Another auction site.

[*Ubbie Max*]

I have found another auction site (Australian I believe) http://www.bidrivals.com/au . It's worth a look at from a buyers perspective. It auctions only new gear & after studying the history of finished auctions many winners got great bargains.

It works this way;

Each bid costs .80 cents (irrespective of whether the bidder wins or not) Bids are first purchased in packages of 20 or up to 1000 bids. There is an inbuilt snipe program that the bidder can use indicating the number of bids he or she is prepared to use & the maximum $ amount he or she is prepared to go to. Apparently the trick is to set up say 40 bids to a maximum of say $250 & come in right at the end of the auction. It looks like the auction keeps extending in time while bidding is still continuing.

I haven't had a go yet but I saw a Nikkon D90 digital SLR camera with two lenses (Retail over $1600) go for under $100.

Some of you may already be aware of this site & some of you may have already used it & won. If you have, I'd certainly appreciate any advise you may wish to give.

[*Brum6y*]

First I've heard of it - but the logo looks familiar, so I may have come across it and passed it by somewhere....

First reaction is: When is the bloody auction going to end? It seems there are an interminable number of proxy bids and 15 second extensions.

Second reaction is that buyers are paying handsomely for their bids.

Here's just one item I randomly picked out of their 'closed auctions' - It's for a Nokia N97 - outright purchase:

YOUR SAVINGS
Price  5.86 AUD  
Your bids: 104 x 0.80  83.20 AUD  
Shipping & handling 18.00 AUD

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
Total price (incl. GST)  107.06 AUD  
GST (10%)  9.73 AUD  
Retail price 749.00 AUD
You save  641.94 AUD  

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
BIDRIVALS lost  451.14 AUD  

Hopefully that last line is just a sign of infancy - otherwise it's doomed.

[*smee*]

www.eswap.com.au is also an alternative ... owned by Lleyton Hewitt

So COME ON !!!!!!!!!!  look at it

[*Brum6y*]

Second reaction is that buyers are paying handsomely for their bids.

BIDRIVALS lost  451.14 AUD

Hopefully that last line is just a sign of infancy - otherwise it's doomed.

Correction. I had not properly considered the other bids from non-winning bidders. As a minimum, there will be at least as many bids from rivals - and if the winning bidder is a late starter, then there will be more from earlier bidding.  So there is potentially going to be a lot of money flowing from buyers who don't win anything. THAT is going to result in revised bidding habits - or death of a site.  JMO

[*Ubbie Max*]

Yeah Brum6y. I watched an auction last night & it was still going this morning. The ultimate winner, one of last night's regular bidders won the item but used 1529 bids at 80 cents each. the item was a camera , below are the details;

Price 91.98 AUD
Your bids: 1529 x 0.80 1,223.20 AUD

Shipping & handling 27.00 AUD
Total price (incl. GST) 1,342.18 AUD
GST (10%) 122.02 AUD
Retail price 1349.00 AUD
You save 6.82 AUD

The winning bidder spent $1,223.20 on bids. He must have bid for & won a heap of bids earlier (bid packages are an auction item)  to be able to justify the cost or, he is an idiot.

Bidrivals must have made an incredible profit over the course of the night as there were, at times, as many as 6 bidders bidding every 12 seconds using an automatic bidding program, each bid costs 80 cents. Bidrival loss (written in read) went to zero about 8.30 last night & the auction finished at 11.01 this morning.

[*Brum6y*]

Doesn't sound like the right place for me...

I cringe at the 12.5% buyers premium I paid for my last purchases and that's when I know exactly what I'm up for when I make my bids.

(yes eBay, there IS a Santa Claus another auction site ... or two)