None of the “penny auctions” are actually auctions. Every one of them is essentially a lottery: the more tickets you buy, the greater your chance of winning, and if you don’t win, you don’t get any of your money back.
In effect, all penny “auctions” are gambling and they should all be outlawed.
Exactly right. Those iPads that Beezid.com advertises that supposedly sell for twenty bucks - they actually bring in over $1000 to Beezid. For an iPad you can buy for $500. it’s a massive criminal enterprise, in my opinion.
Yep, “penny auctions” are gambling websites. And even in a bad economy they are plenty of people foolish enough to play along.
To wit, I was driving through Palm Springs, CA on my way home from Phoenix and could see the parking lots of 3 Indian casinos from the highway. They were overflowing with cars. Expect that most of them were spending their welfare check.
I looked at QuiBids and, after reading how it works, I hit the Back button. Anything that convoluted is not worth fooling with. I’ll stick with eBay auctions, where the amount the winner pays is the same as the winning bid.