Free auto bidder calculator for use with penny auctions
I joined a penny auction site last month quite by accident and without being totally aware I got hit with a $150.00 membership charge which this site wouldn’t reverse and my credit card paid without giving me the ability to dispute. I had to see if I could get some kind of value for my money. I took my 300 bids into the auction to see what,if anything I could win. It wasn’t long before I found that my 300 bids didn’t have much clout and there were giants bidding on items that had thousands of wins recorded to their names and I was such a little fish in a really big pond. I knew I couldn't possibly get into any bidding wars with the bigger fish without either buying more bids or placing the few bids on items that didn’t seem to be contested. I did see some things like gift cards and flash drives and stuff so I thought I should go for one or two to get some value for my 300 bids I had to pay for. I did win 2 of the $10 gift cards and an outdated 2 gig flash drive and was feeling better about this auction that advertised "Crazy! Crazy! Low prices up to 90% off full retail" becauseI had only used 100 of my 300 starter bids and had won 3 auctions already. I had enough for one day so I went to claim my first conquests in my account section. I was more than a little shocked when I saw the additional charges for shipping and handling which were $4.95 each for the gift cards and $9.95 for all other items available from this auction. I guess I was getting a great bargain for this charge for the $ 10 gift cards. I continued with the claim process and left this auction to check for charges to my credit card by email confirmation. Yup therethey were, the membership charge of $150 dollars, time stamped seconds after I hit that dam button and the 3 claimed items. I grabbed the calculator and added up the four charges $150.00 + $6.49 + $6.51 (for 2 $10.00 gift cards) and one last charge for the flash drive at $11.65 comes out to $174..65 I had spent my first day and I had claimed 3 items worth about $35.00 I thought. But I did have 200 bids left worth 50 cents apiece so I subtracted the $100 that I was told they were worth for a cost to me of $74.65 I paid for goods worth $35 fair retail pricing. I did scratch my head and think that’s no where close to 90% savings I see advertised everywhere. I went back to this auction page and found a section of tips to help you to start winning and save vast amounts of money.
The one tip I found most helpful was the one of if you study the auctions and develop a strategy “you will start winning and saving lots of money”. So I did, I watched the auctions for two days without bidding. It didn’t take the full two days to see that the bids I had paid $.50 for each could be had at lower pricing on bid packs in the auction area and the lowest cost per bid was to be had with the 75 bid pack that started at $1.00 and would sometimes go for one penny or a single 50 cent bid. As I calculated my cost per bid I found the 75 bid pack had lowered my existing bid value to $.02.(1.01 + $.50 for the single bid) If this was the stock market I just took a hit for $144 from when I bought this stock. Not always a good business investment to lose 2500% your first week. Not to be easily discouragedI realized I need to buy more of these $.02 bids in the 75 bid pack form to increase my odds of winning an auction on an item that I really wanted like a TV Camera or Mac laptop. That was going “so cheap at fractions of their retail prices”.
So this is the plan I chose, I only bid on the 40 and 75 bid packs that start at $1.00 pricing and had some success in that but often found completion stiff and took many of my $.50 a piece bids to win a single 75 bid pack. As it turned out there were contests for most amount of these bid packs a player could win and purchase in a an hour, day and monthly periods.. After 2 weeks of this I thought I was ready to go for the bigger items, bought some of the large bid packs of 500 and 825 so I could compete for a flat screen, camera or even the Mac I came here for. I did consider the factor that with these contests always going on I would get hammered by anyone of these guys that were winning 100s of these bid packs daily and some who were top winners were winning thousands of these and should easily have bids won in their accounts of over 200,000 bids. But they seemed to be mostly interested in the bid pack contest or Wal-Mart gift cards.
Here is where it starts to get more interesting, bidding on a TV or camera or even a laptop thinking you have a fair chance to win something that you really want and a time where I could have really used this auto bidding calculator.
I did the rough calculation for bidding on a flat screenwhich was a premium item that costs you 5 bids for every time you bid and at this point the money I had invested in purchase of bids and winning the lower cost 75 bids packs.I estimated they had a value of around $.40 now so one bid by me cost me $2.00 and raised the auction price of the TV by one penny. I also observed that almost always the winner of these auctions were the ones on auto bidder. I wanted to be a winner so I tried to figure out how many auto bids and what were the costs to me to see if I should go in early on auto bidder or had to wait to some point where the other bidders where losing interest and I could just step in after their fight and claim my prize. The factors I had to consider were that it was costing $2.00 every time I countered a bid , how many bids I had in my account, and what number to put into the line for auto bids. And of course what it would cost me for this TV. I had seen some auctions of these TVs close with a price showing of as little as $36.00 and as high as $126.00 with at first look seems like the great savings that this auction advertises everywhere. This is another time Icould have used this calculator to make these decisions I had 10,000 bids in my account at this time with a total cost to me of around $800.00 with the $150.00 membership fee’s my numbers were 10,000 bids, every one of my counter bids were 5 bids at $.40 each or $2.00 a bid and I then had the ability to make 2000 of these bids before I had to buy more if Ineeded. And each of my bids would raise the posted price by 2 cents as a counter bid. So what would that cost me and what would the price change to. 2000 bids times 2 as counter bids is 4000 pennies or a price increase of $40.00 on the TV and that would cost me 10,000 bids at $.40 each plus the raise in selling price of $40.00 and or course S & H of $9.95 for a total cost to me of $449.95 if I win the auction at this point. Even though I have seen a few of these TVs finish below the $40.00 price shown as an example iI did see some go past the $100.00 point. and if I was to start with autobider when it opened at 1 penny and was as foolish to go all the way to conclusion at $100.00 dollars for example i would have spent over 3 times that amout because the bids I would need to purchase is up to the $.50 area again so at this point of $100.00 selling price for TV showing I would have spent aprox. $1300.00 dollars the net return to the auction site would be about $2600.00 for a TV you can buy anywhere for much less perhaps $350 to $400 .
As crazy as this sounds,I may not actually win this auction and have it scooped up by one of the big fish in the room who have been watching for the right time to pounce with untold 100s of thousands of bids in their accounts or even one of the newcomers looking to score with their 300 bids. And of course there’s the hidden factor of bot bidding that some of these penny auctions use to suck us small fish dry and retain the item for yet another auction.
I no longer need such acalculator because Idon’t care to get involved with this form of gambling but offer it to you at no charge with no hidden charges for either shipping, handling or for memberships and hidden services or privileges. Hell I won’t even share your personal and financial details with 3rd parties. I do think a person should "Just Think" before he jumps into anything before someone “swipes” his money.Feel free to modify it to suit your needs but there is no warrantee or guarantee express or implied should you chose to use it for actual participation in such lunacy and is only intended to be used as an educational tool.. Who says you can’t get a great deal?