Payment options for internet auctions to avoid fraud

There are several different options that can be used to pay for items being purchased via online auctions. The most popular being credit, debit, and money order. I would not personally recommend using money order at all to pay for something on an online auction site such as ebay or Ioffer.com. Paypal is also an excellent option when it comes to payment on online auction websites such as ebay. They offer protection to both the buyer and seller. Buyers have tried to scam me on ebay and sellers have tried to scam me on ebay and ioffer. However, on all occasions I was protected by paypal. So I always got my money back for the item I purchased within a weeks time frame. Paypal puts the funds on hold until the case gets resolved. That way the seller can not remove the funds from his or her paypal account. If the seller has already transferred the money to their bank account, paypal will contact the individuals back and have the funds withdrawn back to the sellers bank account. This way no fraudulent activity can occur. Paypal is quick, safe, and effective way to pay for items not only on auction sites such as ebay, but on various other online websites as well.



- Dorian

Reverse Auctions

As requested by Prof. Stylianou:
First, a description. Reverse auctions take place when there is one buyer and many sellers.
This could be a case where the buyer asks for bids on something and accepts the lowest one, or where the buyer asks for something at a particular price and sellers compete to sell at that price. Under some systems, buyers can choose to use factors other than price to choose the winning bid, such as lead time and quality.
It is most commonly found in the process of procurement, and is used by government and businesses alike. Even though it mostly has business-to-business and business-to-government applications, there are examples of reverse auctions in the business-to-consumer market, such as with Priceline.com's Name Your Own Price system, where customers name a price that they want to pay for a flight, hotel, or car rental and participating businesses try to match that price.
General Electric was an early adopter of using the reverse auction as a procurement device, and a company called FreeMarkets was a pioneer in the field of E-procurement in the 90's using proprietary software. These days, companies of all sizes and structures participate in these types of auctions.

Sources:
http://www.priceline.com/
http://dartmouthbusinessjournal.com/2012/03/online-reverse-auctions-a-cost-saving-inspiration-for-businesses/

- Kyle Whittlesey

How Penny Auctions Work

Penny auctions are becoming a popular way for people to engage in online auctions. Tons of happy customers everyday walk away with bargains such as high priced electronics and gadgets for only a few dollars and change. "How do the companies selling the merchandise do this" and "are the buyers really getting these items for that cheap?" To answer the first question accurately, you must look at the size of the online auction in question. It's common for small online penny auctions to actually buy the product after the winning bid has been taken place and simply ship the item to the winning customer. This is usually because smaller auctions don't have the funds to keep the large assortment of items they need. For larger online penny auctions they typically have a middleman so to speak that will ship the items to the winning bidders. Either way you look at it, the seller is paying for the items they sell because the buyer certainly isn't paying enough to fund them. However, even though it only looks like, for example, one particular bidder is getting a brand new flat screen television for $5.16 what is he really paying? Well depending on the website he's using it's more than $5.16. The way penny auctions work in order to generate revenue for the seller is the concept paying to bid. Each time a bidder places a bid of one penny they pay a set fee to make that bid. For example, if each bid costs fifty cents and the bidder places ten bids on the flat screen and wins then he's getting the t.v. for $10.16. This, of course, is still a great deal and much cheaper than buying a t.v. retail. When there are many bidders paying this same price to bid and the bidding reaches a point of $5.16 then the company has made $258. While that's just an example, it shows how these companies make their money. Quibids reportedly makes a 5-10% profit margin each day which can be compared to Wal-Mart's 3.5% profit margin. Penny auctions can be very lucrative and if the bidder is smart and a little lucky he or she can walk away with whatever they're looking for a fraction of the price.

Sources: http://bidpenny.blogspot.com/2011/01/where-does-quibids-get-their-items.html
http://www.quibids.com/en/quibids101/blog/7-Does-QuiBids-make-excessive-profit-on-their-auctions

Auction Prostitution

Howdy, fellow bloggers.
Here in internet auction-land, things can get pretty weird. There's all kinds of crazy things selling on auction sites that you wouldn't think would ever sell, or be legal to sell. Such as your virginity.
link to article: http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/after-woman-sells-virginity-for-780000-here-are-the-results-of-our-prostitution-survey-8226025.html
I dabble in Economics, so I it was rather interesting to quantify and monetize parts of peoples' lives and experiences. Interesting, and creepy.
We finally have a way to find the maximum global price that any product or idea would go for, and we use it for prostitution? As I've said, interesting and creepy.
Comments are appreciated.

-Kyle Whittlesey

Introduction to Internet Auctions

Internet auctions have become an extremely popular way to purchase goods online. The internet has drastically changed the way auctions can be carried out. Before online auctions, potential buyers gathered together to place continuous bets on a particular item until a winner was announced. Nowadays, these types of auctions still take place but for the average shopper looking for almost anything it's much easier to sit at home or on the go with a smart phone and bid. Certain websites such as eBay, for example, allow the bidder to place a minimum bet. This option causes eBay to bet for you in increments each time the bid goes up from a rival bet, without the user having to manually place the bet. This is just one of the ways internet auctions have revolutionized the way consumers can auction at their leisure without feeling inclined, through pressure, to overspend. Other sites utilize a different method of internet auctioning. Some penny bid sites allow users to place bets in increments of one cent, but the user has to buy each penny they place. This allows buyers to purchase high dollar items such as electronics and other typically expensive items for well under the MSRP. This has become a popular alternative to more traditional online auctioning sites such as eBay and have been gaining popularity through television commercials. Typically all online auctions use PayPal as the primary payment method. PayPal is a third party website that allows users to have money accounts similar to an online bank account. Overall, I predict online auctions in general, just like regular online sales, to surpass traditional auctions by a large amount.