Thursday, May 19, 2011

BidRivals Closes in Denmark

Today, BidRivals announced that it will close operations in Denmark. This is because of a new Danish law that aims to protect consumers. According to this law, all the bids towards a lost auction should be refunded to the bidders. Of course this cannot be done if the penny auction, BidRivals in this case, is to make a profit, so they closed down.

According to them, they have only a small presence in Denmark and so it shouldn't affect their business a lot. However, Denmark has created a precedent and more countries might follow suit. BidRivals is especially in a vulnerable position because it doesn't have the Buy Now feature on all auctions - a huge drawback compared to penny auctions like Quibids.

There was a legal statement drawn by BidRivals that showed a legal opinion on why penny auctions are not gambling, but it is hard to rely on.

Europe has historically been ahead in terms of protecting consumers than the US and I think the first signs of trouble for the penny auction industry might come from there with legislatures looking to limit risk. I think penny auctions like Quibids are relatively safer owning to their Buy Now feature, but I am not too sure about sites like BidRivals.

What do you think about penny auctions?

Sunday, May 15, 2011

Top 5 BidRivals Tips and Tricks

These BidRivals tips and tricks will greatly help you to win BidRivals auctions. In addition to these tips, you should also read the BidRivals strategies that I discuss in this blog. These strategies are very important to understand if you want to greatly increase your winning chances.

So here are the most important BidRivals tips and tricks that you will need to make profits and get huge discounts without getting into loss.

BidRivals Tips and Tricks - 1: Know the Penny Auction Model
This may look like a beginner tip but you cannot even imagine the horror of people who foolishly get into bidding without really realizing the penny auction model and how it works. Penny auctions are very different from ordinary auctions like eBay and it is very important to know the differences. Before you invest a single penny in BidRivals, it is very important that you note the following points:

  • The first main difference between penny auctions like BidRivals and auctions like eBay is that in BidRivals, bidding is not free. This means every single time you place a bid, you pay about $0.65. This is in contrast to eBay where bidding is free. Every time you hit the bid button, you are down $0.65. 
  • Timer isn't fixed at penny auctions like BidRivals. What this means is that in traditional auctions like eBay, there is a fixed time when the auction ends. This is not changed during the course of the auction no matter what. However, in penny auctions, each time a bid is placed, the timer is incremented to 10-20 seconds. Thus there is no way of knowing when an auction ends. The auction could show 1 second left now, but it can go on for a day! This is because if people keep placing bids, the timer keeps on increasing. 
  • A placed bid is money lost, forever. Once you place a bid, you can never get back the money for it. However, if you are bidding on a Buy Now auction, then you can use the money spent towards the bids for purchasing the product at its full retail price. 
  • The main cost to the consumer is not from the final retail but from the bids placed in the process. In fact, BidRivals could as well give away all items for free to the winner! This is because the source of revenue for penny auctions is not from the final selling price of the product, which is 90-95% discounted anyway but from all the hundreds or thousands of bids placed in the process. 
So now I hope you know and understand the penny auction model better.

BidRivals Tips and Tricks - 2:Always look for the Buy Now option
BidRivals now has a great Buy Now option. Using this, you can greatly reduce the risk of bidding on BidRivals. Without this option, potentially you can use thousands of dollars on items without ever winning them! What this option does is that it takes the money spent towards all the bids placed on the auction and uses it towards buying the item at full retail.

For example, if there is a computer selling on BidRivals for $800. Suppose that you spent 1000 bids on this auction but still didn't win it. Now you have spent $0.65/bid X 1000 bids = $650 towards the bidding process. Now you can put in an additional $800-$650 = $150 towards the computer and buy it at full retail. Thus after this auction is over and you have lost, you just pay BidRivals an additional $150 and get the computer.

Now you know why bidding on auctions without the Buy Now option is so risky - in the above example, you have lost $650 and have absolutely nothing to show for it!

BidRivals Tips and Tricks - 3: Always Look for BidRivals Coupon Codes
BidRivals gives out many coupon codes to promote its site and provide an incentive to users to buy bids. There are many different offers that you can find on BidRivals, right from free bids on registering to a certain percentage off bids. I would say never buy a bid pack without using a coupon code.

To find BidRivals coupon code, you should check this blog. I keep all the latest information and updates on BidRivals coupon codes and you are sure to find something that is very useful to you. If you really search this blog, you will find a ton of ways to get free BidRivals bids that will really help you in the bidding process.

BidRivals Tips and Tricks - 4: Never Bid Without a Goal and Target
Penny auctions have been compared to gambling many times. Though I don't share this view, there sure are similarities. If you don't know when and where to stop at penny auctions, you stand to lose a lot of money. In this aspect, it is definitely like gambling. The last thing you want is to end up hundreds of dollars in the red without winning enough. Therefore, I would strongly suggest that you limit the amount of money that you spend on an auction. It is easy to get carried away in the heat of the moment but it will never help. In addition, follow the tip above: Always bid on Buy Now auctions so you can at least get something back for your money if you lose auctions after spending a ton of money.

BidRivals Tips and Tricks - 5: Know when to Bid 
It is very important that you know the best time to bid on BidRivals. Timing is very important in penny auctions. You should bid at those times when there are a good number of auctions but not too many bidders. If there are too many people online, then the auctions become very competitive.

I hope you liked these BidRivals tips. If you think I missed something out, don't forget to point it out to me and I'll add it to the list!


Saturday, May 14, 2011

Another BidRivals Coupon

Here is another BidRivals coupon: DAG20. Apparently this is valid only today but I think you can use it even a little later, so do hurry up. This BidRivals coupon code is valid to give you 20 free bids on any bid pack purchase. I advise using this on the smallest bid pack so that your overall bid cost is reduced the most. Good luck!

BidRivals Coupon Codes

Here is a BidRivals coupon code that you can use while registering. This will give you 10 free BidRivals bids.
BidRivals coupon code: brfree10

Coupon codes at penny auctions are a great way to improve the overall profit that you make from the site and as such should always be used whenever possible. Coupon codes effectively reduce your overall price of bids. In addition, with the above you get 10 free BidRivals bids which means you might just as well win something great without investing any money at all! This is rare but certainly possible.

You should also read all my BidRivals Strategies to really know how to win on BidRivals.

Friday, May 13, 2011

BidRivals Buy Now Option

BidRivals buy now option is a wonderful tool for bidders. This is a relatively new feature at BidRivals that was introduced after the recent changes to the site. I think the main reason is that people didn't like to bid on this site as it was getting very competitive and bidders were losing a lot of money. Also, this Buy Now option is a direct copy of the same option by Quibids, the largest penny auction in the US which has this option by default on every single auction.

So why should you care about the Buy Now option? There are several reasons. First, it gives you an excellent BidRivals strategy where you cannot lose. This is especially so for gift cards of places you regularly shop from.

Sample Case Study
Say you are a regular shopper at Amazon. You will find plenty of Amazon gift cards at BidRivals. Now, start bidding on these gift cards. There are two possible scenarios:

1. You win the Auction: Great! Now you can get a good discount on the Amazon gift card. You made a good profit on the overall deal, congratulations!
2. You lose the Auction: No problem! You can simply use the Buy Now option and get the gift card at its full retail. You don't make a profit but you don't money either.

This is a wonderful strategy to use on penny auctions which have the Buy Now option. However, you should be absolutely sure that the auction has this feature. Otherwise, you will simply be wasting bids. At Quibids, every single auction has this feature.

At BidRivals, watch out for this logo:

Otherwise, you are good to go! You can use this BidRivals strategy and get some nice discounts for yourself.

You should also read my BidRivals Strategy 1, BidRivals Strategy 2 and BidRivals Strategy 3 to learn more about how to win on BidRivals. Good luck!

Wednesday, May 11, 2011

Why Quibids is Better than BidRivals

I don't like to make such blanket statements, but it looks like Quibids is better than BidRivals on almost all counts, if you are in the US.

Quibids is the largest penny auction site out there and has a better product selection than BidRivals. In addition, at BidRivals, it is almost always the bidagent that wins against single bids. However, at Quibids, it is usually the other way round - single bidders win more than the Bidomatic, which is their automatic bidding tool.

In addition, one of the most important features of Quibids is that there is a Buy it Now feature on every single auction, so technically you don't need to lose any money. If you don't win an auction, just buy the product at its full retail price and you are good to go. At BidRivals, however, you can end up losing potentially hundreds of dollars if you are not careful and win nothing in the end.

BidRivals Alternatives

What are some BidRivals alternatives? Probably many of you would like to know. The reasons are not hard to understand: BidRivals is very competitive. They are clever in that they have people from all over the world bid on the same products (and make some good money out of the currency exchange deals as well!) which makes BidRivals competitive all throughout the day. This is a big loss for the bidders who fail to get good deals.

Another reason why you might want to look at BidRivals alternatives is because BidRivals has the BidAgent, the automatic bidding tool, and it wins 90% of the auctions on the site. This is in sharp contrast to other sites where individual single bidders also have a chance. I think there are plenty of penny auctions out there which give a much better chance than BidRivals for winning.

For those of you who don't know, BidRivals follows the penny auction model, which is not new. There have been thousands of websites following this auction model after Swoopoo (which incidentally is out of business now!) and the financial crisis only helped the cause. So let us look at different penny auctions which can be a good substitute for BidRivals.

Established Penny Auctions
There are several established penny auctions which are bigger than BidRivals and therefore offer a much better variety of auctions. You can find literally thousands of products including gift cards at these penny auctions. In this category, I will recommend Quibids.

Quibids is the largest penny auction site today on the internet. It has completed many more than a million auctions in a short span of less than 2 years and is growing fast. It is also up to date on the products that it sells, so you can find the best variety of products.

Visit www.Quibids.com to signup and get more information.

New Penny Auctions
I like new penny auctions as BidRivals alternatives because they are so much less competitive than BidRivals. This is a very important factor to consider especially when you are not looking for a very specific product.

The only drawback with new penny auctions is that they offer a low product variety. Still, you can find all the popular electronics and gift cards even on these penny auctions. They carry a much less risk than BidRivals simply because there are fewer bidders. Being new, these penny auctions have to promote themselves and to do so, they offer great products. But there are not enough experienced bidders, so you have a very good chance of winning.

The list of new penny auctions which are 100% legit (very important!) keeps changing. One site that I personally like is www.HappyBidDay.com. This is a great site because they give you 50 free bids during registration! You don't need any coupon code or anything, just visit the site, sign up and you have your 50 free bids. This is a good start and you can always test the waters before you purchase bids. However, if you are serious about winning high-end electronics at very cheap rates here, you should certainly buy the bigger bid packs.

Visit www.HappyBidDay.com here.

Finally, don't forget to let me know your experience on these sites and BidRivals as well!