Today, I found this website called Telebid.. an auction site with a difference.

They advertise on their site how each time is a fraction of the recommended retail price (RRP) and this is no lie in that respect. The problem is that each bid costs you money.

I paid £25 for 50 bids and once you have done this, you log onto the front page and see all the countdowns for the items. I saw a 500 GB hard disk going for £5, and Nintendo Wii’s going for £30 etc…. sounds too good to be true huh?

Well, what happens is that each time you bid, the price goes up and you add 15 seconds to the lifetime of the auction.

Obviously, when people see the items going at bargain prices, people will keep on bidding and this lines to pockets of the guys at Telebid. Although they would sell an item at a loss… for example, the Wii went for £40 in the end and they would have lost out about £140 (considering the total cost of the Wii is about £180).

However, my 50 bids amounted to nothing and this cost me £25. There would have been hundreds of people who would have lost out too… say 100 people. This means that 101 (that’s the 100 people + me) people losing £25 which amounts to £2525 (101 people!)…. Telebid would have pocketted this and lost £140 on the sale of the Wii.

I must admit, the Telebid model is ingenious… I am usually rather careful of these things but I still thought I would give it a go. They have capitalised on the human psychological drive to bag a bargain and make money from it. I’m sure that the person who got the Wii at £40 is a very happy person for getting a great deal but how many bids did he or she have to purchase to have won it? I’m sure that it’s very possible for someone who could have done very well… got a fantastic price for something on their first try.

I think there’s a real element of gambling here… you need to bear caution but at the same time it is great fun and even better if you win.

If you want to have a look however, visit Telebid