Penny Auctions - Aurora,CO

These really are a scam...Not at all like using Ebay. The biggest difference is in the bidding process. Potential buyers have to pay a fee — typically between 50 cents and $1 — for each bid they make. Auctions start at zero dollars, and each bid bumps the price up by a small amount, usually a penny, hence the name. Bidders buy "bid packages," perhaps 100 bids for $50
Since every bid costs 50 cents, and it took 2,500 bids to reach $25, the auction site takes in $1,275 ($1,250 in bids plus the $25 winning bid). For instance if the site paid full retail price for an ipad, it makes a $775 profit.

The winning bidder gets the iPad for $25 plus the cost of the bids he/she made and shipping. The other bidders, some of whom may have spent $100 or more on bids, walk away empty handed.

But even the winner might not come out ahead of the game, Say the winner bid $25 and used $50 in bids. At $75 for a $500 iPad, that still seems like a good deal.

But that doesn't take into account all the money in bids the winner spent in auctions that he/she didn't win. Add that in and the deal might not be so good; in fact it could mean that he spent more than the retail cost of the iPad.

I have had success with Bidz.com - have not used it in a long while so I am not sure if it is still going but I used to buy my man's "men rings" on there very cool tiatinum rings for 20 or less. I have also bought sunglasses and other accessory items from them. You may want to check that out.

Here's how penny auctions work. You buy some bids--the one I am familiar with costs $.65 per bid--and then bid on items. Each bid raises the price $.01. When the time is almost up, each bid will reset the clock to something like 20 seconds, giving others a chance to bid again. The last person to bid before the clock goes off wins the item for whatever the current price is.

It is a bit like gambling--not a scam, but a big chance to lose money if you aren't careful. The best items to bid on are the less popular ones. Electronics often get too many bids. For instance, if a Kindle that costs $79 or whatever it is now has 1000 bids, the company would get $650, and the winner would pay $10, plus shipping, unless they have free shipping (some do). But there is a lot of competition for those kinds of items, and I've seen a Kindle sell for like $50 (which begs the question... who was wasting bids?). Less popular items, like a tool kit or a popcorn popper, would probably sell for under $5, and the chances of winning it would be much greater.

I would never spend money on bids, especially since I don't have time to sit in front of the computer whenever the item is ending and try to be the last one to bid on it. But I know one place where you can get 100 bids for free, and if you PM me, I can give you the link if you are interested. And if not, I don't blame you. I think most people do it for the thrill, just like gambling. Which isn't a scam, but not necessarily a good idea if you can't control it.

I don't know a lot, just read some articles. And the articles that advertise them all claim you can make big money quickly...but the news articles say it is not true too often. yes you can buy a lot for a little, but if the stock happens to go down to half value, you also lose a lot. Also these stocks tend to be from companies just starting out or companies that are nearly bankrupt. So when I first read about them sounded like a good idea, but the more I researched, I thought well maybe not.