You’re probably thinking this title is some
sort of tongue twister or see it as an existential sort of discussion one when
a penny is a penny or what not. But this
article basically wants to talk about penny auctions in general—and the fact
that the pennies spent in the auctions register as pennies, but do not cost 1
cent as most people believe.
It used to be that penny auctions really
did use pennies as basic bids by bidders, back when it was done in a brick and
mortar penny auctions houses. That’s also
definitely the reason why penny auctions are called what it is. Which is also the reason why most people also
think that online penny auctions will only cost them a penny per bid whenever
they sign up.
This is not correct. A bid credit in an online penny auctions
house will cost more than a penny as much as a dime or more. The credits are bought in bundles which means
you will be shelling more than a penny, definitely, before the bidding begins.
But yes, every bid that a participants
enter into the auction for the listed item registers as a penny on top of the
current bid price. That is why the item
really appears cheaper than what it really costs.
Is this scammy at all? No, it isn’t.
That’s because it’s all listed in the terms in conditions of the thing
you have to sign or tick off before you actually start bidding. But it’s definitely a helluva marketing
strategy, that’s for sure. Making the
item appear and cost lower than it should really does make someone want to say,
hey! I want to participate in this
thing! And when you do you find out that
you’ve finally incurred a lot of costs while doing so. It’s a pretty shrewd ploy for sure, but one
you’re not bound to fall into if only you’d READ THE TERMS AND CONDITIONS!!!
Still the great thing about this setup is
that while the pennies cost more than the traditional one cent, only one cent
is actually added to the pot. Which
means one thing, the auction can go on for a long time with most if not all of
the people participating in it able to afford the penny auctions. It means a lot more people will be able to
stay on during the auctions as it progresses and not many people will be left
out. If you’ve played the auctions at
eBay, you’ll definitely hit a limit of how much you’re willing to pay for a
listed item, and will opt out of the auctions.
In a penny auction since every time someone bids on the item only a
penny is added to the pot, the increase is incremental rather than exponential. It’s a system that democratizes the whole
deal for a great many people who would not be able to afford the whole deal
otherwise. You could say that the penny
auctions… is turning the whole system on its head, one penny at a time.
So again, make it a point to read the terms
and conditions. It’ll save you a lot of
trouble. However if you’ve got a lot of
pennies to spare… go ahead. Just be
warned that you’ll be sacrificing a lot more than a penny!
