Apparently Steven M. Mendelsohn a gentleman from Arizona who has no idea how penny auctions work decided to bid on Bidcactus.com. Steven M. Mendelsohn forwent reading any of the disclaimers or rules and decided to jump in and start bidding, Now anyone who has ever bid on any of the sites on the net will tell you more then likely there are plenty of other people looking to get a great deals just as you are and with the world wide web as vast as it is you had best be sure that there will be competition.  Mr  Steven M. Mendelsohn has only one person to blame and its not BidCactus.com its himself, for quite simply getting involved with a company and an auction platform he quite did not understand.  Mr  Steven M. Mendelsohn has now set off to try and capitalize on his supposed loss and enjoin everyone around the country to himself and “sue”  Bidcactus.com.

So either  Mr  Steven M. Mendelsohn is an attorney himself or he plans on shelling out thousands of dollars for an attorney to represent his interest in Bidcactus.com. This situation will unfold in either 1 of 2 ways,

Situation 1,  If  Bidcactus.com did not clearly label and provide a terms of service for the user to sign which is in fact a legal disclaimer then there is the potential for serious legal repercussions on behalf of BidCactus.com.

Situation 2, Bidcactus.com declares bankruptcy and Mr  Steven M. Mendelsohn, will have in fact lost even more money,  either ways Bidcactus’s business platform is about to be tested.

Its official Penny Auctions have been deemed exactly that an auction, not a house of gambling as some would say. According to the UK Gambling Commission “We do not consider such sites amount to the provision of facilities for gambling under the Gambling Act 2005.” So there we have it straight from the UK Gambling Commission, Penny Auctions are not a form of gambling, they are a different form of a traditional auction. People who have little or no experience in the auction world or who have just participated in a penny auction and have not been successful may not understand the most basic principle of any penny auction, there can only be one final bidder.

UK Gambling Commission

Its official, the site hailed by some auction reporters as the penny auction front runner has apparently closed its doors and it seems as if its, for good.  It appears that BigDeal.com received more in Investor funding then they actually sold in retail sales to customers on the web.  BigDeal.com turned out to be no deal at all, when you type in there domain name  you are automatically forwarded to Bidcactus.com, now with that being said the only question that remains is, if Bidcactus.com is taking in all of BigDeals old clients are they also shipping  items owed to clients of BigDeal.com? It would appear that Bidcactus is handling all of the shipping logistics for BigDeal.com, since BigDeal.com is forwarding there members to contact BidCactus.com. To us here at PAI, BigDeal and Bidcactus appears to be just one big mess, if you have any other pertinent information about BigDeal.com please let us know by contacting our auction hotline.

Calls were placed to Bigdeal.com, they have not been available for comment.

Recently it was reported to Penny Auction Investigator better know as “PAI” that our members had participated in and observed an obviously manipulated auction being conducted by Beezid.com. “I Immediately took  a screen shot and forwarded it to Bill Weinstein” an auction investigator with “PAI”. After the initial e-forensic investigation it was determined that the auction did in fact transpire and that there possibly was  Auction Malfeasance on behalf of Beezid.com

There were 3 different beezid bots running, here are the names:

combatvet68
marcoislandqn
baltimore7

Auction ID:288664
Retail price * $200.00
winning price: $1,003.78
7-22-2011
11:51:34 EDT
Winner Is:
combatvet68

Calls were placed to Beezid.com, they have not been available for comment.

Madbid a penny auction based in the United Kingdom has auctioned off many items, there search traffic pattern seems to indicate that the site was trending down quite possibly due to a number of factors but it seems poised for a possible rebound,  American bidders should familiarize themselves with Madbids terms of service before bidding on the items on Madbid due to shipping limitations.  Our bidding partners on the other side of the pond seem to be happy with Madbid and if they actually do ship to the United States we could possibly have another resource for cheap items here in the United States.

Like most things about Europe, there’s something glitzy about UK-based penny auction site MadBid. Maybe it’s the website’s look, or maybe it’s just the items they have up for auction – does an Audi A3 Sportback sound sexy enough for you?

If you’re from the US however, you’ll have to sit this one out, as MadBid is exclusive only to UK residents. Depending on how the site does, that might change in the future.

MadBid has a handful of unique features that’s sure to appeal to many penny auction bidders. Smart phone users have an advantage of sorts when it comes to this site, since bidders can actually vie for an auctioned item via SMS, with each text message costing £1.50, as opposed to the £1 cost of each bid purchased online. But before you dismiss this feature and go for the online route instead, note that SMS bidding comes with its own set of perks.

Since MadBid requires that you purchase bid packages when bidding online, SMS bidding actually saves you more money since it allows you to spend on individual bids – perfect for those who want to test the platform and try their luck without shelling out that much cash. SMS bidding is also ideal for individuals without debit or credit cards.

Up for grabs on the site are items such as notebooks, Apple products such as iPods and iMacs, HDTVs, DSLR cameras, cash, and the occasional mother of all prizes, a brand new car (as of the writing of this article, MadBid is auctioning off an  Audi A3 Sportback.

MadBid seems to be well regarded by folks from across the pond; it’s a shame that they don’t cater to US customers looking for bargains and the like. The site even has a page containing instructions on how to bid responsibly – something that’s pretty thoughtful, considering how most sites just want your money.

Along with Swoopo and Doobids, MadBid draws in the most number of users in the United Kingdom.

In the world of Penny Auctions just about anything can happen, from big screen TV’s being sold for pennies on the dollar to brand new cars being auctioned off for a meager $5.00 dollars. Most people would say that it sounds to good to be true, but you do need to know the rules of the road before you decide to jump in.

Jonathan Mason from Frankenmuth, Michigan was the final bidder for a brand new Chevrolet Camaro valued at almost 40k, most readers would be shocked at how much he actually paid for it, a meager: $5.28. Mason an avid Penny Auction bidder decided to take a shot at fastpennycars, and that shot really paid off.

Website: www.BidsTick.com

BidsTick
Finland
Domain Registered: April 2008

Auction Type: Penny Auction
PAI Member Rating:

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Bidstick, one of the more established penny auction sites on the web behind Swoopo offers a very limited amount of products, there auction platform differs from other penny auctions in that there auctions tend to have a shorter duration and that there products are primarily technology based.  Bidstick could be a resource for bidders to get technology based products due to the trending of the site visits from search engines.

Update 4/16/10:

One of the more established penny auction sites on the web today is BidsTick, an “old” player in the game right behind Swoopo. BidsTick used to stand out amongst the pack by being one of the first few online penny auction sites that had a chat box. Unfortunately, that feature seems to be down, as many regulars at the site have noted.

Another impressive feature on BidsTick is their testimonial page, where the site encourages their winning bidders to post videos of themselves together with the items they’ve on YouTube, which then get posted on the site in exchange for 100 bids. We feel that this unique approach to sending the message across to their visitors that the site is legitimate is a good move. This erases the doubts of potential bidders, especially with testimonials from people who’ve been lucky enough to win a laptop or HDTV for only 5 to 10 bucks.

So let’s go to the downside of BidsTick. First of all, this penny auction site has a somewhat dull homepage. Compared to other sites, Bidstick simply looks boring. Of course, it boils down to aesthetic preference, so we’ll let that one go. Another thing we’ve found out is that the site has a very limited range of products. After observing the site for a month, BidsTick has had less than 15 product changes, with “regulars” like an LG refrigerator and ATV repeatedly up for grabs since last year.

Electronics seem to be the main focus of the site, with Apple products, HDTVs, and notebooks auctioned off on a regular basis. If you’re looking to purchase such items at a bargain price, BidsTick may be for you.

Start Operating: 2011
Domain Registered: June 1997


Auction Type: Penny Auction
PAI Member Rating:

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The Better Business Bureau gives Wavee an F, and reports 619 complaints within the last 12 months.  And according to CBSAtlanta.com, Wavee is being investigated by the Georgia Governors Office of Consumer Protection.

“Greg Feather said he has won several bids on wavee.com during the past two years, but he said the company never shipped 40 items and he hasn’t received a refund either.”

Here’s the message posted on their website:

We also found this comment left on an article from WalletPop.com:

If you have problems getting refunds from Wavee let us know!

Domain Registered: September 2010


Auction Type: Penny Auction
PAI Member Rating:

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