That Penny Auction Will Cost You Much More Than a Penny

Many of us have seen the advertisements online, in periodicals, and on television. The siren song of the penny auction is often times very difficult to ignore. The penny auction websites often tout video game consoles for a dollar, HDTV's for less than you would pay for a six pack of your favorite beverage, and gaggle of giggles while you indulge.

While some deals can be had, the majority of consumers are not going to win those major offers. Usually the consumer will purchase a a large allotment of bids, only to lose each and every auction that he or she enters.

This works in the favor of the penny auction officials, as the more people bid, the less likely they are to lose money on each sale. The problem is that there can only be one winner for each auction, and even if the auctions are run legitimately, the odds of one person being able to outlast another for a major product are very long.

In the beginning of each Auction there are usually bidders that will artificially drive up the price, and it is not uncommon to run into bidding wars with two automated bidders. While these bidders may very well be human beings that have set up automatic bidding, there is actually no way for the consumer to tell the difference.

Even if there was a way to tell the difference between human controlled bots and completely automated bots, there is still no defense against the late arriving bidder.

The late arriving bidder is a person that comes into the auction at end of an auction with seemingly unlimited bids. This person will usually bid against you time and again, always making sure his bid is on top for the count down.

If you have been in a bidding war with other bidders before her arrival, you may not have the bids remaining to ward off this hostile attack. Because of this you are left with 3 options:

1- Give Up

2- Try to win more bids in a Bid Auction

3- Buy more bids

No matter which option you choose, you still can not get back the money you lost for previous bids. In the end you may end up paying about the same price for the merchandise without even winning an auction.

Finally tally: Penny Auction 1 You: Zero