There are several available scripts online for penny auctions which have bid bots built into the system. One such script is one created by a company called Telebid scripts. Here's the thing: With bid bots, in a way, the auctions are manipulated. The auction is set to bring in a certain income, and it will continue running - with the system bidding itself till the right amount of bids come in. Once it reaches that amount, it goes back to normal and anyone can win. The thing about penny bids though, is that they are charged for the bid (about $1.00) even if they don't win. Is it legal to use the bid bot systems that are built into these programs? Does it depend on where we are based out of? Can I "officially" run the program out of a different location (say, Europe) so I can benefit from their laws? How would I go about doing that (would I need to reincorporate?)? Thanks in advance!
Hi Smsysengineering, As the editor of the Internet penny auction watchdog blog & community, Penny Auction Watch, I will tell you that bidding bots are illegal, unethical and just flat-out wrong. Ask yourself this: How would you feel if you were a paying customer, thinking you had a fair chance of actually getting the item you are bidding on & at a significant discount but instead automated bot bidders, shill bidders, are bidding against you to increase their profit margins? With that said, if we find that a penny auction site is using bots & other unethical business practices we will expose them. Last I checked, auction fraud accounts for nearly half of online fraud reports to the FTC. I've presented numerous cases with proof of penny auctions shill bidding and also never shipping any items, this is frowned upon highly and you may be surprised to know that there are many penny auctions/bid-fee auctions, out there running bot scripts and the site owners, as well as the developers will be prosecuted in due time. Thanks, PennyAuctionWatch.com
I hear you loud and clear. But mainly my question was from the fact that they are built into the systems. They must be legal someplace... Where?