Clarification: The fictitious bidders are either employees that get paid to keep pushing up the bids or robo-bidders that are built into the website’s program. And numerous people have complained about problems with the countdown timer on the auctions. Either it gets a fresh robo-bid right before it times out or it freezes and the auction simply disappears (with no refund) or one of the fictitious bidders is on to win the item and the clock immediately dumps to zero and they win it.
I’d assume most if not all penny auctions use fraudulent means to maximize their profits in similar ways.
Caveat Mother-f’in’ Emptor! Fo Shizzle!
Took a short try on this. I do not understand why anyone would bid with 10 seconds or more remaining. That is what made me decide it is a fools errand. Ultimately, you can apply what you have spent bidding on an item against their retail price and buy the item anyway. If you figure you are willing to pay that price in the worst case, then all you have done is wasted some time, if you do not win the “auction” at some point short of the full price. However it just does not pass my smell test.