How many Penny Auctions Sites are there?

How many penny auction sites are there? Have you ever wondered to yourself the answer to this question? Sure, there are plenty of small ones mushrooming everywhere on the internet but how many serious penny auctions are there in all? Well, it seems that the answer is 135.

I dug up this number from an article in detnews about penny auctions. Here I am quoting them: (The penny auction industry) has grown to about 135 sites today, according to the research firm Technology Briefing Centers Inc.

This was a hard statistic to pull out, so don't be surprised if you see the other lazy bloggers simply copy my research and put this on their own blogs. However, you know who the best authority is when it comes to penny auctions, right :)

So anyway, apparently the answer to the question how many penny auctions are there is about 135 today. And in the future? It is anybody's guess. Like any industry, it also depends on how much regulation will be brought to this new industry and a host of other unpredictable factors.

Do you have any interesting and blogworthy facts/news/anything else about penny auctions? Don't forget to mail those to me at quibidsblog[AT]gmail.com! (replace [AT] with @)

Telescope in 31 Bids at $1.31!

I was just following this auction and it is a nice deal at HappyBidDay. Well, it is probably not a very big deal, but I would have loved to own a telescope! I like penny auctions that have items that are exciting to a niche audience only because then they are less competitive and there is a higher chance of winning. I don't suppose everyone would be interested in the telescope, but for the winner, it is the best deal he could hope for, spending less than $10 to win a telescope! (note that auctions here start at $1.00 instead of $0.00)

You can find lots of good products on this site. One very famous category is (if you don't like telescopes!) Amazon gift cards that come with free bids, so if you win, you can replenish your bids. If you buy higher bid packs, you can get 12-15% off by Registering Here.

Penny Auctions for Beginners

Penny Auctions for Beginners: What you Need to Know.

Penny Auctions are a relatively new phenomenon and have exploded after the recent recession in the West. Their idea is simple: give people a chance to win products at a hugely discounted rate.

Notice how I say give users a 'chance' to win products. That's right, penny auctions give you a chance to win but do not guarantee a win.

Penny auctions are quite different from traditional auctions in that they charge you for every bid that you place. This is why you might see a Macbook sell for $30 in a penny auction. The auctioneer makes money both through the final selling price and more importantly through the bids sold.

Here is how penny auctions work -

1. You select a penny auction and register for free.
2. You then buy bids before hand. As I said, penny auctions are a pay per bid model which means you will pay a predetermined amount for every bid that you place.
3. You select an auction and place the bids.

One very important aspect of penny auctions for beginners which is often confusing is that the clock will reset every time a bid is placed. This means if you see 2 seconds left on the clock, the auction could potentially go on for another hour too! This is because people might keep bidding in this time frame.

If you are new to penny auctions, you should read my post on How do Penny Auctions Work.

Also, if you are looking to join a penny auction, you have to consider how competitive it is. Sites like Quibids are really big and have loads of products but it can be really competitive. Sites like HappyBidDay have a lower product selection but on an average will give much superior savings.

FastPennyCars: Penny Auction for Cars

Penny Auction for Cars? Just when you thought you had seen everything ;) Well, actually we shouldn't claim we have seen everything because niche penny auctions are a very good way for new penny auctions to stand out. Unfortunately not everyone is able to pull it off. For example, in the luxury segment, LuckyChic is a nice penny auction. Would it be as famous if it stuck to gift cards? Of course not.

Anyway, we are here to talk about cars right? So here it is: FastPennyCars is betting big on penny auctions. And by big I mean really big. The site is up and running and the auctions are scheduled for Saturday. Clever. However, I am not too sure how much losses the company can bear in the initial days. A car is a big deal really, although it also sells related products including gift cards for gas.

They also have a feature similar to "Buy It Now" where your lost bids are converted to credits and you can use these for discounts on any cars.

What are your thoughts on this? I'd love to hear from you! Don't forget to join me on Facebook for the latest information and updates from Penny auctions!

Fun Products at Penny Auctions

There are many fun products at penny auctions which might interest the bidders depending on their personal choices and liking. I have always maintained that you shouldn't bid on items that you don't need, but lets admit it, that is the whole point of marketing. When you walk into a supermarket or watch an infomercial, chances are, you don't really need what you buy but you buy it anyway because of the immediate impulse. There is nothing wrong with this really, especially at penny auctions where you can get good discounts. The usual rules of sticking to the budget still apply.

There are many examples of fun products at penny auctions, and some of them are attractive because they are at low competition penny auctions. For example, I just saw a Chef\'s Du Jour 32-Piece Kitchen Set at HappyBidDay. This is a low competition penny auction and this product seems nice even if you have a few of these items already. The auction was won with just 16 bids (the auctions here start at $1.00, not $0.00) thus justifying the decision of the winner to bid on this product in the first place. Perhaps you see this in a store and wouldn't care about it, but on a penny auction, it sure looks impressive.

There are plenty of examples of fun products at penny auctions when you can really get great deals on them. I think the penny auctions get these products at a price cheaper than the retail, so it is a win-win situation really. In addition, these unique products at penny auctions actually help them stand out from the crowd.

Did you win any nice products from penny auctions? Do share!

DropDownDeals: Online Coupon Codes Instantly!

DropDownDeals gives Online Coupon Codes for all websites that you visit!

Today, I wish to talk about a great plugin that I came across which will give you coupon codes for all the shopping sites that you visit! That's right, you will never miss a coupon now and you don't have to Google for coupon codes anymore. I am using it already and getting very good results. So what's the catch? It's FREE! ;)

This is actually a plugin that drops down with coupon codes every time you visit a shopping website for which DropDownDeals has coupon codes. I am usually apprehensive downloading these plugins but I checked the reviews online and it seems to be very trusted. It is also BBB accredited and certified safe both by McAfee and Norton.

Penny auctions are not the only way to save money - sometimes you can get huge discounts with online coupon codes and you may not need penny auctions at all.

DropDownDeals is totally free to download and install, so there is no reason not to try it. Download DropDownDeals for FREE.

Bulk Bid Discounts at OrangeBidz

OrangeBidz is having a great promotion just for today, 6/19, where you can get a lot of discounts on bid packs. Here are the deals:

1. 200 bid pack for $130 instead of $150, save $20, cost of each bid = $0.65
2. 300 bid pack for $185 instead of $225, save $40, cost of each bid = $0.62
3. 500 bid pack for $300 instead of $375, save $75, cost of each bid = $0.60
The regular cost of bids at OrangeBidz is $0.75/bid.

OrangeBidz is a relatively new penny auction which is completely legit and has great customer service along with a really nice product selection. Certain products like American Silver Eagles are hard to find on other penny auctions. Visit OrangeBidz to find out more.

Edit: I almost forgot to mention, for existing members, just log into your OrangeBidz account and get 4 free bids! 

Electronic Goods on HappyBidDay

I have previously written how you can get some great deals on gift cards, especially Amazon gift cards at HappyBidDay. The deals are great because the penny auction is much less competitive and also because they usually have free bids along with these auctions, and in most cases, you get more bids back than you placed in the first place!

However, some have asked me whether HappyBidDay is good even for electronic items. Now to be clear, this is a relatively new penny auction and smaller than sites like Quibids, so you won't find a Macbook auction every day. That being said, there are lots of good products that might interest you. Here, I am listing the last 7 auctions (at the time of writing this) of HappyBidDay for Physical Products only - no gift cards, no bid vouchers. Remember that auctions here start at $1.00. Here are the details:

1. Archos Clipper MP3 Player Plus 30 Bids: Total no. of bids = 71
2. Xbox 360 Console with Kinect: Total no. of bids = 874
3. Premium Espresso & Cappuccino Maker: Total no. of bids = 99
4. iPod Shuffle 2GB: Total no. of bids = 126
5. M&M USB Webcam: Total no. of bids = 6
6. Haier 13-inch LED 720p HDTV: Total no. of bids = 62
7. Sunbeam 2 Slice Waffle Maker: Total no. of bids = 71
8. Sylvania Mini 7-inch Android Tablet: Total no. of bids = 564
9. Kodak 8GB USB Flash Drive: Total no. of bids = 2
10. M&M USB Webcam: Total no. of bids = 2

My understanding is that if you bid on smaller items at HappyBidDay, you can get great deals. The bigger items, like on any other penny auction, can be competitive (of course depends on your budget and strategies). The good thing is that you can first try to win bid vouchers here which are not very competitive. Then, you can rack up bids to try on electronics. Another way to try to gain bids is by bidding on gift cards that come with plenty of free bids. 

If you are new to HappyBidDay, Register Here to get 15% off your first bid pack purchase (250 bids) or 12% off on your first bid pack purchase (150 bids). Good Luck Bidding!

Quibids Data on Sony Cyber-Shot 16 MP Waterproof Camera

This is some Quibids data on Sony Cyber-Shot 16 MP Waterproof Camera. Thanks to Chris who mailed me about this and also the 3 data points. This should be a nice indication of when to bid at Quibids, although the data is very insufficient. I think it should be interesting to do a more thorough analysis in the future with various models and perhaps different brands too. This should give more data points to see how the trending is. Anyway, for this particular case, if you are interested, here is the information: (all times in EST)

1. Auction-1: Ended at $46.94, Sunday 5:03pm
2. Auction-2: Ended at $17.09, Thursday 9:41pm
3. Auction-3: Ended at $1.85, Saturday 2:40pm

If you have more data on Quibids, or would like to see some more data on products, do let me know.

RockDawg Dawg Show Tonight!

RockDawg is having a Dawg Show tonight, from 6pm-8pm PST. This is what will happen: There will be a random drawing from among 10 winners and they could win $50, $25 and $15 gift cards of their choosing. It is a nice way to win and then win again!

RockDawg is a nice site to try out. The auctions now are 'Unleashed Auctions': You hit a secret predetermined price and you win! Check out my Interview with Diane of RockDawg. Also, don't forget to use the coupon code RD52 and get 15 free bids in all to get started!

BBB Accredited Penny Auction Sites

BBB Accredited Penny Auction Sites are generally more trusted than the rest. This is very important because the first thing that you should see is whether a penny auction is legit or not. However, please do be aware that even if a penny auction is BBB accredited, it is not guaranteed to work all the time. I have seen some BBB accredited penny auctions close shop, so don't rely solely on the rating provided by BBB.


The BBB accredited penny auctions are usually the bigger players in the field. They have been around for long and have hundreds or thousands of auctions every single day. They are big and well financed. Even if they make a loss on some items, they make it up with better profits on others.

1. Quibids: Not surprisingly, Quibids is a BBB accredited penny auction. Quibids is the largest penny auction in the US and has thousands of auctions every day. You also have one of the best product selection at Quibids. It is definitely an industry leader.

2. BidCactus: This is a fun penny auction. BidCactus is well known in the industry for its promotions and other free bid opportunities that you have. It is an active and busy penny auction.

3. DealDash: You can't miss the advertisements of DealDash all over the internet! It is a good penny auction, with Buy Now on all its auctions and some really nice deals. Smaller than Quibids but very good nonetheless.

4. BidHere: BidHere is well known in the industry for its great selection of electronic items. You can get great deals on Macbooks, Laptops, TVs and a host of other products. If you are a fan of new technology, this is the site that you should check out.

Here are the BBB ratings of these four penny auctions as of today:
Quibids: A-
BidCactus: A-
DealDash: A-
BidHere: F (there is an alert on this business!)

Bid Back Madness at HappyBidDay

HappyBidDay is having another great promotion! From June 15th to June 30th, you can now get all the bids that you place back in your happy bids account! It is a 1 to 1 return. These Happy Bids can be used on all Happy Auctions at HappyBidDay. Happy auctions take place for bid packs, gift cards and other smaller items. You may not find a Macbook here, but surely a small Amazon gift card is worth it, when you are getting all the free bids!

Visit HappyBidDay.com to register and start winning great products! You can also read my HappyBidDay Review to know more about this site.

Special Auctions for Newbies at BidCactus

BidCactus has some good news for those who have never won an auction there: have separate auctions! These auctions will naturally be less competitive than the ones that you see on the site. This is good news for those who want to join BidCactus or have joined and remained inactive.

If you plan on joining BidCactus, you can read my BidCactus Review. In addition, click on this coupon code to get $10 off your first purchase: K2T8BC

Cheap Bids at Penny Auctions

How do you get cheap bids at penny auctions? There are several promos and coupon codes I write about in my blog, but you can get a good number of bids if you choose your penny auction wisely.

There are certain penny auctions like Quibids where bid vouchers are very competitive. This is the reason why I don't suggest bidding on voucher bids at Quibids. You might end up losing many more bids that you intend to gain.

However, at other penny auctions, like HappyBidDay, the voucher bids are usually much cheaper. I think there is a simple explanation for this: most auctions here are combined auctions, e.g. you will get $25 Amazon Gift Card + 75 Bids. This means just usual bid vouchers usually are cheaper. At the time of writing this, the latest bid voucher auction at HappyBidDay was a 125 bid pack that sold with just 2 bids placed!

Late afternoon to early evening seems like a nice time at HappyBidDay and also a time when you can get some great deals on products as well as voucher bids. These bids of course can be used for any auction you like.

Best Penny Auctions: Complete List

Best Penny Auctions as of June 2011
I'll try to update the list with time. Remember that the best penny auctions keep changing at all times, so it is really hard to give a definitive list that doesn't change with time. Sometimes, the best penny auctions of today might close tomorrow, like Swoopoo. However, I hope to keep you updated of all the latest happenings (especially if you subscribe to my blog or join me on Facebook).

So here are some of the best penny auctions (strictly in my opinion - I don't take responsibility for the list):

Big Trusted Penny Auctions (all BBB Accredited) 
These are the biggest players in the industry. They are also the ones I recommend to check out. They are completely legit and have thousands of winners each month. It is very unlikely they will cheat their customers in any way. All these are also BBB accredited businesses.

1. Quibids: Not surprisingly, Quibids finds its way to the top in my list. It is the biggest penny auction in the US and has been consistently doing good. You can read my Quibids Review as well. It also has the Buy Now option to minimize risk.

2. BidCactus: This is a fun penny auction with lots of promotions and chances to get free bids and discounts. Find my BidCactus Review to know more or just check out the site.

3. DealDash: This is a good penny auction that can give some good deals. You might have seen its ads - they are everywhere!

4. BidHere: This is another one of the big players. This penny auction usually has the biggest electronic items so it can be very useful for those looking to get Laptops, Macbooks, TVs etc are cheap prices.

Smaller, Less Competitive Penny Auctions

1. HappyBidDay: This is kind of in-between in size: it isn't too small but isn't too big either. This leaves it in the 'sweet spot' where the penny auction can be completely trusted but the competition isn't too much, so there are lots of winning chances.

2. Mypadiddle: This is a new penny auction with lots of winning chances. Check out the closed auctions to get a feel for the prices - they seem very good and the site seems to have low competition for now. Read my interview with David of MyPadiddle

3. OrangeBidz: The site has risen steadily from its start just a few months ago and is doing very well for itself and for the bidders.

4. RockDawg: I mention this last only because it isn't strictly a penny auction. It is fun and totally legit and has some great testimonials. It is also a nice break from the penny auction model while still remaining in the entertainment auctions category. 

I hope you find some help from this list of best penny auctions. I have used all of them personally and only then recommended them to you.

Note: BidRivals too should probably be on the first list. However, I have personally had a very bad experience with them for a refund, which I suppose is an exception and not the rule. However, I cannot recommend a penny auction that I don't use anymore and had a bad experience with.

Double Your Bids at HappyBidDay

HappyBidDay is a relatively new and very trusted penny auction which gives some really good deals, especially on gift cards. They are running an offer just for one day: Double your Bids! This is a great offer for everyone to consider. Read my HappyBidDay Review for more information.

If you purchase a 50 bid pack, you will get 50 free HappyBidDay bids! Just use the coupon code JUNE50 (click to activate) and you are all set. It is a great way to try out a different penny auction which has some really cheap prices (note that auctions here start from $1.01 and not $0.01)

Free Bids at BidCactus

How to get free bids at BidCactus? Here is a nice strategy to use.

BidCactus is a trusted penny auction that isn't as big as Quibids so there are lots of opportunities to win products.

One good thing with BidCactus is that it runs lots of promotions to keep bidders active and happy. Here is how you can use this to your advantage and gain some free bids in the process:

Every Friday there are special Bid Back Auctions. In these, anyone who places a bid gets 3 free bids. So even if you don't want the item, just place 1 bid and get 3 free BidCactus bids! This means for every such auction, you can easily make 2 free bids net (1 bid is used up). This way you can collect lots of free bids at BidCactus.

There are other ways as well to get free bids at this site, so it is definitely worth checking out. Check out BidCactus here.

Using Bids to Win More Bids - Penny Auction Strategy

A few months ago, Quibids started packaging bids with products. Thus the auction consisted not just of the product but also some free bids with it. This isn't a very novel concept and other penny auctions have been doing this for a long time.

There are few penny auctions in which this is the rule rather than the exception, i.e. they have free bids bundled with every product. I have previously written that this is the case with penny auctions like HappyBidDay, which are particularly easy to win if you are a seasoned penny auction bidder or if you read my penny auction strategies.

The reason this site is good for bidders is that the usual number of bids on products is less than 50-100 total even if there are 75 free bids! Thus even if you spend 25-50 bids, you have a very good chance of winning 75 bids along with an Amazon gift card (the most popular gift card there) which means even after spending bids, you are now left with more bids and an Amazon gift card!

This happens in a few penny auctions. At Quibids, this is rather rare. Also, Quibids is more competitive than these penny auctions. This is a good strategy to employ when you want to win more bids.

HappyBidDay: Use Price Confusion to your Advantage!

HappyBidDay is a low competition penny auction which is a very good site to get some great deals. Not many competitive penny auction bidders know this site, so there is ample scope for great deals. Another good thing is, there are bids added with practically every win, so you really can buy one bid pack initially and then keep winning items and free bids for a long time to come.

Anyway, I wrote this post to tell you about an issue of price confusion that you can greatly use to your advantage. HappyBidDay is like any other penny auction, but they start their auction from $1.01 instead of $0.01 like traditional penny auctions. Why is this important? Because people visit the site, see the price at $1.01 and think there are 100 bids placed, when in fact it is 0! See this auction below:

As you can see, the auction started at $1.01 and ended a couple of bids later. This is usually the norm - in fact, HappyBidDay is one of the very few penny auctions I have seen where bid packs can be easily won.

The other thing is that most auctions, like this Amazon gift card, gives you free bids. As you can see, usually it takes fewer bids to win these items than the number of bids that you get!

Visit HappyBidDay here to get 15% off your first bid pack purchase (coupon activated)

BidCactus Coupon Code: $10 Off

I got a BidCactus coupon code that I want to share with you. It is K2T8BC (click to activate) and is valid ONLY for your first winning auction from BidCactus. This BidCactus coupon will give you a flat $10 off your first winning auction.

If you want to know more about this penny auction, see my BidCactus Review for details.

Comprehensive BidCactus Review

This is my BidCactus Review. BidCactus is a penny auction that is very well established, though not as large as Quibids. BidCactus works in both US and Canada, and for the Canadians, it is probably the best penny auctions available.

BidCactus is Legit
An obvious aspect of any penny auction is to know whether it is legit or not. In this BidCactus review, that isn't a problem because the site is very well established and has a very good reputation. BidCactus is not a scam, so if you win a product, you will definitely get it. Also, obviously they don't use any shill bidding to inflate prices.

BidCactus is BBB Accredited business, and its rating is A- the same as Quibids. 
The obvious is out of the way, so let us now look at Bidcactus is a penny auction.

BidCactus is Less Competitive
Once a penny auction is legit, I like to look at its competitiveness. This is one of the most important aspects why I would join a penny auction and you should too.
Unfortunately, BidCactus, just like Quibids, doesn't give a whole list of previous winners but it does have some information about it on the side. I couldn't access the auction page itself, but here is the information provided on the homepage. This is the latest win at BidCactus at the time of writing this post:

Apple iPad 16GB (WiFi + 3G)
06/01 02:21 PM  $0.33
INSANEbid

That to me seems like a really good deal. Of course this is a random auction. I have looked through the previously closed auctions and it appears to be significantly less competitive than Quibids. This means bidders have a really great chance of winning. 

BidCactus Doesn't have Buy Now
This is a feature you must be aware. The usual trade-off for a penny auction not being competitive is that it doesn't have Buy Now. This means you should set a budget and bid, but if you don't win, you don't get anything for your bids. This is the only way penny auctions can afford to remain less competitive for the bidders, so do be aware of this tradeoff if you join.

BidCactus is Always Exciting 
This is one aspect of Quibids that I don't like and is the same with a lot of penny auctions. After a while, they become kind of boring. It is the same model and there is nothing new happening. In that respect, some penny auctions are good, and BidCactus is certainly one of them. Here there are plenty of promotions and twists to the existing penny auction model which makes bidders feel more excited. See the promotions below -

BidCactus has Great Promotions
Yes, BidCactus has some promotion or the other always running. If you choose your bids wisely, you can actually end up saving a lot of money.

For example, there are special auctions available on Mondays and Wednesdays. In these auctions, if you place a bid, you get 3 bids back. Now, even if this is an auction you don't want, you can just place a single bid and then get 3 bids back! That is 2 free bids on every single such auction. These are only available on Mondays and Wednesdays.

Then, there is something special again on Fridays: if you buy 100 bid pack between 4pm and 7pm EST on any Friday, you get 5 free bids at BidCactus.

These promotions keep the site on the more exciting side.

Beginner Auctions are Easy to Win
Beginner auctions at BidCactus are only available to beginners. Established bidders cannot bid on these, so you have a very good chance of winning them. Of course you should know the Penny Auction Strategies before you jump in. A lot of bidders are new to penny auctions and don't know how to play the game. If you do a little bit of research, the beginner auctions are a very good place to get discounts.

At the time of writing this, here is the latest Beginner Auction win:

$50 Shell Gift Card 06/01 02:22 PM  $0.03

lovebiddingb4u

Beginner Auction

A $50 gift card for $0.03 is indeed very good and very less competitive.

Visit BidCactus at www.bidcactus.com to get started. I hope you find the site good. Don't forget to leave a comment if you join and like the site. Good luck bidding!