Online Auctions – Rip Off or Hot Deal?

Times are tough. These days, we need all the monetary aid we can get. That is why I have decided to share my recent online finds – BidRodeo, Swoopo and Beezid.

Now, think of BidRodeo, Swoopo and Beezid as Ebay on steroids. Like Ebay, these sites hold auctions – auctions for WII and Xbox consoles, game accessories, plasma televisions, PC laptops, Mac notebooks, iPhones, Nikon cameras, iPods, MP3s, home appliances and gift cards.

Now, these sites advertise that anyone anywhere can win these products for amazingly low prices. How low? Well, on Swoopo, an Apple LED iMac 27-inch Desktop sold for $8.76; on BidRodeo, a Wii console complete with accessories and Wii sports sold for $0.31; and on Beezid, a Canon Rebel XS sold for $0.57. Sounds too good to be true, right? You guessed it.

The Catch

The catch to these sites is the bid. Unlike Ebay, these sites force users to buy bids. That’s right. Every bid costs between $.60 – .$.70 and each site provides their users with bid packages. For instance, Bid Rodeo offers their members deals – and I use that word loosely – like the Value package, 20 bids for $16; the Mega Deal, 100 bids for $72; and the Deluxe package, 500 bids for $340. Expensive enough? That’s not all.

There is a system to bidding on these sites. With every bid the price goes up one cent and the time extends 10 seconds or more. So, as the clock ticks down to the last few seconds, members place their bid adding another 10 seconds to the clock and another penny to the price.

What’s more, all three sites implement their own bidding tool: the BidBuddy, the Autobeezid and the BidButler. These instruments place bids for the users. All the bidder has to do is enter the dollar range they want to spend and the number of bids they wish to place. The bidding tool will do the rest. The only problem is that the tool acts on its own, placing bids at every 10-second countdown.

Speaking from Personal Experience

After $60 bucks and three months of bidding, I found out the hard way that these auction sites do not bid fair. The so-called “winners” on these sites are ruthless bidding mercenaries – I know firsthand. They go by names like “beware,” “biddinbandit,” “Usadevil,” and “Kamikazebidder.” And, from what I can tell, their livelihood revolves around out-bidding any and all bidders within their auction wars. Seriously, take my advice. Do not bid unless you are prepared to bid to the death.