They call it a penny auction but when you do your research, you're paying about 75c for each of those "pennies". You have to buy what's called a bid pack in order to participate in the auctions. For instance, you can buy 50 bids for about $37. When you see an item you like, you place a bid by clicking on it, and the price of the item increases by a penny. Others are also bidding on the same item so the price goes up by 1c each time someone bids until someone finally wins the item. It works great if you only use a few bids and can win, but most of the one's I've seen the price of the item is not worth all the bids placed on it. It looks great to get an iPad for $25, but if you calculate the total bids placed, they have collected well over $1700 for a $500 item. Plus, in addition to the bids you placed, you're responsible paying for the final auction price of the item plus any shipping costs! Definitely not worth my time.

jamon14215

Rochester, NY

You have to spend at least 50.00 to get enough bids to buy a 50.00 gift card and don't forget you have to pay to belong. waste of time and money, if you are really bored then this is for you. There are not enough tips to tech you how to play their games, how do we know they are not straw bidders out bidding us on these things. All you seem to win or buy is more bids.

kerryjayne

USA

this site is a rip off. It DO NOT waste your money. They have power bidders on there, who in my oppinion after playin and watching for 2 years, are probably given bids from bidcactus to run up the auctions. If you watch, you will see how so many innocent people are suckered into bidding against the these power bidders. Everyday I see these power bidders spending thousands on 100 dollar gift cards. Take Heed, this site is a scam.

bcds3962

USA

I bought a 25 bid pack on special for $18.75. I was new to Bidcactus so I thought I'd watch for awhile to see what days and times were best to bid on. After about 2 weeks I tried a few bids and saw how it worked. I ended up winning a $50 Petsmart Card for 15 cents plus $4.90 shipping fee. I spent 13 bids to win it but did not win anymore with my remaining 12 bids. So for $23.80 I got a $50 card I was happy with it as it was cheaper than if I had bought the card at a discount site outright. The  card came quickly in the mail andworked fine at the store. Yes, this is an auction so you can't get carried away but if you pay attention and bid prudently you can get deals and the merchandise is as described.

Portia9898

Akron, OH

I tried out BidCactus dot com because I love searching for bargins on the net and I was attracted to the idea of getting gift cards and other high cost items at a potentialy much lower price than full retail. The concept was simple; buy a "package" of bids (ranging from 25 to 100) and use them to bid on penny auctions and longer auctions of up to four hours. The price you pay for the item depends on the number of bidders but I rarely saw an item or a gift card exceed three dollars. Hmm, sounded pretty good. So you are essentially paying for the bids and the item.  But the way I figured it at first is that  even if you use up 5 bids and two dollars on a $50 gift card you would still come out ahead. Well like gambling it turned out to be a money pit! To make a long story short, a Playstation 3 is big on my list this Christmas but at three hundred dollars it is super way out of my budget right now so I figured what the hey and joined Bid Cactus. Then I purchased the cheapest package they had at 25 bids for $18.75 figuring I could either win a cheap 75 bid package or try using my 25 bids on the Playstation 3. Well it was not as simple as I thought! It seemed like no matter hard I tried, my penny bids on the bid packages never won anything (even though the screen often said I had the last click) and the clock runs so fast you can often waste a bid trying to catch up.  So, with my last sixteen bids left, I wated a long, long, four hours to place a bid on a Playstation 3. Alas even that number was not enough. I got in some bidding war with a member who had bids on just about every thing else on the page (which I did not understand because the rules state you are only allowed to win three bids a month) and ended up loosing last minute to a newcomer because I ran out of bids in the last three seconds. Bogus! So my opinion of this site is dont waste your money! Unless you are rich to begin with (why would you need gift cards then?) Or have a whole lot of time and money to wase, don't bother with BidCactus. You could spend hundreds in bids and fees just trying to get a silly gift card and to me that isn't worth the effort.  I wasted almost nineteen dollars I could have spent on a video game for nothing and I am pretty peeved!

grenmse

Myrtle Beach, SC

My wife forwarded an article speaking of testimonies of what people have one. The disclaimer at the bottom then said what was previously spoken was not a real event. I am a fan of ebay, but never tried one of these kind of auctions. I paid about $12 for 30 bids. What I did notice is that there are only 15 actual auctions going on at the same time. 5 of them at any given time is buying more bid packages from Bid Cactus which I thought was pretty lame. Many of the names of the bidders are intentionally intimidating and the same 4-5 names are the ones that win most of the auctions. Most names are probably not names that normal people would use. They are just stupid hoaky names to make you think that you better watch out for them. I personally think they hire out some of these people to bid prices on items way up so the average person will never win anything. I've got 23 bids left. I am planning on canceling after wasting just a little more time on this site.

RussJK

Fort Worth, TX

Well I only tryied it one time I got a deal from my inboxdollars account they gave me $14 to buy $30 bids. So thats about half off so I tryed it I mean the chance to win $100 gift cards for only a few dollars or even a tv. You may just call this a scam but I think it is just gambling. Its not like they dont make money on menbers. You have to buy your bids for about 60 cents per bid. then you bid one bid at a time. ok this is when it gets confusing every time the time is almost out the next bider could put up 1 bid. then the time goes back up so meny seconds. This is where you wait to see if more biders are going to bid and win or if every thinks the same way and no one bids the last bider wins it. so when you add it up the web site gets about 2 or 3 time the worth of the item. some times the site mite brake even and you walk away with a $100 gift card that you may have payed about $40 or so. anyway you will need lots of time and money to win at frist you most likey will lose money but in good time you could have a tv, a wii, a laptop, so good luck if you wanna try this!

foolmoose

Lodi, NJ

BidCactus is a penny auction website, not a traditional website.  This is an important distinction since those looking for a traditional auction experience will not be happy.  However, if you are looking for something a little more fun, with a little more action than just trying to snipe an ebay auction, BidCactus is the online auction experience that you are looking for! If you are familiar with penny auction websites like BidCactus, you know that there are some good ones and some less than good ones, and some downright bad ones.  BidCactus, by all fair accounts, is among the best, if not the single best in the entire penny auction market. If you are looking to get a 42 inch television for five dollars, BidCactus is not your best choice. You really have no choice if that is what you are looking for, you should just buy a lottery ticket!  If however, you are looking to get a good deal, say a $100 Target gift card for $55, you may just be in luck. Here is the way that BidCactus, and other "penny auction" websites work. 1. Pre-purchase bids in packages, or Bidpacks at Bidcactus.  each bid has a cost, somewhere around $.60 - $1.00 depending on the site. 2. Select an auction you are interested in 3. Start bidding against the other interested parties 4. Be the last bidder when the clock hits zero to win There is one caveat to this process.  Penny auctions timers are extended by a set amount when each bid is placed.  For example, an auction with 10 seconds remaining will jump to 10 seconds with an additional bid.  This auction model is similar to a traditional brick-and-mortar auctions, not quite as similar as ebay auctions. BidCactus has top-tier customer service.  I personally had an issue with my browser reloading and bids not being correctly credited to my account (my fault).  I called in to their support line, which not all sites have, and they worked it out right away. They have some promotions.  Not as many as some other places, but if you are looking for a weekly or bi-weekly bidpack bonus, you'll get it. They have some nice products up for auction.  Mostly gift cards, but some good quality electronics too.  The nice thing about the gift cards is that you can get whatever you like with them.  The only issue with the gift cards is that they do have a little pricey shipping cost, so you might want to go for the $100+ gift card values. All-in-all, BidCactus is one fantastic penny auction website, the class of the bunch!

jawa571

Westport, CT

This site can be good or bad depending on your timing, Items you bid on & who you bid against. You could win a lot or get wiped out bidding on one item & still lose! It's a Gamble!  " So you feeling lucky,Punk?...LOL

Toothless1

Monroe, CT

Just wanted to say thank you to you guys that tried Bidcatus and wrote honest reviews, I was going to try it but thought I'd research it fist. I am a retired grandmother and take care of my disabled grandson, we live on a meager income so i am always looking for bargains. If I had joined Bidcatus just to try to win Walmart cards to by food,  it would have just taken food out of mouths it sounds like.. So don't any one feel bad about giving it a try, you are all hero internet scam investigators to me.. so thank you Linda

LindaLeeBradmon

Ardmore, OK