www.sold.sg, www.gleebid.com, www.simplybids.com.sg, www.crazybid.sg
www.sold.sg, www.gleebid.com, www.simplybids.com.sg, www.crazybid.sg, www.sharkybids.com, etc are some "auction" sites that sprouted recently. At first glance, these auction sites appear to be offering tremendous deals to interested buyers through huge discounts. However, the caveat that when a deal sounds too good to be true be careful holds. To understand how www.sold.sg, www.gleebid.com, www.simplybids.com.sg, www.crazybid.sg, www.sharkybids.com and such works, it is important to understand the mechanics of their operations.
I will use sold.sg as an example. Let us take one item that was recently sold on www.sold.sg to illustrate the financial calculations for a good deal purchased.
The Canon IXUS 300 was sold at $52.35, a staggering 83% to the retail price of $599. Does this mean sold.sg made a big loss? From where was sold.sg able to source for such cheap products?
It is important to note that bidding on items is not free. Each bid requires 1 token which is sold to the bidder at $0.75. Each bid increases the bidded price by $0.15. Therefore, the calculations are as follows:
Total number of bids = $52.35/$0.15 = 349 bids
Total bid cost = 349 * $0.75 = $261.75
Item sold price = $52.53
Total revenue by sold.sg = $261.75 + $52.53 = $314.28
Therefore, if sold.sg was able to source for the product at $314.28, it would had broken even.
Now, let us take one example where sold.sg made a good profit.
The Sony PSP-3000 was sold at $118.35, more than 50% off the retail price of $279.
Total number of bids = $118.35/$0.15 = 789 bids
Total bid cost = 789 * $0.75 = $591.75
Item sold price = $118.35
Total revenue by sold.sg = $591.75 + $118.35 = $710.10
For this product, sold.sg earned an extremely healthy profit on top of the cost of the PSP-3000.
Be very careful when bidding for items on these "auction" sites as their profits clearly comes from the sale of tokens for bidders to place their bids instead of actual sale of the products. Interested bidders must avoid the situation of overbidding for products by factoring in the hidden cost of tokens purchase. The smaller the incremental bids, the more likelihood people are going to overbid for items as the hidden cost of purchasing tokens is overlooked.
Finally, remember this very important piece of information, only enter your bids if you have the intention to go all the way to win or you will only be paying for the excitement of joining in an auction. If possible, I will recommend you avoid these "auction" sites for even if you had done all your calculations prior to entering the bidding process, all it takes is for ONE overzealous bidder to ensure all the bids you had paid for are in vain. The risks of such overzealous bidders get increasingly high when more and more people start coming to know about the existence of these "auction" sites. BEWARE! CAUTION!
I will use sold.sg as an example. Let us take one item that was recently sold on www.sold.sg to illustrate the financial calculations for a good deal purchased.
The Canon IXUS 300 was sold at $52.35, a staggering 83% to the retail price of $599. Does this mean sold.sg made a big loss? From where was sold.sg able to source for such cheap products?
It is important to note that bidding on items is not free. Each bid requires 1 token which is sold to the bidder at $0.75. Each bid increases the bidded price by $0.15. Therefore, the calculations are as follows:
Total number of bids = $52.35/$0.15 = 349 bids
Total bid cost = 349 * $0.75 = $261.75
Item sold price = $52.53
Total revenue by sold.sg = $261.75 + $52.53 = $314.28
Therefore, if sold.sg was able to source for the product at $314.28, it would had broken even.
Now, let us take one example where sold.sg made a good profit.
The Sony PSP-3000 was sold at $118.35, more than 50% off the retail price of $279.
Total number of bids = $118.35/$0.15 = 789 bids
Total bid cost = 789 * $0.75 = $591.75
Item sold price = $118.35
Total revenue by sold.sg = $591.75 + $118.35 = $710.10
For this product, sold.sg earned an extremely healthy profit on top of the cost of the PSP-3000.
Be very careful when bidding for items on these "auction" sites as their profits clearly comes from the sale of tokens for bidders to place their bids instead of actual sale of the products. Interested bidders must avoid the situation of overbidding for products by factoring in the hidden cost of tokens purchase. The smaller the incremental bids, the more likelihood people are going to overbid for items as the hidden cost of purchasing tokens is overlooked.
Finally, remember this very important piece of information, only enter your bids if you have the intention to go all the way to win or you will only be paying for the excitement of joining in an auction. If possible, I will recommend you avoid these "auction" sites for even if you had done all your calculations prior to entering the bidding process, all it takes is for ONE overzealous bidder to ensure all the bids you had paid for are in vain. The risks of such overzealous bidders get increasingly high when more and more people start coming to know about the existence of these "auction" sites. BEWARE! CAUTION!
Comments
789 bids is the total number of bids that were entered calculated from the final selling price. 190 refers only to the number of bids that were made by the successful bidder, i.e. 599 bids were made by unsuccessful bidders.
A savvy shopper/bidder must appreciate the mechanics of this shopping mode in order to reap tangible benefits.
I went all out to bid for some of the items i liked, but not once, not twice, but on THREE occasions my final bid was NOT recognised and it went to the bidder before me!
i was very angry and frustrated because it happened consecutively and wrote to sold.sg but they just shrugged it off and did not offer any assistance.
i wonder how this could come about and if this is indeed a case of "shilling"or planting stooges as Anonymous and ICE mentioned?
Does anyone know what can be done in such cases? i feel RIPPED OFF and do not wish to pay my credit card company for the tokens i purchases through paypal as i am questioning their integrity and authenticity!
I had bidded successfully for an item before, paid for and received it in good order on sold.sg...
I went to join the auction for 1st time and that would be my last. Yes, I did a calculation like what you have mentioned and some items are not worth bidding. Furthermore sold.Sg has a clause that even thou that item was overbid,no $ was refunded but gives the bidder 3 chances to join the bid to win for 3 times instead of 1. In other words, you need to buy more tokens to bid for the items. All these money for auctions can accumulate and ended up buying the product in retail shop.
These companies have the concept that works like casino jackpot ;)
Unless you bid at the very last stage or an estimate amount you estimate will win then start to bid.
Nothing in this world comes free ;) and alot of ways to cheat your money..
$113.51, 1cts per bid, total 11351 bids x 0.75 cts token = $8513, can buy 8 ipad2 at retail price. There is a stooge or stupid bidder jchong who bid at least 5000 times that can buy 3 ipad2.
But I do agree that it is hardly provable genuine competition. A bid monkey or auto bidder may be your culprit for losing. A reasonable assumption is as long as they want to they can indefinitely increase the number of bids used. But this will result in a problem with accountable income and therefore auditable. If they were truly messing with their users, you can expect them to close before 3 years/they earn 1 mil. as before they hit either, they are tax exempted so they need not go through audit ;)
Theres no free lunch, but someone can pay for yours in one way or another.
kuroro
acura888,
wwinwinwin
dufty18,
erick,
sakura888
jchong
If you want to win something at real good price just avoid bidding items that they are bidding.
Damn I try to bid for dyson fan and acura888 this stupid fellow never gave in, even he never win it, damn hate him.
Try countdown.sg they are far worse. To list them done this are a few of them:
1. Customer service suck! Always failed to respond to their customer email until they posted in their Facebook. Then I always delivery team is slow.
2. No contact number and company business address. This convince me that the company is probably a one man show.
3. Winning item take longer than any other bidding website. Sold.sg sometime deliver their winning item surprisingly in in 1 or 2 days. Experience with countdown.sg more than 14 days!!! After numerous email and posting on facebook!
Well this good enough to turn off many people. What surprisingly is that countdown.sg never called their customer to explain situation. I received called from sold.sg whenever they cannot make the delivery in time and sometimes they make exception for you to choose other item.
Personally customer service to me is very important and is a most important area in all nature of business. Countdown.sg mentioned on their website “Great Customer Service” hmmmm you judge for yourself.
after won three bidding on 21/2/12
still can won 2 more item at the
Beginner Auctions ???