 2:30 AM PST / 5:30 AM EST for an auction that had gone on for over 7 hours already and they are the only two bidding for an extended period of time that the "human" would at some point just set their auto bid to take out the rest of the other persons autobid bank and win the auction. It isnt normal for only 1 "human" and 1 autobidder to be in an auction at an offtime and the human only bids at the last second against the autobidder the entire time causing only 2 bids per person per minute for hours.

Also there is something else happening that seems unusually wrong and adds to my asking for your comment. When someone else did happen to look at the auction and place a bid at the 1 second mark the person that kept bidding mentioned above all of a sudden skipped their bid. Every time similar to what is below.

48:00 Person "A" autobid
48:15 Person "B" manual bid
48:20 Person "A" autobid
48:45 Person "B" manual bid
48:50 Person "A" autobid
49:15 Person "B" manual bid
49:20 Person "A" autobid
49:45 Person "C" (new manual bidder - notice "B" skipped the bid here right at the 1 second mark when there was no way to know "C" was going to bid since they were someone new
49:50 Person "A" autobid
50:15 Person "B" manual bid

The above is the type of thing I saw for hours straight on this auction. When another person did join in the bidding the "manual bid" person skipped his bid only at those times.

I would assume you keep logs for entire auctions and would like to hear from you about this. I am not saying your site was rigged or had automated shills but only that it looked very suspicious and it is the first and only time I have ever seen something like this at your site.

If this was someone cheating by using a homemade autobidder so it bid only if no one else did and the timer was at 1 second I thought you might want to be aware of it so you can take action.

Zyxi

[bids4tea]

I'm a perfect example of why so many people feel these sites are scams. I had a horrible FIRST experience yesterday on bidblink after believing in the validity and value of their site. I lost over $200 yesterday trying desperately NOT to lose any more money but when I finally couldn't stay awake any longer at 6:45 this morning, (yes, an auction from yesterday for a $100 gift card lasted throughout the night until 8:26 this morning!!!! and ended with a ridiculous +1,700 bids back into winners account - most of which were thanks to me and a couple others.) I emailed bidblink for help because I couldn't stay awake anymore and was afraid to miss my opportunity at auction end. It just never ended!!! And then I fell asleep. I missed my 30 minute opportunity to turnaround and use my credits towards purchasing the item by a half hour because I was so tired!!!!!

Now I'm so sick to my stomach because I couldn't avoid anything that happened no matter what I did and I made many attempts too. I most certainly cannot afford to lose the $200 from yesterday.

I'm waiting to see if Jonathon and Bidblink are going to be as concerned as me over what happened.
tea

[bids4tea]

I am so relieved that someone else out there was watching ALL NIGHT!!! I'm the bidder that got "screwed" out of over $200 worth of bids trying to win that auction because I could not afford to lose. I quit bidding sometime between Midnight and 1 AM and didn't stop watching until 6:45 when I no longer could try and get in the lead due to being tired. I was hoping I would see the auto bidder finally run "dry" and then I would start bidding again. I had 140 bids or so remaining to use and I refused to use them on WAR again (always stupid.) But I couldn't stay awake. I woke up exactly 1/2 hour AFTER the auction ended (in it's weird way) only to cry over the fact that I lost any opportunity to apply my $200 towards the purchase of another certificate. I also am one of the 2 or 3 responsible for the 1,700 bids the winner so luckily received upon winning.

I'm sick to my stomach and have nothing to show for my money.
Tea

[bids4tea]

Zyxi, you are correct. Me and 3 others throughout the evening (around 9:00 p.m. to 12:30 a.m I think??) tried to do just that. That's how I lost 1,400 bids in under minutes. I kept going believing jstep4 would run dry, and it NEVER HAPPENED. I tried about three different times as did two other bidders. I was amazed at the thousands of bids that added up in trying to unseat jstep4, and given that I contributed the most to that, I was desperate to win and get back that final 1,700 bids. I was ready and willing to stay IN until the end to recoup my loss. At no time did truckdriver11 EVER go to war with jstep4 and that bidder was the other one for four hours straight. - I sat and watched the whole thing. Occasionally a previous bidder came back and tried throughout the night, dsmink, rneiwert, marymck, dlc2558. "tyler" appeared off and on as well late into the night. I have many screen prints of the status of the auction between 5 and 6 am as well.

I tried to do exactly the logic you spoke of and it STILL didn't work.

[rockybiduser]

People don't be surprised at the bidding pattern .I know jstep4 can put 5000 in autobids and went to sleep.Looks like that cost to him as after his autobid finishes some one else comes and win the auction with 5 bids. Also don't be surprised at the person bidding at every 2 secs for hours. Earlier hoop55 (a paw member) tried that as well on some other auction.See my previous posting about that in this thread.I think that can be a good strategy and sometime backfires as well , because others will wait to see when he stops and then they start bidding.This cause auction to run for long time.As bid price is 10 cents this is going to happen in their auction.Now if bid price were 60 cents then this auction would have end in 1-2 hours.I think bidblink is legit and honest and they are doing an wionderful job.I have asked them to charge multiple bid (for both manual and auto) when auction starts to run longer to erase the doubts from people's mind and save some time for all.

[monikab]

People don't be surprised at the bidding pattern .I know jstep4 can put 5000 in autobids and went to sleep.Looks like that cost to him as after his autobid finishes some one else comes and win the auction with 5 bids. Also don't be surprised at the person bidding at every 2 secs for hours. Earlier hoop55 (a paw member) tried that as well on some other auction.See my previous posting about that in this thread.I think that can be a good strategy and sometime backfires as well , because others will wait to see when he stops and then they start bidding.This cause auction to run for long time.As bid price is 10 cents this is going to happen in their auction.Now if bid price were 60 cents then this auction would have end in 1-2 hours.I think bidblink is legit and honest and they are doing an wionderful job.I have asked them to charge multiple bid (for both manual and auto) when auction starts to run longer to erase the doubts from people's mind and save some time for all.

agree with you

monika

[suzyq]

I would suggest that BidBlink change the 30 minute purchase window to at least 24 hours since their auctions seem to be running so long.

[goldtrimcharm]

I'm sure if BidBlink changed the half hour window after the auction, they would never survive. As it is, I'm sure with the number of people taking advantage of that option, they do not make as much money as it seems.

I have been playing on BidBlink for a long time, and they have always shipped (promptly, too!) everything I've won or purchased with my discount after the auction ended.

I do find it odd that they've been having a lot of end-of-auction winner issues lately. Two that I was part of last week, and this one (the $100 Amazon card) today. Earlier today, that auction had a different winner (rs-somebody, who had supposedly put in 5 bids). I don't know if the problems are from such an influx of new users, but it is REALLY turning me off from the site. In fact, I was going to give a few gift cards to the site as Christmas gifts, but I'm not sure I'm going to do that now.

I would guess that most of the bidders who sit for hours on end fighting an autobidder are newbies. Someone a few posts ago said something about setting autobidders is stupid. On the contrary - that is how people win, more often than not. These people are trying to get "a good deal" and in the end, they are usually just throwing their bids away. If you look around at other threads on strategies and the psychology of this type of auction, you'll see the value in auto-bidders.

[caveninit]

I'm sick to my stomach and have nothing to show for my money.
Tea

I'm sorry you lost so much..I can truly relate to that "sick to my stomach" feeling after losing big.

[PennyJersey]

Now I'm so sick to my stomach because I couldn't avoid anything that happened no matter what I did and I made many attempts too. I most certainly cannot afford to lose the $200 from yesterday.

I'm waiting to see if Jonathon and Bidblink are going to be as concerned as me over what happened.
tea

Disclaimer: I am a penny auction site owner....I understand that posting this message may cost me customers and may upset some of the PAW members. I apologize if in fact you are offended by my viewpoint but I can't sit by and not chime in on this one.

OK, did I really read what I think I read...."I couldn't avoid anything that happened no matter what I did..." Really? Seriously? Are you kidding me? I'm guessing that the penny auction fairy came down and pulled a gun and made you purchase all of those bids. Where is the personal responsibility in all of this? Why is it that because you lost some money you automatically question the character of the site owner? I am guessing that if you don't get the response from BidBlink that you think is right then they are evil crooks. When you purchased your bids you entered into a contract and just because you don't like the result does not change the terms of that contract.

Bids4Tea, my goal as an owner is to provide great service. My hope is that everyone who visits my site has a great experience and wants to come back again. I know that I can't please everyone but I also know that if i am fair across the board then people will want to do business with me again. I have been watching BidBlink for quite awhile and I think they share my philosophy...there is no reason to question their integrity or how they do business just because you lost the auction.

[Jonathan]

Hi,

I'd like to respond to a couple points folks have made.

First, we had an auction last a long time last night. There's not much I can do about that -- bidders, not BidBlink, control when the auction ends. Sometimes folks just keep bidding. None of the other auctions that day lasted that long -- sometimes bidders just latch onto a particular auction for whatever reason, and it goes a long time. Also, sometimes folks keep bidding even if it doesn't make 'sense'. Perhaps they're trying to build a reputation? I have mixed feelings about preventing them from bidding once they reach the buy-now limit. In general I want to maximize the strategies you guys can use when bidding, and like it or not, one of those strategies is bidding beyond the buy-now limit.

Second, we had an end-of-auction issue yesterday on that auction and a previous one. I apologize for these. Ryan and I have reviewed all logs and corrected these auctions manually. I've posted about it on the BidBlink blog. Because we had a surge in holiday traffic, it's exposing some issues that have always been there. I have fixed them, and am fairly confident that issue is eliminated. I'm keeping a close watch on it though.

Third, the 30 minute buy-now limit. We're reviewing this right now. If anyone has expired buy now opportunities that occurred because an auction lasted a long time, please let me know and I will extend it. The 30 minute window was never intended to keep folks awake at night or glued to their computer. We will definitely work on this area, and I'm confident we'll find a solution so that you don't get irritated by having to wait to use your buy-now opportuntity.

So anyway, slight growing pains I really appreciate your feedback and we're working hard to improve the experience.

Best,
Jonathan
BidBlink

[Zyekad]

I watched a good portion of the auction in question and it seemed to me more like the person who bid half the night when the auction timer was low used some kind of third party script. It didn't seem like bidblink had any wrongdoing in this to me from the part of the auction I saw.

I do agree with what someone said above about one of the bidders and if they were actually at the keyboard or if it was something automated.

[bids4tea]

I agree with you, Rockybiduser, that the bidding pattern is possible in a legitimate way - it's just a rare occurrence. I am the kind of person that could sit for a long time placing bids manually every 2 seconds. I didn't realize there were people who would bid over $600 worth of bids for a $100 auction which includes $175 of free bids too. You'd still be out over $300. So I made my choices based on the chances of anyone bidding over 2000 bids. I'm new and don't know the bidder IDs so it was a Charlie Brown moment for me to choose the one auction that a bidder like that was involved in.

Great idea on changing to multiple bids after a certain time. I had an idea about allowing someone who has contributed a certain % to the overall auction to earn the right to click "BUY NOW" before it ends but relinquish the ability to bid on that same auction hours later if they notice it's still active. That way they can "go to bed" if need be. .... and then not take advantage of slipping in to win the auction after all at the last minute. It should be a choice of one or the other. Either buy now and be done with it or stick it out and take your chances. And you have to "earn" that choice first based on time/money invested in the bidding. Now, I haven't thought through this much so I'm sure we'll all find one or two glaringly obvious faults to my idea - just thought I'd put it out there for others to try and improve upon.

goldtrimcharm - I agree they shouldn't change the window from 30 minutes to 24 hours. Also, let me clear up (in case it was me you were referring to) that I do not think auto bidding is stupid at all. I only think going to war constantly with them is rarely wise for the second auto bidder, but it has it's valid moments.

PennyJersey - If you understood all the details about what I was trying to accomplish last night and the strategy I was using, how I weighed the odds and chances of certain things happening or not happening, you would better understand the choices I made. I did not question the integrity of the owners at all - I am fully aware that most of the dishonest dealings come from the bidders themselves. I was interested to see if they would listen to my specific situation and understand which parts were unfair or if they would respond to me as you just did.

I'm happy to report that they are more than on the up and up - they are extremely respectable, respectFUL people who understood I was talking and typing on less than 2 hours of sleep and had valid reasons for my being upset. I never wanted all my losses reversed. I wanted what was fair and that is exactly how they dealt with me. They saw the rare, but possible situation where an auction goes so long that you feel you are forced to stay awake so you don't miss out on their Ingenious and Generous option to Buy Now after losing an auction.

Ryan and Johnathon are two of the most honest, hard working people I have had the privilege of talking to. They truly are trying to build a business that is fun, FAIR, and lucrative for everyone. And when a problem arises, they step up to the plate quickly to discern if anyone was wronged and then to make amends. I was given the buy now opportunity back and that was all I really felt was due me.

I'm sorry, PennyJersey, but your reply lends me to believe you're business would not have been so calm, KIND, and patient with me - and I'm not confident it would have resolved so fairly in the end as it did with Bidblink.

For everyone else: I am walking, talking proof that Bidblink should be your penny bidding site of choice from now on! These guys got right to work today, notifying people that they were looking into it, and devoted their whole holiday weekend Saturday to resolving the immediate issues. While annoying when we are so emotionally involved, most of us wouldn't expect a response until the next business day. The communication from Bidblink directly to me today was unprecedented. They were concerned, attentive to details, reasonable and very, very kind. In the end, they made any amends they felt they were responsible to and provided very clear, understanding explanations to those things that they weren't. I went from being skeptical and adverse to ever trust bidding on their site again to a "Let's see what's up for auction today"-happy-spirit in under 15 minutes.

Bidblink just scored gold on customer service without giving me everything I would have wanted or more than I deserved. I now sit here restored to the valid "Lost My Butt Fair and Square" position I should have been in but with fair access to the opportunity to use the 30-minute BUY NOW option. I look forward to seeing the clever resolutions to the bid process and rules of the site to clear up these two recent snags in the system. They are very young as a business and I was hoping for the response I got - I truly believe in their intentions and goals.

[caveninit]

Hi,
-- bidders, not BidBlink, control when the auction ends.

That's really the whole point in a nutshell. I have seen many many power bidders bid for DAYS on an item...the bids are theirs to bid with and how many they purchase and how many they choose to use on any single auction is certainly their right, just as it is everyone else's right to keep buying bids in the hopes of "beating" that power bidder. No auction owner is at fault if bidders keep trying to outbid one another at all costs. We ALL choose to push that bid button and the only time we can really complain about a bad outcome is if the site experiences technical problems that prevent the auction from running the way it should.
I completely sympathize with the bidder who lost a lot of money...I have lost way more than I have won, but BidBlink is not a scam site and they don't shill..but it still feels horrible to lose so much money. You just have to learn when to NOT bid...it's a hard game and always a huge risk...but we can ALL control the outcome on our part....lose a lot, or lose a little and try again on the next one. That's our choice. Sometimes you just HAVE to walk away. And always set a limit for yourself!

[PennyJersey]

Bids4tea,

Thanks for your explanation. I know I came across a little harsh but it seemed to me like you were crying foul over the whole scenario and not just missing the 30 minute window. I deal with people on a daily basis that don't want to take responsibility for their actions and it really gets me going when I see someone trying to do this. I see now that it was not your intention to shirk your responsibility and apologize for jumping to conclusions. I was confident that the guys at bidblink would treat you fairly...I just didn't have the confidence that you would interpret it as fair...I guess I jumped to conclusions on my end and we all know that can be messy. As for how you would be treated at PennyJersey.com...I am fanatical about good customer service...I put my personal reputation on it. It is fair of you to be skeptical of how you would be treated especially with my response to your earlier post.

[angelducky]

Just wanted to throw in a quick thank you to Jonathan...I'm glad you're reviewing the 30 minute window. I stayed up late for the Kindle auction a week or so ago because I was an idiot and bid on it when I should've known better I stayed awake for as long as I could and just when I almost gave up and went to bed (would've lost about $150ish although maybe a little more) the auction ended. I'm so glad you're reviewing things and are willing to make it right for bidders who missed the Buy Now opportunity due to being unable to stay awake. Personally, I missed a few Buy Now opportunities but they were purely due to completely forgetting about the fact that I had that chance

As for the rest of what has been said in the past few posts, I would like to say that I had given up on BidBlink a month or so ago when it didn't seem like I could win anything. I recently returned and have had better luck. I love the Buy Now feature (although agree the tiem should be extended) and when I had a special request regarding an item, they went above and beyond to work wtih me. I hope that you're able to have a better experience in the future. I've also had that sick feeling of losing tons after I lost about $500 (maybe a little more) across 2 days. it's one of the worst feelings ever


Oh and I love your idea for being able to just Buy Now and be done with it Of course you'd be blocked from bidding on the auction like you said but man that would've made that Kindle auction far less stressful

[suzyq]

I wanted to thank Jonathan and BidBlink for unbelievably FAST shipping. I did a Buy Now on the $50 Amazon Card (that other crazy one) on Tuesday. Couldn't believe that it was in my mailbox on Saturday!! Can't thank you guys enough!!!:51:

[vickiw]

I came across a few penny auctions as I was feverishly searching the net for discounts on gift cards for Christmas. I was hesitant because I am cheap and did not want to spend my hard earned money on a risky endeavor. But I am impetuous and a bit impulsive at times so why not? You only live once right? I liked Bidblink because I read some great reviews and they offer the most inexpensive bids.
I watched many auctions before deciding to take the plunge and just buy 100 bids for 14.98. My strategy seemed like a sure thing, I would wait it out and when it seemed as though the auction went cold I would place my bids. My first auction was unsuccessful as I tried to "wait it out" on an auto bidder. My thoughts raced, trying to decide on a new strategy and wondering why some of my competitors would use a bazillion bids on a product that far exceeded the value that these people spent on bids! For example:
won with 872 bids and saved 0%
Bids placed (872): $87.20* Price: $0.00
Bids Back (197): -$19.70
Total: $67.50
Savings: $0.00

Every auction I tried resulted in these kind of endings! This is where things seemed off to me. How could someone just waste their hard earned money= bids! I can understand getting caught in the moment and this happening a few times but really I feel this happens more often then not. I convinced myself that if I bought another 100 bids I would definitely be able to hang in there and win an auction ( What the hell was I thinking?) I also tried to win the infamous $100 Amazon gift card on 11/28 another not so great experience.
I understand that Bidblink offers the option to buy the product even if you don't win which is great if you really want that product. But for someone like me who is lured in with the prospect of winning auctions with a few bids and really saving alot of money, dont count on it. Maybe I just suck at Penny Auctions. I am in no way discrediting the honesty or ethics of this site ( as I have read wonderful things about the owners and their integrity) I am merely commenting on my own experience. I have a remaining 35 bids so who knows maybe something great will happen with them but I'm not holding my breath or buying anymore bids ever!

[apollo]

I am with the last writer, Vicki. I just recently found BidBlink, and I joined because of the low bid prices. However, it is impossible to win because of that 1000 autobidder. I have watched auctions go on for hours and hours, with an individual bidder (sometimes me) putting in a bid and then automatically being outbid 6 seconds later. Then, someone else with a lot of bids will start a "war" which is actually entertaining, to try to use up the bids of the autobidder. This sometimes works and sometimes doesn't. If it does work, the challenging autobidder is now the autobidder in charge.

Just tonight, I watched several auctions where people paid way more in bids than they won. It makes no sense and the whole autobid function takes away any entertainment or sense of competitiveness. I have seen only one auction where an autobidder did not win (I've only been on the site for a few days). There really is no point to bidding when you know you have no opportunity to win.

Tonight, there was an auction for a $10 Amazon gift card. $10! The final price of the auction was $-8.62. The "winning" bidder used 411 bids to win (that's $41.10 to win a $10 gift card). This bidder received a credit of $8.70 for the total auction bids, but still lost $32.40. All this time and money wasted on a $10 gift card. These types of auctions should be over in minutes, if not seconds.

Another auction was for a $50 Best Buy gift card. The final price of the auction was $-33.87. The "winning" bidder used 1,082 bids to win (that's $108.20 to win a $50 gift card). The bidder received a credit of $33.90 for the total auction bids, but still lost $74.30!

Normal, regular bidders have no chance. It is very depressing to sit there and watch that "Autobid" come up right after you or some other poor person has put in a bid. There is no chance of winning.

I think part of the issue is the bids are so inexpensive and the bid packs are so huge. Is there any other site that offers a 5,000 bid package? Once you sink the $499.98 for that, you can just sit back and win whatever auction you want, while the rest of us who purchase the 100 or 250 pack have no chance at all.

A $10 gift card auction lasts for hours! Come on. Turn off the autobid feature for these auctions so normal people have a chance to win. We'll still be using a lot of bids and spending money; it just won't come from one place. BidCactus doesn't have an Autobidder. I have won on there many times. Yes, the bids cost $0.75, but the experience is much more enjoyable.

I guess I'll just stick my remaining bids in some auction, turn on the autobidder so they'll run out, and sign off the site. There's just no point.

[bidblink]

First off, we wanted to thank Vicki and Apollo for giving us feedback. Even if it's negative, we do appreciate you both for going through the trouble to voice your opinion.

We can assure you, and other users, that most auctions don't actually last that long. In fact, most auctions we are forced to cover the loss for the winner's item. Part of the nature of penny auctions is that sometimes bidders will latch onto a given auction and drag it on for hours.

Most of the power bidders stay away from the smaller $10 auctions because of our weekly win limits. Naturally, they just stay away from the small purses. However, just like any other auction sometimes someone will just get overly committed.

We do offer cheap bids. We think we can claim to offer the cheapest bids in the world. We do this so you can have fun and bid over 6 times more than you can on sites like BidCactus or similar. We want you to play a little more versus stressing every time you click that bid button.

We will look into ideas such as not allowing auto-bids on smaller auctions.

We do want to make sure that you take away that BidBlink offers everyone the same chance to win. Not one person that bids has a better chance than any other to win an auction. The outcome is all determined by you.

Again, thanks for your feedback and please continue to voice your opinion. Do you feel there is a particular change we can make that will help most?

Regards,
Ryan
BidBlink

[coolguy451]

Hey Ryan,
I am guessing the auction going on right now is a record for you guys?

[rockybiduser]

If we consider the number of click on the bid button it will be a record for all Penny auction sites as well.I have seen couple of bidder spent around $1000 in bids for that $50 gift card and now nowhere in the auction and other small fish are trying their best to grab this.I won't be surprised if this auction runs for the whole night. Lot of bidder are not using autobid and waiting for others to spend theirs .Here all big items goes for a small price and small item runs for ever. I hope in this way bidblink will be able to make some profit.

[bidblink]

Hey Ryan,
I am guessing the auction going on right now is a record for you guys?

Definitely. We do get baffled how a 42" TV can go for extremely cheap and a $50 gift card can get attention that is not comprehendible. The outcome of an auction is more determined by the users playing than the actual value of the product.

We strongly recommend you set a maximum amount of bids you want to place and use the buy now feature if you hit that limit. Doing this will give you an overall strong advantage. Unfortunately, the ability to buy now is not available on most other sites so you don't have that luxury.

Regards,
Ryan
BidBlink

[coolguy451]

As I posted this jstep4 (the one who spent 400 for a 100 gift card mentioned in this thread) has started to try and take over. 43,000 bids and counting.

Does anyone know what the "unofficial" record is?

[rockybiduser]

I think in your site bidder are able to try their all tricks.So here they just want to play as risk of loss is minimum unless someone wanted to cause self inflicted damage.But some point of the time for long running auction you should cap the timer to 15 secs max instead of 1 minutes.On this particular auction I can see aut bid war are running for 30-40 minutes consuming gallons of bids.. Good for you

[coolguy451]

I guess the enticement of getting all of those bids back once the cost reaches a negative number is what keeps these small item auctions going.


They are entertaining to watch...

[rockybiduser]

As I posted this jstep4 (the one who spent 400 for a 100 gift card mentioned in this thread) has started to try and take over. 43,000 bids and counting.

Does anyone know what the "unofficial" record is?

Looks like jstep4 is going to spend another 5000 bids here.I think in this site human emotion plays a big role.When you see after spending 500 bids some one else just jump in and going to win big time you just can't control yourself and tend to overspend.This is where you need to keep control.Just concentrate on what you can win without taking much risk.

I think some malfunction happen and timer stops at 1 sec.

[EllaJames]

wow it finally ended... and the site went down.

..back up.

[coolguy451]

yeah, seems like it ended prematurely with truckdriver still lurking. Maybe this was one of those cases where they tried to wait until the last second to bid again and didnt get through in time....and I really thought this auction would hit -500 :-)

[goldtrimcharm]

Ryan, one of the reasons people are willing to throw the bids into a $50 gift card auction vs a big-screen TV auction is this:

With the smaller auctions, most people are willing to "go all the way" if need be. Worst case scenario, I put the bids into the auction, I don't win it, and I lose the $3.99 shipping cost. If I put 500 bids into the big-screen TV auction, though, I am basically throwing those bids away because I'm not willing (or able) to shell out the full amount for the TV.

I can understand why people will fight past the value of the auction when it goes so far negative. But why certain people will spend four or five times the value of the auction - at least on BidBlink - is completely and totally beyond my comprehension. There are so many people on that site now, you can try to build a reputation, but it's not going to make a difference. (Look at what happened to BidRodeo - same thing with all the new people!)

[Clummie]

Thanks for such fast shipping!! I love this site!!