Brooklyn based Electronic Penny is a penny auction site where users buy “bid packages” in order to place small incremental bids on the items they would like to purchase. Unlike eBay, where users join and place bids at no charge, Electronic Penny users first buy a certain number of bids. When users first sign up with the penny auction site, 5 bids are free of charge.
When users buy their bid packages, they are also buying more time on the auction. That is, when they use their tokens, or bids in this case, they automatically extend the time on their auction effectively giving them more time until the auction on the item they’d like actually ends. Times added by bidding on an item usually are around 10 to 20 seconds.
On Electronic Penny, bids are priced at $1.00 or less and right now there are few items to choose from although I assume the inventory will grow. For example, some of the items currently available on the Electronic Penny auctions website are Apple TV, a Blackberry Torch 4G, an UNY Power DX Protective Battery Case for the iPhone, a BlackBerry Playbook, and an Apple iPad 2 16GB.
If you’re able to guess the actual price that Electronic Penny is willing to sell an item for, then you automatically win the auction for that price.
There’s even a “Beginner Auction” section, which includes items that are available to users who have not yet “won” an auction on the site. Also, as the price of an items increases, “bonus” items are added.
Electronic Penny Store
If you don’t find what you’re looking for under the auctioned items section, then there’s a store where you can choose among a variety of different items. Categories for the Electronic Penny online store include Clothing and Jewelry, Cell Phones, Tablets, MP3 Players, Toys, Home Appliances and Furniture, Cameras, TVs, and Bid Packages.
Available options for registered users include the ability to “pin” an auction, which means that users can keep tabs on items without actually bidding. Also, users can click a hammer icon on auction pages which allows them to see the actual bidding history of the item they’re looking at.
Payments made through the site are secure. Payments are accepted from VISA, PayPal, MasterCard, Google Checkout, and Discover.
To sign up and start bidding, visit ElectronicPenny.com and check out their Twitter page for updates and additional information.
