Back in February 2011 the Panasonic team visited London with a week-long international exhibition of their Lumix and Viera 3D technologies.  Among the exhibits was the new Panasonic TX-P50GT30B 50 Full HD 3D Plasma TV with both 2D and 3D options available, it creates a crisp finish great for watching sports and movies, you’d think it was a great deal?

The starting selling price is just over £700 without the 3D glasses that you need in order to see the 3D affects.  With a premium price you would expect a top of the end product I’ve heard different.

A similar line of TV’s by Samsung like the 32″ 3D TV Plus Extras, with a starting price of £914 offers all that Panasonic does and an extra option of Smart TV which lets users surf the web and keep in touch with their social networking sites while watching full HD ready programs in 2D or 3D which is a better deal but would need more convincing.

To pay an extra £400 more than the price of a regular TV does not seem like much of a bargain especially when the content is still under development. TV programs are still not 3D ready; the only thing we’ve had was the BBC playing Wimbledon in 3D which can be accessed via iPlayer on the Samsung 32″ 3D TV   but what about the rest?

Sky sports are launching their 3D option recently, but with the 3D option only becoming popular in cinemas now, the end question remains, are TV’s like Samsung 32″ 3D TV  a good deal for its price? New DVD releases coming out in 3D like the last Harry Potter movie and Transformers which are proving to be great ideas for Christmas presents but the consumers in the present economic market are looking for bargains and would be reluctant to spend £20 every time they want to watch a 3D movie on a TV they already spent nearly a grand on?

Even with the little extras Samsung 32″ 3D TV seems quite an expensive gadget to use to access a free service like Facebook or Twitter which is a more reasonable deal.

For those bargain hunters and gadget fans, if they really want to own the latest products like the Samsung 32″ 3D TV I’ve come across an interactive social auction called Madbid.com. It’s different from a regular auction as users have to pay for bids however the upside is that products such as the latest Samsung 3D TV are going for bargain deals of £30.20 with 3D glasses and a 3D movie included! 3D TV’s can have had a huge effect on the watching experience Pc World has called the Samsung 3D TV ‘Breath-taking… technology at its finest’ which I don’t doubt it is, it’s the content that we still have to wait for so in the meantime if you can get your hands on it for a bargain then the content is worth waiting for.

 Samsung 3D LED TV – Full Commercial

Penny auctions sites often have ‘Big Users’ who can sometimes dominate an auction site. Below we have listed the top 5 tips to take on these ‘Big Bidders’ and be successful.
 
Don’t Believe That It’s All About Luck!

You will need skill, judgement and strategy if you want to win consistently and not blow your bids on something you’ll never win!

Watch And Learn

Every penny auction site will work differently as will other bidders. Make sure you take the time to fully understand how the site works and how its users work. Watch how the auctions work, watch other users and try to identify any patterns or prolific bidders. Do your homework and look for what recently closed auctions have gone for so you can get an ideal price point to start bidding.

Bid When Others Are Not

If you can place your bids when other people are at work, on the school run, asleep or elsewhere. On every site there will be regular times and days when the site is much quieter which will dramatically increase your chances of winning and the price will often be lower than at other times on the site.

Set Your Limits And Start Small

Start by setting yourself a limit and sticking to it. So buy a bids package and don’t buy anymore that day. Then start small, bid on auctions that are less popular and the smaller ticket items. This is a great way to gain experience and grab yourself a few small bargains in the process.

Take Advantage Of Special Offers

Good sites often have special offers or promotions on such as 50% extra or Bids Back offers. These are a great way to stock up on bids and will give you more firepower at no extra cost so it means you have more chance of winning without spending more money.

With a great range of products available users save on average 97.9% on TVs, 97% on Mobile Phones and a massive 98.7% on cameras. With over 135 auctions a day and on average an auction closing every 10 minutes users can be guaranteed of a continuous flow of great products.

The joy of Madbid.com is that the platform offers a fun, exciting way of shopping for products with the opportunity of huge savings.  In a survey carried out in November 2009, 33.6% of users stated they loved the site because of the amazing prices whilst 19.6% stated it was for the thrill of the game.

One user stated that his first experience of MadBid.com offered “A mixture of intrigue and excitement.” Another stated that “The range of products suits me, as I am into electronic gadgets and cars. I’m going for an iPod touch next time as I need a new MP3 player.”

MadBid also offers users a ‘Buy Now’ feature which allows consumers to bid on a product and should they wish to buy the product they can do so for the full RRP less the cost of any bids placed which removes the risk associated with a pay-to-bid auction site.

You can find all types of products including electrical items, furniture, kitchenware, vouchers, holidays, cars and much more.

How do they work?

Well each site tends to have a few differences however the majority of legitimate sites work like this;

All penny auctions will start at £0.00, when a user puts a bid on an auction the price will increase by £0.01, the timer will then start counting down, these timers tend to range from 2 minutes to 30 seconds if it is a good site. If another user places a bid the timer will reset to its original time and start counting down again. If no-one else places a bid in that time the auction will close and the last bidder is the winner.

Top 3 Tips

Make sure the site is legit!

For every great penny auction site there are plenty of fakes. It is important to do your homework before you bid or even register.

• Look for logo’s such as Visa Verified, PayPal & McAffee – These show that the site is secure.
• Google the site’s name and have a look at what comes up, look particularly for Wikipedia, Forums and reviews. If a site has a lot of results then this is a good sign.
• Check if the site has a closed auctions area and make sure there are plenty of closed auctions in there with various different winners.

Stick To Your Limits

Penny auctions are a great way to make savings, however you must remember that they are pay-to-bid auction sites and will cost you money. Set a limit and stick to it, sites that make you purchase bids in advance to put in your account are great because like a pre-pay mobile you can only use what you have.

Think Smart

Penny auction sites are all about strategy. To win regularly you have to play smart, make sure you;

• Watch any ‘How it works’ videos or read any relevant guides
• Watch auctions to get an idea how they work
• Use sites that offer a couple of free bids as you can try before you buy
• See if there are any YouTube videos for the site so you can see what goes on
• Visit forums and see what others advise and see who are the big bidders

Get In Tuch

• First of all find out if and where the company is registered in the UK. If not steer well clear, look for a company registration number.
• Look for contact details such as phone numbers, e-mail addresses and a postal address. If a site does not have all of these then you could face problems in the near future. Not only does this show that it could be difficult to get hold of anyone but it raises questions as to where they are based.

Be Smart

• Look for a bidding history on the site. If there isn’t one don’t sign up. A bidding history shows that others are using the site and allows you to figure out your competitors.
• Look for latest winners. Make sure there is a list of recent winners as this indicates that other people are winning auctions and helps give you an idea of what price a product tends to go for.
• Sign-up to a site which offers at least one free bid so that you can try before you buy and find out if penny auctions are for you.

Be Safe

• As when you are shopping online it is important that you shop safely on penny auction sites.
• Look out for sites that accept payment via multiple methods such as PayPal, Debit Card, Credit Card and uKash.
• Look out for sites with accreditations such as Verified by Visa and MasterCard SecureCode as well as McAfee Security. These logo’s are a sign of safety.

This process will continue until no-one else places a bid within the time and the auction will then close. The highest (last bidder) will win the right to purchase the product for the final closing price of an auction.

Penny auction websites are pay-to-bid auctions and you will have to purchase your bids in advance before you can bid on an auction. Bid prices range from site to site but beware the sites that offer bid packages cheaply may be fake or not offer the same service as other more expensive sites, they also tend to have a very limited number of auctions.

Most good penny auction sites will offer you between 2-5 free bids upon sign up so that you can try the service out. Some of the best sites will offer some kind of special offer to new users such as a bids back guarantee to new users such as if you buy a package of bids and do not win you will get those bids back in your account the next day.

A genuine penny auction site will offer a great range of products from top brands. These products may include electrical products such as iPods, iPhones and laptops as well as furniture, high street vouchers, cars and other great products.

A sure way to know how good a penny auction site is or if it is even real, is how many closed auctions they display. A good site will have a list of both the best deals grabbed by users as well as the most recently closed auctions. Look out for when an auction closed if a site has auctions closing regularly (at least 20 a day) then you know you’ve found a good site!

3. A lot of results

Search the name of the website you have found in Google and see what results come up. Look out for links for forums, reviews, Wikipedia and social network sites such as Facebook. Read the reviews of others and join a forum or social networking site and see what other users think of the site.

5. Based in the UK

A lot of penny auction sites will be based out of the UK which means different laws apply and you may get caught out. Make sure the site you are using is registered in the UK, they have a UK based contact number and postal address.

Today everyone wants the availability of his desired products and services over a global place, from where he can choose the variety as per his requirement. Online auction is an easiest and reachable way to find the best products at reasonable price.

Online auction is generally a publicly held sale in which goods are sold to the highest bidder. It is the best place to choose what to you want on affordable price. It provides a wide variety of products at prices that can’t be beat. It works similar to live auctions. A minimum price has to be met, and a deadline is set for the auction to end.

The main advantage of online auction is that one cannot depend on time to bid for the product. They can bid anytime. It is beneficial for those people who have no more time to spend in the market for searching their desired products.  They can find everything on just a click which is provided by online auction site. On internet many online auction sites are available with different policies and somewhere with different product as well as with different brand. With the help of auction sites one can find the full detail of the product with other accessories used by that product.

Online bidding is not limited to electronics or household items. It also includes sale or resale of property and assets, sale of motor vehicles, but also bargaining in the corporate field. Online auctions can also be a very profitable home based business. Many people worldwide have made much money from their auction sites online.

Through online auctions, you have the chance to sell or buy just about anything you could ever want. What are you waiting for – go after what you really want to buy. Enjoy your bidding.

Author Bio:

Sonia Chopra is freelance writer with Mytvbids, an online reverse auction and social site where you can bid and buy when the price is right. It provides a wide variety of products like cellphones, computers, automobiles, electronics, games & toys at affordable prices.

But the basic difference is that in a penny auction there is a term called a bidding fee, according to it every participant who desires to bid has to register for the bidding with some charges called the bidding fee.

The auction takes place as usual terms and the last bidder is declared the winner. The winner has to pay the last bided price and in most cases it is found that this price is significantly much less than the original retail price.

The bidding fee is not refundable.

Hence most bidders won’t receive anything for the bids they paid. The income of the auctioneer comes from the winning bid and the money collected from every bidder. It’s like a security deposit which allows you to bid.

There are many websites which operate this sort of bidding procedure, and these sites can easily be found by surfing the internet. Each bid is suppose to increase the price by a certain amount and also extend the deadline by a fixed duration; hence a winner has to bid last to win.

This type of auction has even been criticized by some as one might have to purchase several bids in order to win, hence bidders who don’t know when to quit may actually end up spending money without an actual gain.

The most common items which are usually put up for auction in this sort of biding are electronic goods such as laptops, cameras and gaming consoles.

Online auction site software manages all aspects in the case of online auctions. It has well defined functions to properly handle all the auctions that take place.  The full procedure is carried out over the internet, where the following participants are requested to bid (i.e. to set a price) for a particular item that is being auctioned.

The organizers usually fix a minimum bid and the bidders need to go on increasing their bidding value. A predefined deadline is always fixed; bidding goes on till the deadline. The person who is found to have placed the highest bid at the very end of the deadline is declared as the winner of the auction. The winner now pays the amount to receive the item.

The best part about online actions is that you can participate in the auction from anywhere in the world. All you need is internet access and this is enough to allow you to easily attend an auction online.

As there is no need to send the item to a certain location this reduces the overall cost of the procedure, and as accessibility increases, the potential number of items to be bided on increases as well as the potential number of bids for each item. Hence a huge number of bidders participate.

There are many different companies and websites that run online auctions, and these can easily be searching out and found over the internet.

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