How to find a penny auction scam?
When we go for a penny auction site, many questions storm our brain.
Is this penny auction site a scam? Do I provide my details to this auction site? PayPal is not available at this online auction site. So, should I provide my credit card details? Is this penny auction legit? And many more questions arise in our mind.
Of course, these question should arise. We provide our banking details to these auction sites. And if by mistake our info lands in unsafe hand then we are gone! One mistake can transfer our thousands of dollars $$$ in pockets of a stranger!
Below are few tips to check whether a penny auction site or any other online auction site is a scam or not.
- If in the address bar, you see https instead of common ‘http’ then the concerned online auction site can be more secure because the data transfer encryption level is high. If the penny auction website or any online auction or any other merchandise related site is not having the https on the payment page you can see the https
then you can go ahead. But if there is no https on the payment page then we highly recommend not to enter any info because it is not secure page.
- The very thing is to check the Alexa Rank of the site. You can do this by visiting alexa.com. If Alexa rank is under 200,000 then it means this website is popular and you can register without any hesitation. At most, Alexa Rank of more than 200,000 but less than 400,000 can be tolerated. But we have to look for other factors and techniques to gauge the legitimacy of the website.
- The next is to look for the Compete Rank of the concerned website by visiting compete.com. If this is under 500,000 then the website concerned can be trusted. Also, check the Quantcast Rank of the penny auction site for which you are skeptical. (It’s quite difficult to get the Quancast Rank. So, a rank under 1,000,000 is good for a penny auction site.)
- Now, check the details of the site at websiteoutlook.com and if there you can see the daily visitors above 4000 then the it means the website is good. Also, at website outlook, you will get to know the countries from which the site gets more traffic.
- In firefox, you can install a very effective plugin called ‘Web Of Trust’ or in short WOT plugin -in. This plugin shows colors for any website you visit. If this shows RED COLOR for any site then it is better (highly recommended) to avoid that website. If the color is GREEN then you can go ahead with the site.
- If a website is BBB (Better Business Bureau) then you can trust that website.
- Also, to guess the chance of winning items on a site, you can check their “Closed Auctions” section. And, check the price at which they sold. Remember that of an item is sold for $1 then it means, there were 100 bids ($0.01 X 100 = $1) are placed.
- If a website is accepting PayPal then it is good to pay through PayPal because if the seller is verified then PayPal gives BUYER PROTECTION to the payer. And, you can also file chargeback if you made the payment through your credit card through Paypal gateway.
We hope the above tips are useful to everyone. Now, you can check the legitimacy for penny auction sites.
Great post.
Perhaps I can just add to this that the best way to guard against being ripped off by online sales or auctions of any kind, Craigslist and eBay included—and whether seller or buyer—is to use a *bona fide* online escrow company. Especially for pricier items like antiques, jewelry and autos. Although it does add some cost, it takes the uncertainty out of the transaction, and that’s a small price to pay for peace of mind.
For my money, the best bona fide online escrow (and there seems to be ten fraudulent escrow sites for every bona fide one) is probably Escrow.com (http://escrow.com). In fact, it’s the only one that eBay recommends, and is the only online escrow company that is licensed to provide escrow services all across the United States.
Take care,
Ulf Wolf
Thanks for your efforts!
Winnit is a scam. They temporarily ‘block’ you account after you win anything of value to ‘validate your identity’. This means they demand you send them a copy of your drivers license to claim your prize. Of course, if you do they say its a fake ID and say they wont send the item.
What they do with your id? Who knows, I didnt find out until later that this site is based OVERSEAS and not in the US. STAY FAR AWAY WINNIT.com is a fraudulent scam.