Our auctions are unique. We operate rather like a buying club... But allow us to explain
our unique combination. We have:
Scale
Buying power due to our scale (we
had over £140 million worth of bids placed in our last 12 auctions).
Promotional value
We generate significant
promotional value to the Lots that we offer, because the auction is promoted widely
to prestigious audiences.
The combined effect allows us to negotiate extremely favourable prices with our
Lot suppliers - something that you might benefit from...
Furthermore, when we run a charity initiative it provides a highly tax-efficient
way for our suppliers to donate to a good cause.
Remember how it works…
Bids are "sealed".
No one knows what bids have been placed until the auction closes and the bids are
compared. At that point the highest bid placed wins.
You pay a small entry fee of
up to £5 per bid to take part.
Multiple
Winners. For most Lots there is a Secret Price above which the supplier will allow us to accept every
bid, so even if you don't offer the highest, you can sometimes win anyway. We only
disclose the highest bid, so you will never know what the Secret Price is. (This
allows our suppliers to discreetly move inventory without undermining published
prices, something else you can really benefit from).
What are the biggest mistakes that our bidders make?
Don’t bid too low:
Although we usually have very low minimum bids on our lots, please don't imagine
that this is a lottery. Most first time bidders bid too low.
Don’t bid too high:
In most auctions we will receive a number of unnecessarily high bids. However because
the bidding is non-binding, these customers will usually decline! (when we call
to accept their bid and ask for payment). We then contact
the next highest bidder and so on (in a process we call "trickle down") until we
get to the highest serious bid and the Lot is sold.
So there is no one point in your wasting your Entry Fee on a bid
that you are not serious about.
Again our best advice is to bid the maximum that YOU personally are actually prepared
to pay for the item in question: That way you will be in a position to say, "yes
I'll take it" when we call you!
How should my bid compare to worth?
Every auction and every
Lot is different, and it is of course up to you to name the price you would really
pay. All that we can guarantee is that we will sell to the highest bidder above
our reserve price.
However, over time, the following pattern has emerged:
- 4% of winning bids have achieved 60% discount or better
- 27% of winning bids have achieved 40% discount or better
- 81% of winning bids have achieved 20% discount or better
What about the "worth" value for each Lot?
Please note that we generally quote the upper end of
prices that we know people are prepared to pay, not the lowest. We always
quote “worth up to…” and where possible, we quote the High Street price, the supplier’s
suggested retail price or similar.
Please also note that once a lot is open for bidding,
we do not keep track of price changes and you may find that cheaper prices than
our quoted worth figure can be found in sales, stock clearances or special website
promotions.
Other useful tips
You may bid for as many items as you want
Tell me about the winners?
Our top 400 High Bid customers have now spent nearly £2.5 million getting themselves
the latest technology, exotic style items, five star holidays and exquisite weekend
escapes. Why? Because they have secured excellent deals on products that cannot
usually be obtained at a discount.
One of our best customers has bid in 33 auctions, won 27 times and has saved himself
over £32,000! His tactic is to make multiple bids at 25-45% off and to always bid
again, with a slightly higher bid, when offered a Second Chance. He will then usually
have several winning bids, but it is only at that point that he actually decides
which ones he wants! So for his entry fee he secures himself the option on a choice
of fantastic products not normally available at discount.
Our first 70,000 signed
up users have, between them, had over 12,500 winning bids. So there really are plenty
of chances to win.
Check it out for yourself
at the Results section on this site, where
the last 2,000 winning bids are available for your scrutiny.
Conclusion
You now have the full inside story. This is a terrific secret and it works! So get
bidding. Good luck!
We think this is the smart way to buy the best... at great prices!