RockDawg Discount Bids Today

RockDawg is running a promotion today on PennyAuctionCoupon: 25 bid bones for $5. This is a great way to stack up on some really cheap bids. The actual value of 25 bid bones is $18.75, so you save over 70% on this pack.

RockDawg has regularly been featured on PennyAuctionCoupon and it is good for the bidders who have a shot at winning the auctions without having to spend a ton of money on bids first.

For those who do not yet use PennyAuctionCoupon, do visit the site and see how it works - it has some really good deals for bidders, featuring one deal a day and almost always the discounts are over 50% which is certainly impressive because they have a deal every single day.

Cheap Bids at OrangeBidz

OrangeBidz is having a promotion for some cheap bids: 170 bids at only $96, which is $0.56/bid. This offer is only valid for today. Also, just log into your OrangeBidz account today to get 2 free bids.

Bid Back Guarantee at HappyBidDay

HappyBidDay has a bid-back guarantee on its bid packs now. The bid back guarantee is simple: if you don't win an auction by the time these bids run out, HappyBidDay is going to replenish all your bids. This bid back guarantee is valid for new registrants who purchase 150 or 225 bid packs.

The bid back guarantee is a great way to save a ton of money because you can always use these bids to win high-end items. If you fail to win, there is really nothing to lose because you get all these bids back anyway. If you do end up winning, however, you get the best savings ever.

Generally, look for the auctions that are a combination of Amazon gift card and free bids - these tend to be easier to win. Also, if you are new to the site, use the coupon code HAPPY to get 20% off your first bid pack purchase, in addition to the bid back guarantee. It cannot get better than this!

Poll Results: At How Many Penny Auctions Did you Invest Money in Bids?

So this was my poll for the last month or so: At How Many Penny Auctions Did you Invest Money in Bids? I wanted to see which spectrum my users belong to. Here are the results:

None: 55 (22%)
Just one: 88 (36%)
2-4: 47 (19%)
5-7: 19 (7%)
7-10: 4 (1%)
More than 10: 30 (12%)

Votes so far: 243

A lot of my readers are here only to learn about penny auctions, which explains why they have never really bought bid packs (perhaps they have used free bids?) However, of the people who did buy bid packs, a majority of them have used just one penny auction. A good number have also been prolific, bidding on more than 10 penny auctions.

Have any suggestions for new polls? Let me know!

Today's Promo at OrangeBidz

OrangeBidz has a great promo for today: All bids purchased this weekend will be returned, whether you win or lose! This is a great way to stack up on bids while winning other items essentially for free.

In addition, if you are looking for which bid packs to buy, you might consider the 100 bid pack because you get 25 extra free bids with this pack now. The bids must be used by 9/5/11 in order to qualify.

Good luck bidding!

OrangeBidz on PAC

OrangeBidz is featured on PennyAuctionCoupon today. For the next 10 hours or so, you can buy 25 bids at only $7, a discount of 63%. This is a great way to stock up on some bids. In addition, if 55 or more of these get sold, everyone who purchased a bid pack will get 5 additional bonus bids.

Collecting Bids at Penny Auctions

Getting cheap bids at penny auctions is tricky because too many free bids leads a site downhill and makes it much more competitive for the bidders. However, there are plenty of ways in which you can collect bids at penny auctions.

When you are looking to gather bids, you should know that some sites like Quibids distinguish between "real" and "virtual" bids, in which case your strategy should be very different. However, most of the new penny auctions don't work the same way. In these, it is easy to win products and pile up bids.

Before you start bidding on bid packs like crazy, you need to look at the history. I had previously written about how it is easy to win bids at some penny auctions and not others. You need to take a look at the history. For example, one of the penny auctions that I really like, HappyBidDay seems to have a lot of goodies in terms of winning bids - most of the bid auctions end at really low prices. The two latest bid pack auctions I could find ended after 34 bids and 133 bids for 100 bid pack and 150 bid pack, each time ending at less than the total value of the bids (note that auctions here start at $1.00 and not $0.00).

As you can see from the above auctions, the bid packs at this site are really good for the bidders. A good strategy in this case would be to just purchase one bid pack and use it to win more bid packs when the opportunity arises. It is good for beginners because you get 20% off your first bid pack purchase if you use the coupon code HAPPY.

There are other penny auctions in which bid packs can get really competitive. Quibids is one of the sites that has competitive bid packs, which is one of the reasons I don't advise the Quibids bid pack auctions. However, in new penny auctions, the strategies can be quite different and you can pile up a lot of bids. Winning many bid packs is also very good for winning high-end electronics like Laptops or other electronics which are comparatively less competitive at new penny auctions.

Balanced View of Penny Auctions

Penny auctions don't get the right or fair treatment from the press. Usually. This is because it is much easier to find the unhappy minority and they make for better news articles. There are countless winners in the penny auction industry that are really good at what they do and stay ahead of the curve at all times. Perhaps penny auctions aren't for everyone.

In any case, it was heartening to see an article about penny auctions in Wall Street Journal which seemed to cover both sides of the story. Sure, the article talks of the bad apples - the ones that use shill bidding but it also talks of how the person referred to in the first sentence could win at penny auctions (after losing money initially, that is).

There are definitely red flags in the industry, which is why there is need for regulation but regulation to the extent of making sure everyone is fair. Like any auction, it is competitive bidding with skills and strategies, and people are free to participate or not. However, penny auctions, especially new penny auctions, need regulation in terms of being ethical.

The article also talks of the Entertainment Auction Association which may not have great success but is certainly on the right track. Many review sites cannot be fully trusted.

Here is another interesting tidbit from the article - there are 165 penny auctions in the US currently, according to Technology Briefing Centers so now you know how many penny auctions there are!

RockDawg on PennyAuctionCoupon

RockDawg is again featured on PennyAuctionCoupon. This time, you get 25 bid bones for just $5, an incredible $0.20/bid - a huge saving for all bidders. RockDawg runs auctions which are not traditionally penny auctions but really interesting nonetheless. If you hit a 'magic number' chosen at random, you win. This auction model means you can cut your losses while hunting for great deals. You can know more about it by reading my interview with Diane of RockDawg.

Amazon Gift Cards Deals: The Best In the Industry

Penny auctions are well known for great deals on products, but not every penny auction is well suited for all kinds of products. For example, Quibids is really good for some high-end products, vacation packages, etc. So where do you find Amazon Gift Card Deals?

I like Amazon gift cards because Amazon has a million products that you can buy and you are thus not restricted to only certain items that are auctioned off in the penny auctions. This is why I really like to look for Amazon gift card deals and I found HappyBidDay to be the best of all.

Here is why: The Amazon gift card auctions here end really cheap, even during the most competitive times. The best thing is, these gift cards are bundled together with several free bids and in most cases, the number of free bids is more than the bids that you spend winning the product! This is crazy because you get more bids than you started off with while also getting a great Amazon gift card.

Here are some of the latest auctions at HappyBidDay - notice that these are on a Friday night, one of the most competitive times for any penny auction. Also note that the auctions start at $1.00 and not $0.00 like other penny auctions.

The auctions ended after 15, 15, 8 bids only. And there are 50, 75 and 50 free bids with these auctions. They are really low in competition and something every penny auction bidder should try out. You can keep collecting a lot of bids on these Amazon gift card auctions which help you win even more of these (note that electronics are still competitive, so you should stick with Amazon gift cards). Also, for a limited time, HappyBidDay is having a promotional discount on their bids, so do check that out as well.