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Auction site rewards unique bid, not lowest bid

Elinor Mills Former Staff Writer
Elinor Mills covers Internet security and privacy. She joined CNET News in 2005 after working as a foreign correspondent for Reuters in Portugal and writing for The Industry Standard, the IDG News Service and the Associated Press.
Elinor Mills

Imagine paying 92 cents for a new Xbox 360. Or $700 for a brand new Nissan 350z sports car worth $60,000. UniqueAuction.com says it auctions off hundreds of new "luxury items" for a fraction of the retail value. All you have to do is pay $2 (or $1 for platinum members who pay $100 a year or just under $10 a month) to participate and make a bid that no one else has made. The unique bid wins, regardless of how low it is. Platinum members can sell the item back to UniqueAuction.com for 80 percent of its retail value. They also get to use "Mini bots" that keep track of all the bids. The site is able to auction items off for so little because it is getting enough bidding fees from people to cover costs. Sounds like a gamble to me, just like the lottery. Who knows how many people are bidding and what the odds are? But if you have the time and an adventurous spirit it might be a thrill.