Penny auction software - Softmedia.biz

Softmedia and PAW on gamification elements in penny auctions

2012-05-18T08:54:00.000-04:00

Our colleague Anthony was happy to once again work together with Penny Auction Watch in publishing an exclusive editorial piece dedicated to Gamification in penny auctions.

Gamification is an important process in the development of the penny auction industry, and a lot of our time and resources are dedicated to develop this aspect of online entertainment auction platforms to help our customers get confident competitive edge on the contemporary market.

Gamification implements elements of game mechanics in to non game averments providing for a richer and more engaging user experience.

It’s a end user oriented marketing and development method that can we believe will have a significant influence on penny auctions in the nearest future.

You can read the full article at: http://www.pennyauctionwatch.com/2012/05/fun-beyond-bids-and-wins-gamification-elements-in-penny-auctions/

Q and A on Penny Auction Software #10

2012-05-11T08:34:00.000-04:00

Q. I’m interested in your software, but I need a special feature.

I have an idea that requires that my users would be able to create their own penny auctions. A feature similar to what ebays business model proposes, meaning that every user can be not only a buyer but a vendor as well and keep his personal feedback curriculum.

Please let me know if your software provides this option or the cost for customization?

A. We heard this idea several times before, but denied such request and advised to reconsider this plan for the following reason.

What cripples this idea is the inability to control the customer. Suppose you’ll attract some dishonest or incompetent people, it’s important to consider the possible damage tier actions can cause to both you, your business, and to other customers.

For instance:

If a vendor won’t advertise his auctions and wont drive customers to it, the auctions will end fast, not brining any significant income, but still requiring the vendor to send the price to the winner.
Dishonest individuals could set for auction non existing items, and refuse to sent prizes to the winners and still all the financial claims will be presented to you.

However this problem can be solved:

There should be one basic penny auction website.

All the personal sites of your customers will be just additional front-ends of your auction.
Your customers will eligible to exhibit their products.
All auctions that will run on their “site” will actually run at the main auction site. However, your customers will see how many clients they attracted, how many clients spent money and brought a profit, and what is their own income.

Such an addition can be developed and will take about 2 – 3 weeks to complete.

Q and A on Penny Auction Software #9

2012-04-27T08:30:00.001-04:00

Q. I have a friend who’s looking to buy a penny auction script. Will I be compensated in any way if I refer him to you?

A. We highly value cases when people go out of their way and help us spread the word about Softmedia by recommending our products and services. To be able to give something back to our supporters we run an in-house Affiliate program.

Affiliate program members who use their affiliate links to refer people to our site are compensated for every sale traced back to them.

So if your friend will purchase our software after arriving via your personal affiliate link we can trace that sale to you and we’ll gladly compensate your efforts.

You can apply to become an affiliate at: http://www.softmedia.biz/affiliate_programs

If you know someone looking for a penny auction script, just apply for our Affiliate program, copy your personal affiliate link and send it to them via email.

Q and A on Penny Auction Software #8

2012-04-20T09:14:00.002-04:00

Q. Are any of the major penny auction sites making any money at all like Quibids, Beezid or Dealdash? Or are any sites at all in the whole penny auction world making a profit vs. losing every day?

A. It’s true that that penny auctions are not magical money-making machine however those who treat their business seriously manage to make it profitable.
The sad truth of the industry is that for every 100 half-baked websites there is just 1 produced and operated professionally, and this fact distorts the real potential of a solid business opportunity.

There is a simple check list for anyone with a serious approach to penny auctions and making them profitable:

Use reliable software (remeber that penny auction is a high-load real-time software application and you need it operational at all times - the instant it goes down is the instant when you start to lose money);
Be fair to your customers;
Draw a lot of traffic and convert visitors in to happy bidding clients is key;
Do not forget why your customers come to your website.

A great example of profitable and professional penny auction that maintains the reputation of the industry is QuiBids.com:

Launched in late 2009
Over 130 staff employees
Over 450,000+ closed auctions

You can also have a look at the interview with Matt Beckham, President/CEO for QuiBids: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ar98hhrAry8

Penny auctions have potential for quite rapid growth, and when you look at examples where people take their business seriously things look optimistic, don’t they?

Lokuaz.com 1 year anniversary

2012-04-12T10:42:00.000-04:00

One year old and holding a competent lead on the Mexican penny auction market, Softmedia congratulates Lokuaz.com with getting pass this important milestone and wishes them further success.

Hundreds of finished auctions with a personal story behind every happy winner, Lokuaz have shown that they have a firm understanding of their client’s wishes and passions when providing great experience.

They are a pleasure to work with and not afraid to set a challenge when pushing their game to the next level, Softmedia is happy to continue our work together providing them the best technical tools that help them keep ahead of the market.

Bid-Stop.com successfully started

2012-04-10T15:19:00.001-04:00

An international penny auction www.Bid-Stop.com started now.

The owners have big plans for Bid-Stop future and to show us that they mean business lots of hot items are being offered: iPad 3, iPhones 4S and more. Be there first and beat the rush, while competition is still low you can win amazing prizes with mere pennies.

First iPad3 has found its owner already - the winner is user Traumfängerin, seems like from Germany :) The final price - 3.30. Not much for the brand new iPad.

Good luck bidding!

Responsible penny auction software development

2012-04-06T01:54:00.002-04:00

When making or buying penny auction software you need to know general principles of responsible software development.
In a post for Penny Auction Watch, our colleague Anthony recommends some important aspects that developers should take a look at.
To read the post...

Q and A on Penny Auction Software #7

2012-04-01T11:34:00.005-04:00

Q. Can you tell me how many users can the software handle?

A. Firstly we would like to explain to our readers why it is really difficult to give an answer to this question with one exact number.

Namely, your future penny auction system will consist of 5 main components:

auction software;
auction website content;
system (server) software;
hardware (server or servers itself);
network equipment.

As an example of the factors, that should be taken in consideration when we speak about the capacity, we would like to bring a recommendations on how to test Drupal software (Drupal – free e-shop software) from the website www.tag1consulting.com:

“1. Test in a realistic configuration
When load testing your website, even if you're only interested in some specific new code that you have written or downloaded, it's wise to simulate your actual configuration as much as possible. This includes being sure that the versions of Apache, MySQL, PHP and Drupal running on your test server(s) is the same as what is on your production server(s). Also try to use as similar a configuration for each as possible, including enabling the same Apache modules, allocating the same size of MySQL buffers, enabling the same PHP options, and enabling the same Drupal modules.”

The same principles work with penny auction software – different server, different installation of server software, different set of software modules will give absolutely different results.

“2. Testing with realistic data
Ideally, load in a very recent snapshot of your real website's database tables into your development database. If you instead test with a subset of your real data or with automatically generated data, you may end up optimizing the wrong things. This is especially important if testing out code that involves making SQL queries.”

Smart – difference in the size of website content will definitely give a different result.

“3. Logged-in users versus anonymous visitors
When you enable Drupal's page cache, much of the work involved in serving pages is optimized away for anonymous visitors. This is not true for logged-in user's, so it's important to simulate both types of user's. Furthermore, on some websites different Roles can put a very different load on your servers, so be sure to include to test with all of your roles”.

Etc. There are several more recommendations, but we aren’t discussing about the testing here.

So, what is the answer to the question above?

The general recommendation is the following – tell us what you need and we will tell you what system do you need from us.

Feel free to send us your suggestions and questions to blog@softmedia.biz

Q and A on Penny Auction Software #6

2012-03-16T10:41:00.002-04:00

Q. What can you say about a mobile version of a penny auction software?

A. There are two general options for mobile versions:

Website modified according to the screens with lower resolution;
Standalone application, installed on the mobile device.

Surely it is not a problem to offer a website fitted to small screens. If to speak about a special mobile application, then it is needed to take into consideration two factors:

a) Penny auction cannot be fully standalone software product – the auction sale takes place on the server between multiple participants;

b) At present time there are 5 widely used mobile operating systems:

Apple iOS
Google Android
Windows Mobile / Windows Phone
BlackBerry OS
Nokia Symbian

The application for any of these OS should be programmed using more or less different technologies.

So, the mobile version is a specific problem, that can be solved, surely, but not by very simple methods.

Feel free to send us your suggestions and questions to blog@softmedia.biz

Interview with Penny Auction Watch: In depth view

2012-03-09T08:45:00.002-05:00

Dear readers!
We present an interview with one of the most influential bloggers on the penny auction scene Amanda Lee, founder of Penny Auction Watch. Amanda shares her thoughts on the industry and what direction can we expect sites, developers and the PA culture to follow in the near future.

1) Not every one might be familiar with your work so please tell us a little bit about yourself, your site and why you started it?

Hi! Well, first of all I want to thank you for giving me this opportunity to be interviewed and to introduce your readers to my site, Thank You!

Time sure does fly by... I first found out about penny auctions back in March of 2009. My mom found an ad for a penny auction site (the now defunct YottaBid.com), they were giving out a lot of daily free bids during their grand opening.

I still remember the afternoon when she told me about the site, she was all excited, told me I had to sign up. The site had loading issues, and the whole very-alien shopping concept that made astounding claims to the ability to win items for "pennies" had me a bit skeptical. Needless to say I tried it out and I really like bidding after I started winning.

The first penny auction I ever won was a brand new Nintendo Wii, I won it with the free promo bids. I stayed up until past 3 am bidding on it! I bid there on an almost daily basis for the 3 or so months that they remained opened. I then found more penny auctions, the next one I found was called CheapoBids and they were offering a brand new Honda. Since I could win on the first site I right away purchased over $100 in bids to try it out. It didn't take long until I had a feeling that something was not right. I began to look into who developed the site's software (Repute Infosystems) and found that they offered site owners with a bidding bot "shill" option. More on this on my blog, but basically I strongly believe they were shill bidding with bots against me, it seemed very obvious.

At the time there wasn't a forum or blog with information on penny auctions and I was really upset to see how easy a penny auction site could steal bidder's money and not be held accountable, so I decided to launch Penny Auction Watch®, a penny auction blog and forum that I have been running since May of 2009.

Since you asked what the main purpose of Penny Auction Watch is, I'd like to sum it up by saying it's a place to learn and talk about the good, the bad and the ugly in penny auctions.

The main purpose for starting the site was to help others who like myself, really enjoy winning penny auctions, by informing, providing a place for collaboration of ideas, posting of experiences to hold the sites accountable and to expose the shady operators. Since 2009 many of them have been exposed in both my blog by myself and by members of the forum. More on this can be found by going to the Hall of Shame section and Legit or Not? And also the Red Flags section of the forum. I also will from time to time feature interviews with site owners, write articles on penny auction tips and strategy advice and anything that I think is interesting.

There have been many challenges that have come with running Penny Auction Watch. It's been a victim of 3 DDoS attacks, I've received implied death threats, have been hacked, libeled and defamed by now penny auction blog/forum "competitors", and penny auction sites that my site has exposed have retaliated against me by trying to destroy my reputation with a slew of lies posted all over the Internet. It's all made me a much stronger person, and with the tribulations there have also been triumphs. I've been interviewed and mentioned by Wired.com, Consumer Reports TV/print, on TV networks such as CBS, FOX, ABC, Time Magazine, The Wall Street Journal, The Denver Post, Reuters, AOL's WalletPop, MInt.com and others, too. The most rewarding thing I've gained from the entire experience have been the gracious words of thanks from penny auction bidders who have thanked me for informing them of the good and the bad in penny auctions and providing them with a place to learn more, and discuss the sites with other bidders. They are what have kept me going and kept me blogging and running the forum for almost 3 years now.

2) Do you think that over the years you managed to make an impact on users and site owners’ awareness towards each other?

Yes, I do. Penny Auction Watch was the first ever penny auction forum for an industry, and has been a breath of fresh air for many bidders and site owners looking to gain more knowledge about penny auctions. However, most important is the fact that without my site so many penny auctions that once swindled thousands by way of shady tactics like shill bidding and not shipping, blatantly stealing from consumers, would still be around.

Social media is a very powerful tool. Social media helps hold companies accountable. The feedback that is posted in the forum is very valuable for penny auction owners.

3) Have you ever thought about opening your own PA site?

I really haven't had any desire to launch my own penny auction site, well, beyond the totally free demo/practice penny auction site that I launched in 2010. Shillo.com. The bids were free and bots were rampant, with purpose. I even shipped a few items out (totally free) to bidders. It was using a script that at the time was sold with bots and has since been held accountable by the Office of Fair Trading in the UK and can no longer sell the site with the bot feature available on live sites. Shillo didn't last long because I was actually scammed by the person who sold me the script. Long story there (http://www.pennyauctionwatch.com/2010/12/shillo-closes-its-doors/), but this info can be found in the forum too!

4) What do you think plays the biggest role when it comes to engaging users on a PA site? Is it the amount of auction types like “lowest unique bid” or “no auto bid” auctions? Or is it interesting concepts along with solid business and technical platforms do all the heavy lifting?

Well, I don't really think there is any one thing that takes center stage when it comes to engaging users. I do, however, think that there are a few very important components: Social engagement, facebook/twitter/becoming an active member and getting feedback from bidders in the PAW forum. Gamnification: I think it's very important for sites to really find a way to reward their bidders. Especially important for engagement is anything that adds stability and sustainability to the model. Buy-it-now is something that I think really meets this need and engages consumers, because when too many bidders end up losing with one person being the winner, those users that a site worked hard to obtain may just walk away. Some bidders really like auto bid features (bid butler, bid buddy, etc.) while others wish that a site didn't allow them, it really has to do with preference; I have seen sites be successful whether or not they offered this. To learn more about gamnification and how it can enhance and engage customers there was a webinar on March 6th by Badgeville.com http://blog.badgeville.com/2012/03/02/webinar-elizabeth-shaw-of-forrester-research-on-gamification/?utm_medium=facebook&utm_source=twitterfeed

So be sure to watch a recording when it’s made public.

5) Do you think that PA sites are due for a change in the traditional paradigm of “every man for himself”? Do you think we should expect more socially integrated concepts like SharetheSpoils.com?

SharetheSpoils really is innovative, and I do think that if more creative-entrepreneurs venture into penny auctions we will see more socially integrated concepts for sure. At least I hope so!

6) I’ve noticed that you have a special topic on your forum for “daily deal” site users. How do you see the relationship between PA sites and daily deal sites? Are they rivals in some extent or on the other hand we might see hybrid forms of the two in the future.

Nice observation! I started the daily deal section just because I really enjoy daily deals and bargains and since I like penny auctions thought that penny auction bidders would too, however, that part of the forum hasn't been too active.

There actually was a daily deal / penny auction hybrid that launched. CityCents.com, it was like a mesh between Groupon and a penny auction site with localized deals, they mainly focused on DC and Boston, offered auctions for deals/gift cards and products. Unfortunately the site couldn't sustain itself and changed from offering penny auctions to "seat auctions" before they finally shut down.

7) Do you think bidders have a right to know what’s going on the back-end of a bidding site? What would you suggest to make it more transparent?

Definitely. But I think that bidders not only have the right, I think there should not even be an option for a site to cheat consumers. Not only do I blame the script developers who are making the fake bidding software so readily available, I blame the dishonest thieving site operators who are deploying them. It's just too easy for a site to cheat if the site owners think they can get away with it. While there are concerns with Facebook and collusion, I have seen sites (BigDeal.com was a great example of this) that linked user's accounts with their Facebook accounts, this is one option and it did help me to them more.

8) You probably know that a lot of new PA sites often don’t have time or resources to program their own platforms so they buy pre-made scripts from developers. Some PA developers openly offer future site owners shill bidding bots and other questionable administration options. Do you think that users have a right to know how the PA site is powered, or at least gather some info on other PA sites reputation, that where developed using the same platform before deciding to bid?

Yes, I do think users have a right to know how the site is powered. I, as well as my members, have written about the script companies that power the sites and whether or not they openly offered bot shill scripts. Since many use the "out of the box" solutions, many bidders can tell which script is being used and they use this information to decide whether or not they want to bid on a particular penny auction site.

9) Would you make any predictions on innovations that PA sites might introduce to bidders in 2012? Can changes like QuiBids gaming center make an impact to other PA sites game plan? Or will changes in online gambling laws have a far bigger impact?

I definitely think that there is room for improvement and innovation in penny auctions and it will be interesting to see what's in store.

Like QuiBids, I have seen more penny auction sites introduce game centers and rewards programs. One site that was really unique was Bidzilla.com, now gone, but the entire platform had more of a game feel too it, they incorporated chat and avatars, and even had a leaderboard for high bidders, the entire application was unique from that of the standard penny auction interface. I really think they were on the right track with user engagement, but they went offline and said they'd return but haven't yet and it's been over a year since they closed. This week PennyGrab introduced a game that allows bidders to win credits, but both QuiBids and PennyGrab require game play or tokens to be won via bidding in auctions first to play games to win credits. Just recently RagingBid with their social shopping rewards site BluKos announced that for every dollar spent at big box/popular retailers, i.e. Target, users will get free bids on their site.

As for gambling laws and whether or not penny auctions can be equated to gambling that really is up in the air. Penny auctions have not been deemed to be gambling. The BBC asked the question, but I do know that South Africa was looking into the possibility of this (http://www.pennyauctionwatch.com/2011/02/penny-auctions-illegal-south-africa-regulations/). Italy did however ban lowest unique auctions. The Justice Department issued an opinion last last year that reversed a long-standing position that the 1961 Wire Act ruling that states can legalize many forms of "wagering" Online except for sports betting.

Just a few months ago the FTC issued a consumer advisory warning on penny auctions, but other than that there hasn't been a governing body in the US that has spoken on them - at least to my knowledge.

http://www.pennyauctionwatch.com/2011/08/penny-auctions-gambling-laws-united-kingdom-uk-gambling-commission/

Struggling against an onslaught of Internet gambling operated legally from other countries, the Justice Department issued an opinion in late December reversing a long-standing position that the 1961 federal Wire Act prohibited most betting over the Internet.

10) Is there anything you’d like to say to future penny auction owners dreaming of making it big?

I tell future penny auction owners with hopes to make it big in penny auctions to, above all, put customers first, admit to mistakes, i.e. mistakes in software/programming, lags, glitches etc., make sure to not don't get in over your head by offering more items than they can afford to lose.

It has become much more difficult for penny auctions to secure payment processing, so make sure that your terms and your site is very clear to consumers or you could just lose processing if your bidders initiate chargebacks for any reason.

Don't mislead bidders by engaging in false advertising. If you choose to market your site with affiliate marketing (this can prove to be very successful) make sure you watch what your affiliates are doing and be sure that the marketing they do for you is FTC complaint or else you could get into a lot of trouble.

Ship items out quickly, as soon as you can, and within 30 days.

Make honesty your policy. Don't get too friendly with bidders, but also always maintain a high level of professionalism when communicating with them. Too many people that enter into the penny auction industry haven't had prior business experience and lack in professionalism. Be sure to keep your customer's information private. Make sure your site is encrypted to protect private/sensitive information like addresses and credit card information. Be very careful if a third party approaches you wanting to "verify" your site.

Be careful who you trust, too. There have been a few individuals that entered the penny auction space, posing as experts and offering help to site owners and verification services only to turn around and use their memberbase to their own advantage.

Find creative ways to reward and engage bidders. I think all penny auction owners should take advice from Tony Hsieh, CEO of Zappos.com. “I had decided to stop chasing the money, and start chasing the passion." - Tony Hsieh. In order to succeed at anything in life I truly believe that one must be passionate about what it is they are doing.

If you decide to launch a penny auction it will most likely take up much of your time, make sure you enjoy the concept and the culture.

Engage with your customers. Use social media to your advantage.

Keep evolving and seek to innovate. Listen to feedback from your customers and add features and items that your customers will actually like to bid on.

Unique packaging and handwritten notes can go a long way. When LabelDoll.com was a penny auction site they really impressed me with that.

Find creative ways to advertise. You can do more beyond newspaper, radio, TV, Internet, affiliates. Advertising is imperative. You need to get the word out there or you won't have many bidders and your site won't last very long.

Make sure you do have win limits or your site could really suffer by the hands of a few bidders.

Also, check out my post on Guidelines for Penny Auction Owners http://www.pennyauctionwatch.com/2010/10/how-to-run-penny-auction-site-owners-guidelines/

Thank you again for interviewing me!

I'd like to invite anyone interested in penny auctions whether you are currently involved in running a penny auction site, seek to start one, or are a bidder looking to learn more about a lesser known way to shop online be sure to join my forum http://PennyAuctionWatch.com/forum and subscribe to the blog http://PennyAuctionWatch.com

Membership is free and open to all!

Thank you!

-Amanda

PennyAuctionWatch Founder

Q and A on Penny Auction Software #5

2012-03-02T05:15:00.002-05:00

Q. I have a brand new penny auction website. How can I help ensure my costumers confidence who’re visiting the site for the first time?

A. There are several formal ways that could help, and we advise to consider.

1. Became a member of EAA. Wondering what could it mean? Experimental Aircraft Association? No. Electric Auto Association? No.

Entertainment Auction Association – The organization aims to “promote integrity within the entertainment auction industry through a strict code of conduct…”

You can learn more about them here: www.entertainmentauctionassociation.com

The Code of Conduct of this organization ensures that: members treat customers honestly and fairly at all times.

Membership is free, but preparations are not cheap. Namely, the EAA requires that all members complete an audit of their Online Penny Auction environment in conformity with AT_101, Attestation Standards of the American Institute of Certified Public Accounts (AICPA)

2. You may ask any of Big Four to audit your website, your company, your service, etc. You should anticipate your expenses to be on the same level as with the previous option or perhaps even bigger.

3. Free and “democratic” way – you can supply information about the penny auction software provider on your website. This way your customers will have an opportunity to visit the developers’ website, and contact him, to ask directly about automatic (bot) bidders, or Google-search information about how reliable his software is, etc.

Feel free to send us your suggestions and questions to blog@softmedia.biz

Q and A on Penny Auction Software #4

2012-02-24T05:02:00.002-05:00

Q. What products should I auction?

A. It’s a tricky question as it will largely define your business. The first rule is – market products that will appeal to your costumers.

And we’re not talking about market segmentation here. If you already have a successful e-commerce website that offers, let’s say hunting equipment or diving equipment or any other special niche range of products, this doesn’t mean that you should open a penny auction featuring the same line of products.

Keep in mind that choosing highly targeted products for your auctioned items will significantly narrow down your target audience. Always ask yourself, will these items be able to attract a sufficient amount of active bidders and keep your auctions alive longer. If your auctions will end quickly because there are only a few bidders on your website not only will it result in revenue loss but also in low levels of engagement of your clients and soon even the few bidders you have will lose interest.

It’s a good idea to think about products that are popular in your country or region, something that can attract and engage a lot of people. Surprisingly you may find that it’s not necessarily expensive products like iPads’ or Plasma TVs’.
Although our experience suggests that quite often the lower the country’s GDP per capita the more expensive products are required to be auctioned in order to reach the required critical mass of interested bidders to keep the business growing.

Feel free to send us more questions to blog@softmedia.biz

And don’t forget to comment and “Like”, we appreciate the support.

Penny stories #3

2012-02-23T08:04:00.002-05:00

“Find a penny pick it up, all the day you’ll have good luck” probably most of you heard this saying somewhere at some time but does it still stand? Of course over 100 years ago a penny had substantial buying power and with the civil war starting in 1861 and the great depression following it a found copper-nickel penny was a sure sign of good luck.

At that time you wouldn’t see Lincolns figure on the coin instead a profile of a man wearing an Indian feather hat was placed on the head of the coin.

The Penny is strongly tied in with human history and culture, if you look around you’ll find that rumors and urban legends formed around pennies. And the word itself will always be pleasant to the human ear. People are still ready to try their luck with just a penny, or a penny auction for that matter.

Feel free to send us more questions to blog@softmedia.biz
And don’t forget to comment and “Like”, we appreciate the support

Penny stories #2: New Ford for a rare penny

2012-02-17T09:32:00.001-05:00

Here’s a story for you.
In the 1940’s a rumor captured the hearts and minds of thousands of Americans across all states, spreading rapidly like a wild forest fire. Imagine you could get a brand new Ford car for just a penny! But not just any penny - it had to be a 1943 copper penny.

What was so special about it?
During the war there were a lot of emergency cutbacks across almost all sectors. One of the emergency measures demanded that all 1943 US pennies were made out of steel instead of copper, but before the bill was implemented a small amount of 1943 copper pennies where stuck and somehow entered circulation.

Wanderlust of the idea of getting a car for just a penny moved a lot of people. Some tried to hunt down the original copper cents, some tried to counterfeit fake ones.
But rumors are rumors, I’d like to think there a happy end in this story. I wonder if a penny auction will ever start such a powerful story, a deal of the 21st century.

Have a nice weekend!

Anthony
Softmedia.biz

Penny stories testing

2012-02-17T08:51:00.003-05:00

S5CDCXHE9EVC (This is a testing post. We apologize for any inconvenience).

Q and A on Penny Auction Software #3

2012-02-10T06:46:00.000-05:00

Q: My question isn’t software related but I’d be grateful if you could give your opinion. It seems that the economy is still suffering through rough times, is this really a good time to start a PA business?

A: We keep an eye out for any news on the entertainment industry. From what we can tell, numerous marketing researches show that in 2011 there was a significant raise of interest towards casual gaming and online entertainment. There seem to be two main reasons behind this.

First: Casual games are a light and easily available form of entertainment. They don’t require you to spend a lot of time or money to relax and take the edge off of day-to-day stress. Traveling, going to concerts, planning a trip to Las Vegas or getting in to a new AAA video game release are all great but they get left beyond the reach of a lot of people.
But we all still want entertainment. So spending 10 to 15 dollars couple of times a week without leaving the house seems like a good alternative to a lot of people, and as in the case with penny auctions if there’s a chance to win a bargain of a prize, well it just adds to the more interest to the experience.

Second: Stats show that as wireless devices notebooks etc penetrate deeper and deeper in to various demographic layers, more age groups get exposed to online and interactive forms of entertainment. In 2011 gamers aged 18-49 made up 53% of the total community and people over 50 made up 29% and growing. In addition more than 55% of all of them use hand held devices (source: Entertainment Software Association).

Feel free to send us more questions to blog@softmedia.biz
And don’t forget to comment and “like”, we appreciate the support ;)

Q and A on Penny Auction Software #2

2012-01-20T10:52:00.000-05:00

Only one big question this week but that doesn’t make it less interesting or important.

Q. If I’m going to make money from my penny auction site is there a way I could artificially raise the price of the product or if it is possible to define a minimum price limit for an auction?

A. We often hear this question, and we have to note that a lot of people who plan to open a penny auction site have a strong misconception on how to make a site profitable. The important thing is this – penny auctions income doesn’t come from selling products! The majority of income is generated by active bidding ( user participation in auctions and buying of bid-packages). Earlier we described the income formula here.

For the second part of the question, we strongly do not recommend usage of bots, use of any other methods of manipulation to artificially raise the price of your prizes, or your income. Treat your customers with care and respect and they will keep coming back to your site, generating more and more profit in a more natural way.
Spend time to develop your strategy and plan ahead - our penny auction software provides a lot of ways you can make your PA site more entertaining without any foul play .

Penny stories #1

2012-01-19T10:23:00.000-05:00

Recently a penny that used to worth only 1 cent way back in the late 1700s was sold at auction in Florida for a stunning record braking $1.38 million! Now that’s one pricy penny.

The supposedly “historic” penny was made at the Mint in Philadelphia in 1793, during the first year that the United States started making its own coins after gaining independence from Great Britain.

You can read more at http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/historic-penny-sells-1-38-million-florida-auction-setting-record-article-1.1002456

Q and A about penny auction software

2012-01-13T09:01:00.000-05:00

Q. I need penny auction software for selling my specific products

A. Truly speaking, there’s a difference between regular e-commerce and penny auctions.

What we offer is a platform for entertainment auctions, and like any form of entertainment it’s profitable only when there’s a crowd involved. Your products can be one of a kind unique items, but they will bring you money only if you have plenty of visitors.

So the broader the product niche the more bidders you can attract and the more income you can generate.

Q.One thing I would like to ask is what modules do you recommend for start?

A. Excellent question. There are a lot of feurures to choose from, both adding completely new features and extending default ones, the desire to achieve total control can be tempting but it’s important never to loose focus.

We divided our penny auction software modules into five different groups to make it easier for our customers to workout a development strategy plan for their auction.

Don't focus on just one aspect of your auction features, choose a balanced mix between: usability, marketing, communication and administration modules depending on your business plan and customers' needs. Also after launch you can introduce fresh features as newly added to promote your website and let people know that your working hard to provide them with the best experience.

Why do penny auctions really fail?

2011-12-15T08:36:00.000-05:00

A while back one of the most well-known blogs on the penny auctions Penny Auction Watch published an article by Chris, the founder of a PennyPurses.com.

We thank Chris for pointing out the importance of preparation. In addition to Cris insiders’ expertise, we’d like to add a few words based on our experience.

• From every 20 people (or groups) wishing to enter the penny auction business, around 15 have a very small business experience;
• From every 20 software providers 15 are incompetent or even frauds.

So when you do the math, you'll get a number of 6.25% that’s the number of all PA that actually have a chance on success. And from our experience that number is more or less accurate.

In conclusion we’d like to share a short abstract from one of our clients’ reviews, founder of Lokuaz.com penny auction.

“I read penny auction forums and I think that people have a wrong impression about the industry and how to setup a company. It is as difficult as setting-up any other company where a very important variable is to create a good relationship and trust with your suppliers. I think that our good relationship with Softmedia is based on the fact that we had a clear business plan and budget, clear idea of what we wanted from the software and our software partner”.

Subscribe, stay informed and good luck!

Belgium to block unlicensed online gambling sites from 2012

2011-11-27T03:36:00.000-05:00

The Belgian government announced that it will block access to unlicensed online gambling sites from January 2012. In addition, websites on the 'blacklist' will not be able to process financial transactions coming from, and going into the country.

Peter Naessens, Chief of the Belgian Gaming Commission, reiterated: "After the 1st January, 2012 ISPs will be required to block the access of Belgian citizens to unlicensed internet gambling websites. Belgian banks will also be required to block the financial transfers coming from and going to these unlicensed websites."

So, it is a right time now to think about other entertaining websites for Belgians, for example penny auction sites.

Social Gaming to top $5 Billion by 2015

2011-11-13T15:09:00.000-05:00

In a new report issued by Parks Associates, the firm forecasts that the social gaming industry will increase it’s revenue by five times between 2010 and 2015. The revenue increase is fueled primarily by increased advertising revenues and virtual goods sales. According to Parks Associates, these driving factors have already pushed social gaming revenues north of $1 Billion in 2010, and they see the trend continuing. The research firm presented the findings of their Social Gaming: Market Updates report at the Game Investment Conference in Austin, TX.

“Gaming on social networks has quickly become the most visible category of online games,” said Pietro Macchiarella, Research Analyst, Parks Associates in a statement. “Right now more than 250 million people play games like Zynga’s CityVille and FarmVille on Facebook every month, and both game developers and marketers have taken notice. Big brands such as McDonald’s and 7-Eleven have carried out cross-promotions with existing social games.”

Macchiarella also points to improved user monetization is a factor contributing to the industry’s success. He notes that early entrants to the field missed key monetization and revenue opportunities, but rapid advancements in gameplay has allowed for more effective incentives for users to purchase virtual items. Examples include virtual tractors and seed, items that improve or enhance gameplay, as well as rare items (swords, shields, etc.) to build status.

Penny Auction profit

2011-09-09T09:53:00.000-04:00

Our customers often ask us: "Can a penny auction business be profitable?"

From our experience we can give an answer: Yes, it can be.

We have seen the following cases.
The iPad went for $202.15. As each bid increments the price by $0.01 it means that Bouncybids got 20,215 bids and earned $12,129 (one bid costs $0.60):

As the retail price of this iPad is about $1,200 the profit is 12,129 – 1,200 = $10,929 USD or 910% !

The Amazon Electronic gift card of $250 value. It was won for $23.32, which means that 2,332 bids were made. 2,332 bids * $0.60 = $1,399 income. $1,399 – $250 = $1,149 profit or 460% !

So, these are good results. And it is a true proof, that when running penny auction business goes step by step and is accompanied by well-organised marketing strategy, it can be profitable and succesful.

Good luck with your penny auction business!

Penny auction software - 2 strategies

2011-08-05T07:36:00.000-04:00

Customers, who purchase penny auction software from us, often ask us what strategy is better in order to run penny auction business. We can say that there is 2 main strategies:
1) aggressive;
2) step by step.

The first strategy contains significant promotional budget. As auction items are used quite expensive electronic goods, such as computers or gadget and not less than 20 live auctions per day are held.

The second strategy "step by step" characterizes modest expenses on advertising and promotional campaigns. Auction items are the goods at a price from 10 to 50 dollars. The number of live auction are about 2-3 daily or even 2-3 per week. Customers like new small penny auctions because the competition is low initially.

We are convinced, that both these strategies have a right to "live". Even the fact, that aggressive strategy gives an opportunity to make money fast, it containes risk and big initial expenses. That is why, deciding to run penny auction business, think over, what strategy mainly you will choose.

Penny auction sites

2011-07-01T08:43:00.000-04:00

From time to time our potential customers tell us that their country is saturated with penny auction sites.
We believe, that if penny auction web site is professionally and good made, it will gain much interest even it is not first on the market. Modern attractive design, interesting features together with online advertising give the site more opportunities to be successful.

There are many features, that could attract customers. These are, for example, voting system, that gives a possibility for registered customers to vote on future auctions. Auction items, that gathered the most number of votes, start first.
Customers appreciate when their wishes are taken into consideration. Another not less interesting feature is Higher Lower game. This is for those, who like to try their luck in playing cards. Basically it is a simple card game, but with a possibility to win additional free bids.

Usually customers want much attention for themselves and, for example, everyday quiz may be useful. There the customers can answer question and get free bid(s) for this. Thus they get more satisfaction from their participation.

It is known, that bidders bid against each other and they all want to be ahead of their competitors. In order to know how powerful the competitor is, they need some information. It is possible to use the following - customers can see other customer’s 30-days bidding history. They pay money for this service and get history information.
At the same time exists the ability for the customer to hide his bidding history from others. It makes the competition more passionate.

Such features make a penny auction website more good-looking.

.............. /Natalie Shtangrat, Softmedia international sales manager/