How to Start A Penny Auction Part - 1

I am starting a series on how to start a new penny auction site. It may not really impress everyone, but it is worth mentioning here because there are several bidders who are interested in getting into it themselves sometime. Plus, there are many businesses who want to do the same and establish themselves in a particular niche. More recently, many small businesses that already have a presence are getting into the game, which means they already have an established base.

Now, it might also be of interest to the casual bidders and readers of my blog. After all, penny auctions are a curious business model and people want to know how to start new penny auctions.

Before I start the series, I wish to let all prospective entrepreneurs and small businesses know this: contrary to the popular belief, penny auctions are not a goldmine. The first few weeks/months will be painfully unprofitable. If you think you can make a quick buck and leave, you are mistaken and this industry is certainly not for you.

However, if you are serious about the business, you should read on.

Step-1: Set up Your own Company

This is the first and most important aspect of running a penny auction or really most other businesses. If you look at established penny auctions, you will see that almost all of them are LLCs. Limited Liability Companies are ideal for this kind of business, at least when you are getting started. Even if you already own a business, it might be a good idea to first incorporate an LLC and then start off with your penny auction business so you can test the waters safely. Remember that the best penny auctions in the industry, like Quibids, are all LLC's.

If you are not a legal expert, then you need to get professional help in forming your own LLC. This is important for long term sustainability of the business. If you are looking for a company, think CorpNet. They have a great legal team and being small but highly experienced, they can really understand your needs well. Plus, they offer one of the lowest industry fees, so you can get away with less. They also have a money-back guarantee, so you cannot lose trying them out.
If you already have a legal team in place, then you do not need another company, unless you need specialized advice.

Setting up an LLC is the first step towards starting your own penny auction site. This is also one of the most important steps because you want to do it right - very right. If you are free from legal hassles and have done this step in the right manner, you have a strong foundation upon which you can build your business for further profitability. 

Mystery Surprise at HappyBidDay

HappyBidDay is having mystery surprises this whole weekend. All you need to do is log into the site and you will get your mystery surprise. Today, I had a discount coupon from them which gave me 10% discount on bids purchased. If you are not a member, you can Register Here to get 12%-15% off your first bid pack purchase only.

These discounts are interesting because it reduces the overall cost you spend towards the bids. This increases profitability for the bidders in the long run. Since it is a very trusted site, you don't need to worry about buying more bids. They are having great products and the inventory seems to keep increasing, so I sure am excited about the future. They recently started auctioning gold and silver bullion, which I personally like a lot but there sure is something for everyone.

First Midnight Auction at OrangeBidz

Most new penny auctions have specific times when products go on sale instead of auctions running 24 hours a day. I am happy to report that OrangeBidz is taking the first step towards higher successes by offering its first midnight auction today! Also, if you don't win, you get half your bids back!

It is certainly a good sign for the site as it continues to grow and attract more bidders. I think the promotions that OrangeBidz runs are good and keeps the members active.

There is also a $7 25 bid pack on sale at PennyAuctionCoupon for OrangeBidz (1 per user). They are also offering 5 additional bids if the deal hits 80 users.

Winning Penny Auctions

Winning penny auctions is no trivial task and any experienced bidder can be a testimony to it. However, there are penny auction bidders who consistently and impressively rake in the profits through penny auctions. How is this possible? What do they know that you don't?

Look for the Best Winning Chances
A lot of bidders look for "safe" options like Quibids or BidRivals. True, you have Buy Now on these sites and if you are careful, you cannot lose money. However, they don't give you the best winning chances. To get the best winning chance, you should look for new but trusted penny auctions, like say HappyBidDay. This is because this site gives tons of free bids bundled together with the gift cards, so you can keep winning products and use the extra bids to win more gift cards.

Look for the Best Bidding Times
Bidding times are very important to win penny auctions. For example, at many new penny auctions, the afternoon time on weekdays is the best to bid on. These are the times when people are still at work and there are fewer bidders online. Of course you should study the site because some penny auctions will trim their auctions accordingly.

Know what to Bid on
People get tempted by big-ticket items. However, there are usually the most difficult to win. So don't go for the Macbook just yet. Instead, just try to win a small gift card which you can, in all probability, get it for less than the retail.

Another OrangeBidz Promotion

OrangeBidz is having another big promotion today.

First, anyone who registers today gets 5 free bids. In addition, all existing members who log in today get 2 free bids.

Now for the major promotion: OrangeBidz is running a "Second Chance Bid Pack" sale today. In this, if you buy a 100 bid pack today, you are enrolled towards a 'second chance' if you don't win anything with these 100 bids. This means if you don't win anything with these 100 bids, OrangeBidz will replenish this bid pack (one time only) to add 100 bids to your account again. You are also limited to one second chance bid pack per user.

This is a really cool offer and regular bidders should be excited about this.

RockDawg Coupon Code 5 Free Bids

Here is a RockDawg coupon code for 5 free bids: HappyBirthday. This will give you 5 free bids. It is valid for all members - new and old. All you need to do is log into your account today and enter this code in the redeem coupon area. The bids should be added instantly to your account.

I have done an interview with Diane, the co-founder of RockDawg, in which she talks about the industry in general and her visions of the future for RockDawg. Do read the interview to know more.

PennyGrab Coupon Code

Use this PennyGrab coupon code: SID10 to get 10 free credits.
PennyGrab is an exciting variation of penny auction in which there is a hidden deal price and the bidder who makes the price hit this price is the winner. It is a new but promising site and it seems to be doing quite well already.

RockDawg on PennyAuctionCoupon

RockDawg is having a great promotion today on PennyAuctionCoupon. You can buy 25 bids at just $5! This is a great opportunity to get some bids if you like RockDawg. Only one coupon per user is allowed. It is probably one of the cheapest prices that you will ever see for a penny auction like RockDawg.

If you don't already know, RockDawg has special 'unleashed auctions' in which there is a price that is hidden and the person who hits that price is the winner. One bid costs one cent as usual but you can bid multiple times, consecutively, on a single item till you hit that hidden price and are the winner.

I had interviewed Diane, the co-founder of RockDawg. Read the full interview here. It is a great site to join and also one of the highest rated in the industry.

If you are going to join RockDawg or already a member, just use the RockDawg coupon code RD52. This will give you 10 free bids, so you have a lot of bids at your disposal!

Great promotion at OrangeBidz

OrangeBidz is having a great promotion today: On special auctions, you get 50% bids back and there are several free bids on every bid pack purchase. This ranges from just 4 free bids with 30 bid pack to 130 free bids on 500 bid pack purchases. OrangeBidz is celebrating its 4th month in existence, and if you ask me, has been doing pretty good overall. The winning chances are fairly good, it attracts customers and runs such great promotions and gives free bids for logging in too (sometimes, that is). If you are not a member yet, it is worth checking out.

Winning Sustainably at HappyBidDay

HappyBidDay is a popular penny auction which is growing well in terms of new products offered to the bidders. There have been many inclusions in the past few weeks. However, this post is not intended to show how awesome the products are and how you can win an iPad2. Instead, it is about the more humble Amazon gift cards.

HappyBidDay is a relatively new penny auction so you don't have a lot of experienced bidders. However, for the very big items, like iPad2, there is a healthy amount of competition, so your chances of winning are as good as any other penny auction. However, it is the smaller gift cards that interest me because they let you win sustainably.

Let me explain. Unlike other penny auctions, at HappyBidDay, the gift cards (Amazon is popular but there are plenty of others too) always come bundled up with free bids. Thus you will see a $15 Amazon gift card bundled together with 75 free bids.

Now, here is the interesting part: Auctions at HappyBidDay start at $1.00 and not $0.00. Competition is not about the final price but the number of bids placed on the auction. See a typical gift card auction at HappyBidDay below:

You can see the $15 gift card is bundled with 75 free bids, and the closing price is $1.51. This means a total of 51 bids were placed on the auction. Assume that the winner was very aggressive and every alternate bid was placed by the winner (this is a highly unlikely scenario at HappyBidDay. The winner usually spends even less bids). This means the winner placed a maximum of 26 bids. This is for an item that has 75 free bids along with it!

What does this mean? The winner, in the end, has more bids than she started off with and has an Amazon gift card as well! This is what I mean by winning sustainably at HappyBidDay. If you concentrate on the gift cards, you get free bids along with the gift card and in many cases, the winner ends up with more bids than she started with!

If you are not already a member, you can Register Here (coupon code in-built) to get up to 15% off on your first bid pack purchase.

PennyAuctionsBlog back on Facebook!

If you are wondering where this blog disappeared on Facebook, well, the page was taken down after some issue with Quibids. Long story short, I have now gotten my page back and it feels really good. Do join me on Facebook where I give you the latest news, updates and coupon codes from several penny auctions. Sometimes it is just easier to post on Facebook than on the blog especially for coupon codes that help you save money but don't need an elaborate post.

http://www.facebook.com/PennyAuctionsBlog

Best Time to Bid on Penny Auctions

What is the best time to bid on penny auctions?
This is a very important question that every bidder needs to answer in order to optimize her winning chances. So what is the answer? It depends! Not very helpful right? But let me explain to you more in detail.

When you are looking for the best time to bid on a penny auction, what is it that you are looking for? You want to find the least competitive times in a penny auction. This is when you should bid because the lower the competition, the higher your winning chances. (Remember that no one can ever guarantee you a win at penny auction and anyone claiming otherwise is a snake-oil salesman you should steer clear of).

Finding the Least Competitive Times
It is important to find the least competitive times for your penny auction. Essentially, competition at any penny auction depends on -

• The number of bidders currently online
• The number of products up for auction 
• The number of popular items up for auction 

These three factors, in a nutshell, determine the least competitive times for any penny auction.

How to Find this Information?
It is not easy to get this information. Almost all the trackers I have seen are no good. You should observe general trends. For Quibids, you should read my post Best Time to Bid on Quibids which will give you great insights into this information.

For other sites, as a general rule of thumb, afternoons to early evenings are less competitive. For example, at HappyBidDay, the afternoons can give you products worth hundreds of dollars in gift cards for a couple of bids each, along with plenty of other free bids to use. However, late at evenings and nights, it becomes more competitive like a regular penny auction.

You should know what is the best time to bid on a penny auction to improve your winning chances. Again, another rule of thumb is to avoid weekends, although some penny auctions have great products on weekends. It is almost always a trade-off.

It's Still Unpredictable 
For new penny auctions, it is easier to predict competition. However, for any penny auction, it is impossible to do so with certainty. Just a couple of aggressive bidders can change the whole dynamic of the game. You need to understand that penny auctions are inherently unpredictable because their outcome depends not only on your own actions but also on the actions of other bidders. By knowing the best time to bid on penny auctions, you are merely bettering the odds and adopting a wise strategy.

HappyBidDay Extends Bid Back Madness

The immensely popular Bid Back Madness at HappyBidDay has been extended to July 31st. During this time, any bid that you place, you get back in your 'Happy Bids' account which can then be used on exclusive happy auctions. This is a very convenient way to rack up on Happy Bids.

HappyBidDay has started gold and silver bullion auctions as well, which I really like because they are easier to win. If you are joining HappyBidDay, Register Here to get a discount on bulk bids (15% off on 225 bid pack or 12% off on 150 bid pack). HappyBidDay is a new penny auction with low competition so everyone has a winning chance.

Edit: There is an exciting 16GB iPad2 auction today at HappyBidDay for those who are interested.

PennyGrab Promo Code

Here is a PennyGrab promo code: HAPPY4TH This coupon code will give you 10 free credits to get you started.
PennyGrab is a new site which is not exactly a penny auction. Instead, it follows the auction model of an 'invisible bid' - when this bid is reached, the winner who bid on it, wins. It is a very good alternative to penny auctions. Plus, 10 free bids is a very good amount to start off with.

The site is very new, so it is less competitive. The owners have previous business experience as well, which lends the site some credibility. It is also a very open site - you can see all the previous winners and closed auctions to give you an idea. So just use this coupon and see if you can get lucky!
Update: Latest pennygrab promo code: HOPPYEASTER obtained on April 6th 2012
Update: Latest pennygrab promot code: RIDEFREE obtained on April 18th 2012

Gold and Silver Bullion on HappyBidDay!

I am really happy to see gold and silver bullion on HappyBidDay. I like these products as collection items and a good economic investment for the long term and a hedge against uncertainty. HappyBidDay has introduced both gold and silver bullion on their site. Not many penny auctions give away gold and silver coins, so it is definitely a welcome news. Plus, the prices are cheaper than anywhere else!

The 1oz silver coin auction I was following ended after just 8 bids at $1.08! (here auctions start at $1.00 and not $0.00) This is a great saving for the bidders.

If you haven't yet joined HappyBidDay, I recommend it as a good penny auction with low competition (much lower than Quibids!) Register Here to get 12-15% off your first bid pack purchase (depending on how big the bid pack is).

BidHere Penny Auction

BidHere is a large penny auction that specializes in electronics. This doesn't mean there are no other items here - you will find plenty of general gift cards and other items but the main focus of BidHere is electronics. For those who like electronic items, BidHere is a great penny auction to try out and a very good alternative to Quibids.

BidHere has several desirable features. For one, it runs many more promotions than Quibids, so you can hope to get some great deals on bids which help you save money in the long run.

Another good thing I like about BidHere is that it is very open about the auctions than Quibids (actually Quibids doesn't even come close). You can get a list of all the previously ended auctions along with their final price when you log into BidHere. This should give you a good idea of when you might want to enter bidding for high-end electronics. Also, BidHere is usually less competitive during the afternoons on weekdays, so if you can bid during this time, you might win great deals.

BidHere is not a small unknown penny auction, but a well established player.
Check out BidHere.