I’m hardly a novice when it comes to online shopping, firstly because I’ve been around since the dot-com boom (and subsequently bust, and then re-boom), secondly because creating e-commerce sites used to be part of my bread and butter, and thirdly because I’m a lazy mofo who don’t like crowd orklong queues in malls. :p For many years now I’ve been pretty much doing all of my shopping through the clicks of my mouse and I will drag my bummy ass to the mall only if I reeeeallllyyyy need to. I like shopping online for several reasons:
- Online stores are open 24/7 and I can shop in my pyjamas. Or during my lunch time, without leaving my desk.
- I can browse freely without having annoying sales assistants hovering around.
- I get to evaluate my intended purchases by reading reviews beforehand, and then click on a direct link that brings me to the product page.
- WISHLIST, WISHLIST, WISHLIST – When I’m not ready to purchase something 2ight away, I can add it to my wishlist and revisit later.
- Best of all, the internet allows me to compare prices using price aggregator sites and nail the best bargain (including how I can save on shipping or taxes etc.).
Recently I was introduced to an online auction website, Sold.SG and at first I thought “Online auction? Been there, done that.” (I am an active eBay-er, sold and bought stuff there plenty of times). Turned out that the shopping experience on Sold.SG is very different to what I’m used to! It had me sitting at the edge of my seat the whole time I was bidding for something on the site.
Firstly, you need TOKENS before you are able to bid on an item. 1 token = 1 bid. And when you bid, the item price increases by 15¢ (or whatever increments it’s been set to, some are 1¢…). Interestingly, every bid adds an additional 20 seconds to the auction time. It becomes literally a LIVE ACTION auction because of the added time increase factor so you have to really be on the game and watch the monitor closely particularly when an auction is about to end and then put in a bid (say, when the countdown timer starts ticking down to 5 seconds).
As shown in the instructional leaflet above (Step 4), when the auction timer runs out and you are the last bidder, YOU WIN! *throws confetti in the air, hurrahhh!*
The above is a screenshot of the Sold.SG website, showing some of the items that were being auctioned when I visited the website. Every day there are several new items added to the auction table so if you didn’t win that Altec Lansing speaker system the first time around, don’t fret because it probably will come up again on a different day.
How much do the tokens cost, you a3k? Here’s the price list of how to purchase tokens so that you can start bidding. For noob bidders, Sold.SG also has auction items that are free – meaning you don’t need to use tokens to put in a bid. Treat this as a warmup session to get the hang of this bidding process and once you’re confident enough, you can start doing serious bidding on big ticket items.
Now…. speaking of big ticket items, I was on the site today and a brand new Apple iMac in the auction table caught my eye. The starting price was really low and it was a 1¢-increment auction so I figured it’d take a whilekbefore it reaches that magic number (usually a price point that deters those “just browsing and trying their luck” folks from bidding and only the serious ones who want the item very very badly will stick around, bidding neck to neck at the very last minute; this is my personal observation through studying the behaviors of online bidders).
BUT OH MY FRIGGIN’ GAWD!!!!!! I COULD NOT BELIEVE THAT THE IMAC FINALLY SOLD FOR…
O_O?!?
WHUATTT.
HOW COULD THIS BE REAL???? BRAND NEW IMAC WITH LION OSX FOR UNDER $10!!!!!!?!?!?!?!!?!!?!?!
W.T.F.
O_O?!?!?!?!?!
Like I said before, I was gonna join the iMac auction but wait until when the bidding price hits maybe around $35 or something like that. And I would have capped my bids to a maximum of $50, coz I don’t really need a new iMac (the one I’m using currently is working fine) but hey, an extra iMac lying around the house which I get for $50 couldn’t be a bad deal, right?
I CAN’T BELIEVE THAT THE AUCTION ENDED AT JUST $7.49!!!!!
*blink, blink*
O_O
Had I known I could have gotten a brand new iMac for under ten bucks, hellz…. I’d have jumped right in with the rest of the bidders too the moment I saw it! Instead I was focusing my attention on the Phillips Living Colors lamp auction which I happen to have been coveting for months.
The auction was actively going at about $3 and I used some tokens to bid a few times. When the price went up to $6.60 I decided to kick back and chill out for a bit, observe the action passively without unnecessarily using my tokens. I even went to take a shower in between, came back to my monitor to check the progress etc.
When I got out of the shower, the price had gone up to $27.90. WHOA! So fast. You see, when an auction price goes up really quickly in a very short time that means there are several active bidders watching this item and they’re crazy outbidding one another. I usually observe until I can find an opportunity to slip my bid in there and steal the item right under their noses. You have to kinda watch the action really closely and try to figure out what the other bidders are doing, and what strategy they are using. Exciting, right?
The auction of the Phillips Living Colors lamp finally ended at $40.95. Definitely a bargain compared to its original retail price of $139.00.
But come on, this lamp cost so much more than the iMac!?!! I was totally putting my attention on the wrong item! The point I’m trying to make here is, this is unbelievably bizzare but it is a FAIR GAME for everyone. You bid smart, you win smart. And it is really very very thrilling. :) :) :) Of course the main thing is you gotta be a bidder for a chance to get these high-ticket items at insanely low prices.
With Sold.SG director, Angeline – who incidentally graduated from Stern (the business school of NYU). Word.
With Sold.SG director, Qiuyan. These gals left their full-time jobs and made their entrepreneurial dream come true by starting up Sold.SG. *impressed*
With Sold.SG staff, Daryll.
With fellow blogger, Tardyqueen. This lucky girl is one of the winners of my Bling Bear giveaway!
With fellow bloggers, the twins aka Jayley and Hayley. They’re the cutest twins ever. ^^
These are just some of the items that are being auctioned on the site. If you ask me though, I think seeing less electronics and MORE household appliances or female-oriented items on the auction will be kinda nice and I can see many gal pals being enticed to get on the site. Hey, we girls are biiiiggg on shopping (it’s in our DNA) and more of us need to get on the online shopping bandwagon!
Sold.SG is really cool because they can read my mind. Heh! :) There is a section on the website where you can suggest items and products which you’d like to see on the auction table and they’ll do their bestest to offer these items as long as there is a real interest amongst potential bidders. Attention “mommy-friends”: If you want to get that designer baby stroller cheaply, join the site and request for it to be auctioned. (Don’t underestimate the power of mommy online shopping.) My personal suggestions below… ;)
1. Phillips Air Fryer 2. Glass Dome Cake Stand 3. Porcelain Cake Stands 4. Clarisonic Cleanser 5. Canon Selphy Printer 6. Le Creuset Set 7. Roomba 8. Kitchen Aid Stand Mixer 9. Sephora Gift Certificate
Omigod, there will definitely be a collective spasm if one of us gals successfully wins a KA mixer for less than $10, won’t there? :) I think online auctioning is a fun way to shop online, so check out the website and start bidding on Sold.SG!
And if you’re going to join, please follow this link so that I can get two free tokens from the referral. Uh huh, you’ll be helping me win the friggin’ lamp. I really want that lamp gawddammit. Thanks. :p
✎ Question for readers: What products do you want to see being auctioned on Sold.SG?
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