July 31st, 2009 
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Wow! That’s all I can say after hearing about a new website I have found, called Rockybid – basically an auction website, but practically an awesome place where people can find some simply amazing deals and purchase original products for up to 99% off the original points. And it appears that the entire thing is genuine, as the website also has a video of a Honda Hybrid that was sold for $1.24.
However, as it usually happens in such circumstances, there must be a catch, right? When it comes to Rockybid the catch is that in order for people to take part at the auctions, they have to pay. Yes, you have to pay to place a bid, which might seem a bit strange at first. But after you check out the great deals on the website and products sold at amazing prices, you might wish to reconsider that. At least now while the website is relatively unknown and there aren’t tons of people rushing in to get the bargains (and therefore skyrocket the price). For example of a low price, you can now bid for a Nintendo Wii and potentially get it for just one dollar. This means that you would save up to $250 for the console. That’s clearly important in today’s difficult times!
Of course, not only gamers can get hot deals here, but everybody. OK, it is true that I also was attracted by the great deal offering a Playstation 3 80GB for yet another amazing price (sold for less than one dollar!), but everybody can find out tons of products listed on the website and selling for dirt cheap prices. So I can say that it sounds just too good to be true. If you believe that is the case, you could do some more research on Rockybid – I haven’t personally tried them, but they do seem genuine. And better take advantage as it lasts, right?
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I have tried RockyBid, and while the products are genuine… the catch is much bigger than it appears to be.
every auction is a “Penny” auction… bids are in 1¢ increments.
So its not the price of the item that gets you in the end… its how many bids it takes you to get that item.
Recently an top of the line ipad ($900) retail, went for a measly $55 (rounding here)
but what that equates to in “rockybid” profits is… $3,850
How so? You pre-pay for your bids. and they charge between $.68-.78 per bid (you buy them in packages, and you get a discount for the more you buy)
So with the $55 ipad… It took 5,500 bids to get the price that high, and lets say an average of 70¢/bid was paid… and voila! $3,850 in the bank.
Here is a pitfall to this system (for the bidders). Routinely you will come upon a bidder with a seemingly endless stream of bids. Even shelling out more bids than the product is worth. For example I counted easily 50 bids by one user on a “50 free bid” auction.
Seems fishy right… It gets better… I kept track of one auction… a PS3, and found 3 users that gave up more bids than the unit was worth (monetarily). One of them eventually won the auction using their “buddybid” system (why by the way is not your buddy… if you run into someone like the ones stated above, with a seemingly infinite number of bids, you will blow your bid account in a matter of seconds)
I wrote RockyBid inquiring about the “overbidding” and got a very corporate answer.
“First of all thank you for joining Rockybid. Your question is why would someone bid more than the item is worth. The answer is simple. Its one of the most common strategies in the industry. It makes since for the winner and the looser. (we’ve seen users bid 3-400% more than the auction is worth) The idea is that you over bid, scare other users, and then win the next item you bid for very cheap. You are not going to bid against the winner, and you will think twice before bidding against the looser knowing how much the user is willing to spend on an auction. ”
now is that some BS or what? Sure this strategy might have worked when there were only a handful of users, but really… how well is this going to work when the population of Rockybid reach 4 figures?
To me RockyBid is up to something fishy…
I blew $75 on 100 bids, and that’s all they are getting from me.
I managed to win ONE auction and it was a beginner auction (no bidbuddies allowed), and I won because I timed the server lag correctly.
That’s another thing… Server lag is horrible, particularly when 2+ “bid buddies” start going at it. it can lock up your page, and you have no idea what’s going on. I ran two computers, one just observing, and one to bid, which saved my bacon on the aforementioned beginner auction.
Best advice…stay away…
but if you must play…keep in mind the later you are in on an auction the better… but remember, someone is always trying to be later than you… in which case you have to be willing to shell out more bids than they are.