Madness or brilliance - the nutty world of lowest bid auctions

Some things are just a bit too mad to get your head around.

It’s like the time at Leeds Festival when a bloke, who was smashed out of his face, ran round a corner shouting ‘Pikachu is decking Mario. I think he’s knocked him out”. Mad, right? We walked round that corner to find an angry, yellow Pokemon kicking the crap out of a stereotyped Italian plumber.

When a mate said ‘there’s this site that gives you stuff from bidding the lowest amount of money’, it evoked the ghost of the aforementioned cartoony brawl. “Of course they do”, I thought, “for the lowest uniquebid!”

Like eBay created by someone who has missed the point of this whole money-making lark!

But low and behold there it was ‘likleBID’ emblazoned on my web browser, challenging my sanity with its mad-ass concept.

I can’t get my head round it – it appears to be a strange world where a load of people win stuff for offering the lowest amount of cash – I mean look at them

Or maybe I am missing something, and I am the lunatic!

Article continues below...
More stories you may like...
Why the British Transport system is essentially ableist and humiliating
Why showing calorie counts on menus is a bad idea
Pronoun badges: why they are so important

I mean I wouldn’t mind a year’s Netflix for 58P or a £40 Nandos voucher for £1.91! An Xbox One for £7.52 is practically robbery – but what is going on?

It all seems to be based on the bizarre concept that you pick a bid and the lowest “unique” one bags the swag.

So if I try to get a new hat for 1p and Derrick from Clyde also wants it for 1p – Chris and Derrick go home empty handed. But if Doris from Basingstoke solely bids at 3p, she comes away with a wonderful new fedora.

Lucky, Doris!

Obviously, you only get 5 free bids before they cost you and you get stuck in the web of addictive low-bidding, probably trying to convince yourself that there’s a strategy and it’s not just pure luck. You know, like the delusional nutters on Deal or No Deal that believe they have a skill!

Of course you can earn more free bids for doing stuff like verifying your email and uploading a profile picture – so those rewards might be enough to fulfil your bidding desires.

Of course, my scorn of the idea comes from my own addictive personality and I’d probably bankrupt myself trying to under-bid Doris for that fedora – I have, literally, no self-control.

I am reliably informed that I can’t go bankrupt because the likleBID guys will refund all my bids till I win – which makes my mind spin. This can’t be a sustainable business proposition can it?

Maybe I just need to take the low-bidding plunge?

I’ve learned that the crazy ideas sometimes turn out to the best! Could that be the case with likleBID.com?

Madness or brilliance - the nutty world of lowest bid auctions

You might also like...

People who read this also read...