BuyLowAuctions.com Review Is it a Scam
BuyLowAuctions.com is a penny auction website. Penny Auction websites do not work in the same way that traditional auction websites work work. Because eBay is more widely known i will use eBay as an example. At eBay only the wnner has to pay for the price of the item also eBay users typically use a company called pay to make payments for their desired item. The reason why this is important to note is that when someone makes a payment using paypal. PayPal can track the item # back to the item that was purchased. What this does essentially is it prevents scams from occurring. Continuous complaints will usually result in a vendor having his or her Paypal account shut down. In the case of BuyLowAuctions.com they are the vendor and they use their own payment system. what i find weird about BuyLowAuctions.com is the fact that they ask for peoples credit card information upfront.
Understanding Penny Auctions and how they work
Again BuyLowAuctions.com is a penny auction website and unlike eBay people have to purchase non refundable credits before bidding. The keyword to understand here is non refundable. If i am new and i sign up for BuyLowAuctions.com shouldn’t i at least get to try out BuyLowAuctions.com before i give them my credit card? That being said on my blog you will typically see me use words like read the terms and conditions before handing your credit card over to an online company. In the case of BuyLowAuctions.com they have an interesting setup that i think might confuse people. please click the pic below to see it in the full screen.
Here is the problem i have with this screen shot. I have been online for quite sometime and even i had trouble noticing the setup. The date in which i am writing this is October 2010 at the time you are reading this things may or may not have changed. This particular page can be found at https://secure.buylowauctions.com/index.php?/p/2.html. My problem with this page is the way its setup to the right they ask you for your credit card and to the left underneath where it says “300 Bid credits” it shows the amount of money they will be charging your credit card. which looks something like this
| Item Ordered | Bid Credits | Price | Subtotal |
|---|---|---|---|
| BLA Bid Package | 300-Bid Pack | $159.00 | $159.00 |
| Order Total: | $159.00 | ||
| *All purchases are subject to the Terms of Service. Bid Credits are non-refundable. | |||
Now even though i have been online for quite sometime and seen darn near everything there is to see this still had me a bit confused because looking at this setup i would not think that i was being charged $159.00 that very day. What would make me even more upset is the fact these credits are non refundable. There is a recession currently going on and everybody is looking to save money being that BuyLowAuctions.com is a penny auctions website i think they should do a better job building their websites designs. That being said i did see another BuyLowAuctions sign up page and with this one things are in better view.
In my opinion that is a much better setup so people can understand what they are getting themselves into. If there are complaints about BuyLowAuctions i am sure what i just mentioned is one of them. i personally think they should change that set up.
Reason why I don’t like Penny Auctions
There are actually several reasons why i personally don’t like penny auctions but i will only name a few. First thing is that you have to buy non -refundable credits to bid in a penny auction website, what this means is that before you even start bidding you have to pay the penny auction website. Secondly bid auction websites are very time consuming. Even when i researched some of the winners i noticed a common theme with them and that was that they typically spend hours sometimes days on the site bidding many people lose allot of money/credits before they win anything. last thing i want to mention is there can only be one winner, just like eBay only one person can win the auction but unlike eBay every single bidder pays for the price of the item on top of this the bigger then penny auction website gets the harder it is to win. To me Penny Auctions are not worth my time its borderline gambling in my opinion but on that note don’t let my opinion stop you from joining BuyLowAuctions.com
Please leave your comments below because your comments help others in their decision making process thank you!
Great article, and very good advice.
Perhaps I can just add to this that the best way I know to guard against being ripped off by online sales or auctions of any kind, Craigslist and eBay included—and whether seller or buyer—is to use a *bona fide* online escrow company. Especially for pricier items like antiques, jewelry and autos. Although it does add some cost, it takes the uncertainty out of the transaction, and that’s a small price to pay for peace of mind.
For my money, the best bona fide online escrow (and there seems to be ten fraudulent escrow sites for every bona fide one) is probably Escrow.com (http://escrow.com). In fact, it’s the only one that eBay recommends, and is the only online escrow company that is licensed to provide escrow services all across the United States.
Take care,
Ulf Wolf
I got internet at my house for the first time in February 2010. Within the first week, I had somehow come across this website. I thought it looked so easy to win something and wanted to try it, but didn’t want to purchase a bid package. I saw that they were offering a 10-bid trial pack for $4.95, and I thought, well I can afford that much. They also made it appear as if that’s all you are buying, they were very deceiving. They do it on purpose and get you in the small print, they really set their site up to intentionally trick people and get their money. Anyway, I had no idea that I had to cancel within 3 days, I mean they should have made that clear at least instead of putting it in the small print. To say the least, I was extremely upset when I checked my bank account online to find that there was an unauthorized charge for $49.82. To some people, this is not all that much money. To me though, I live paycheck-to-paycheck and I have 3 kids. This was a HUGE deal to me! That came right out of my rent money and I ended up with a $200 late fee on rent for the next month!!! Take it from me people, these guys are professional scammers, do NOT trust them with your credit card whatsoever. I’d also like to note that I found it to be practically impossible to win something, and it’s like the auction NEVER ENDS! It continuously adds 20 more seconds to the clock…I watched it for 3 hours when the countdown timer was right at the end. I don’t dare waste more time than that trying to win something for cheap, I would rather pay full price!!!