Bet for your Mother's Day gift

Darius Chang | May 09, 2008

Feel the pinch of increasing food prices and can't afford to buy your mom a gift this Sunday? Sure, you can buy a lottery ticket and hope to win the big one, but before you do that, check out this unique auction site which promises items for a faction of the retail price.

When one of our bloggers first wrote about Tatarah auction site, she did not have a chance to try out the special bidding system. At first blush, it looks like a scam Web site. After all, how can a business offer a brand new PlayStation Portable for a mere S$80 (US$52.63) without eventually going bankrupt? We took a closer look at how it works.

First, you have to register with full credit card details. For every bid, you have to pay a processing fee of about S$2 (US$1.32). Each item's price is capped at a specified amount that is much lower than the retail price, so the winner is certain to get the item cheap.

But here's the catch. Unlike conventional auctions, the winner is not the highest bidder. In order to win the item, you need to be the only person offering that specific bid. For example, if there are five people willing to pay S$49.99 (US$32.89) for a S$50 (US$32.89) item while you are the only one to put in S$49.98 (US$32.88), you'll win. Since each auction attracts multiple bids, the processing fee more than covers the cost of the machine.

It is an amazingly simple concept which combines betting and social psychology. Since each bid costs money, you'll probably want to look at past auctions to see which amount is the least likely to turn up. The auction site is now offering Mother's Day specials, so whip out your credit card and start betting... errr... bidding.

Filed under: PC & Peripherals
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isaac976

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isaac976 says...
such great way to make money .. just like Darius said it .. and people do go on betting.. oops.. bidding for it.. you can take your gamble at try it for one or two time at getting the minimum bid, but do remember this.. all this are contolled by computer.. and YOU dont know who is having the minimum.. so even if you are the most unique minimum they can tell you are not.. and have you keep bidding.. right ? just save your money and get what you want..

May 09, 2008 14:50