You have probably heard a lot about penny auction sites over the past few months as they have become an ever more popular way to shop online whilst saving money. But just how do penny auctions differentiate from the more traditional auction sites such as eBay? Well although both systems offer the bidder the chance to purchase the item straight away instead of getting involved in an auction, they do differ in other ways. They both have different ways in which to make a payment and also how they go about giving the auction a time limit, plus penny auctions seem a lot more entertaining.
When it comes to determining the time limit for an auction, then the more traditional sites such as eBay tend to allow bidders a very long time to get their bids in (usually at least a week) and when the time expires the person who has bid the most wins. However the time limit on penny auction websites such as Bigger Bidder differ from the more traditional auction sites as when the timer starts to reach the end if another bid comes in then a few seconds are added to the timer to allow others to place another bid. If no further bids are forthcoming then when the counter reaches zero then the person who bid last wins. This helps keep the prices lower than you would expect to find on other more standard auction websites.
When it is time to pay for your item, again penny auctions do this differently to the normal auction
websites. With a standard auction if you are the highest bidder when the timer runs out then you are expected to pay the final auction price plus any extras such as tax and shipping and packaging costs. With penny auctions though you pay for each bid you make as well as the final price when you have become the winning bidder, although at Bigger Bidder the winning bidder is refunded all their bids they had used whilst bidding, allowing them to be used again in another auction. The amount you have to pay for each bid does vary from site to site but is usually around the $0.60 mark, but by pre-purchasing multiple bid packs in advance you will find that the average cost per bid will be considerably lower.
Most of the standard auction sites have a feature that allows you to skip the auction altogether and purchase the item in the same way that you would on a normal retailers website. This is often known as the “buy-it-now” option, and penny auction sites also have this option which comes in handy if you have failed to win on an item. The money from the bids that you have already placed does count towards the final total and you are given the chance to pay the remainder of what is required for you to complete the transaction.
Clued up shoppers can use penny auction websites such as Bigger Bidder in order to win auctions on all kinds of brand new top quality items and in the process save themselves a whole load of cash!
