What is Auction 4 Pennies?

Welcome to Auction4Pennies, the home of exciting, fast-paced auctions on the internet.

Every day we sell brand new top-name products at incredibly low prices in auctions that start at just $0.00 with no reserve. Take a look at the items we're currently auctioning, and if one takes your fancy, why not buy some bids? They're only $0.99 each.

With each bid placed, the price of the item increases by $0.01. When you bid, we also reset the counter back up to a maximum of 15 seconds - to give someone else the chance to bid too if they're interested. If no-one else bids and the counter reaches zero, congratulations: you've won yourself a bargain on Auction 4 Pennies!

Getting the most from Auction 4 Pennies

On these pages, you'll find answers to some of the most frequently asked questions we receive about using Auction 4 Pennies, and details of how to get in touch if you want to talk to us directly.

Help Topics

How do I top-up my bid account? What happens once I've won an auction?" Find the answers to these and many more of our most commonly asked questions in the list to the left.

Quick Links

Want to change your delivery address? Or maybe your password's slipped your mind. On the right, you'll find information on how to make changes to your Auction 4 Pennies account.

Email Auction 4 Pennies

If you can't find what your looking for in our help pages, maybe you'd like to contact our friendly Customer Service team. Click on the email link to the right, and we'll do our very best to answer your questions.

How can I join?

If you want to bid online, you'll first need to register. Once you´ve successfully registered, you can buy some bids and get bidding straight away.

How much does a bid cost?

Each bid costs just $0.99, and are available in "BidPacks" of 5, 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 100, 300, 600 and 1000 bids.

How Many Bids	Cost to Purchase
5	$4.95
10	$9.90
20	$19.80
30	$29.70
40	$39.60
50	$49.50
100	$99.90
300	249.00
600	$499.00
1000	$899.00

How do I bid on Auction 4 Pennies?

Bidding on Auction 4 Pennies is straightforward. Just follow these four simple steps:

1. Register for free
2. Charge-up your account with bids
3. Pick an auction
4. Bid and win!

Register for free
If you want to bid online, you´ll first need to register. Registration is free and easy. As part of the registration process, you will need to confirm your email address by clicking on the link in the confirmation email sent to your account.
Once you´re confirmed: congratulations - you´ve registered with Auction 4 Pennies.

Charge-up your account with bids
Each bid costs just $0.99, available in "BidPacks", click here for more info. Pick the size of BidPack you want and decide how you want to pay: either with a credit or debit card, or via PayPal.

Pick an auction of your choice
What will it be? A brand new White Smart Car? The latest in the Nissan Z Series? Or maybe a new BMW? Pick your product and go for it! You'll always find a selection of our most exciting auctions on the homepage.

Bid and win!
Here we go - you´re now ready to take part in your first Auction 4 Pennies auction. Just click on the "Bid" button! Simple, huh?

If you need to leave your computer, don´t worry - you can use the "Bidder's Insurance" to place bids for you when you're away. Click here for more information on "Bidder's Insurance".

How does the "Bidder's Insurance" work?

How does the "Bidder's Insurance" decide when exactly to place my Bids?
Our "Bidder's Insurance"s are instructed to be as frugal as possible when bidding. That’s why they wait until the last 10 seconds of the auction countdown to place your bids.

When there are two or more "Bidder's Insurance"s set on the same auction, they duke it out there and then, placing all their bids immediately. This tit for tat battle means that the price and countdown both increase with each bid placed. (We do this so that bidders can easily see the auctions that will end soon unless another bid is placed).

We have a few simple rules about how your "Bidder's Insurance" can be used - just remember these when telling your "Bidder's Insurance" when to bid:

• You must use at least two bids when setting a "Bidder's Insurance": if you just want to place a single bid, just click the bid button.
• Your maximum price has to be at least one U.S. dollar (US$0.01) higher than the current end price.
• Once the bidding has reached the ‘Bid From’price at which you instructed your "Bidder's Insurance" to start bidding, you can no longer cancel your bids.

How do I cancel a "Bidder's Insurance"?
Provided the auction hasn’t reached your "Bidder's Insurance"’s ‘Bid From’ price, you can select the "Bidder's Insurance" overview tab and cancel him by clicking the red cross.

Why did the auction end before my ‘Bid To’price was reached?
To control the spending of your "Bidder's Insurance"s, they are told to use no more bids than the ‘Bids’ value you assign. If he hits his spending limit then no more bids are placed, even if the current price is below your ‘Bid To’ value.

What happens to "Bidder's Insurance" bids that don´t get used?
Bids that the "Bidder's Insurance" doesn’t use are credited back to your Auction 4 Pennies account. This might happen when you win an auction. It can also happen if an auction ends before your ‘Bid From’price is reached, or if your ‘Bid To’price is reached before all your bids are used up.

Any more advice?
For a visual explanation of how to use our "Bidder's Insurance", Click here.

Can you give me some advice about how to bid?

We often get asked by people how to improve their chances of winning an auction on Auction 4 Pennies.

There’s no "sure-fire" winning strategy, but here are a few tips to help you get started, as well as a few of the traps that novice bidders sometimes fall into.

Place your bid late
Watch the countdown and try to jump in and bid in the last few seconds. If the timer has reached the last few seconds, you know that it will end unless another bid is placed.  (Don’t leave it too late though, or you might miss out)

Start with the cheapest products
Although you can get some incredible bargains on our most expensive items, they also tend to be the most competitive auctions, attracting hundreds of bidders. Our cheaper products tend to have fewer bidders, meaning you’re much more likely to win.

Use the "Bidder's Insurance" to your advantage
The "Bidder's Insurance" is a powerful tool, if you get the timing right you can scare off other bidders by placing one. Nobody likes to see their bids matched over and over again by your all conquering "Bidder's Insurance", you might just persuade them to give up and try again next time.

Turn their "Bidder's Insurance"s against them
On the other hand, some people have a ‘fire and forget’ policy with the "Bidder's Insurance". It is easy to swoop in and win with a quick single bid if your rival has gone to make a cup of coffee safe in the knowledge that their "Bidder's Insurance" will protect them.
We’ve noticed that users tend to set the ‘Bid To’ value of their "Bidder's Insurance"s to a round number, so watch out for this and you might be able to snap up a bargain by simply clicking on the “Bid” button when a "Bidder's Insurance" has just finished.

Keep an eye on what other bidders are up to
You can see the details of the last ten bids placed: try to work out who’s bidding and when they’re bidding. It’s all about timing, so maybe you can work out when the right time is to jump in and grab the lot.

Scout out the competition
Look and see how many different bidders have recently bid on an auction. You’re more likely to win if there are fewer bidders interested in the item than if there are lots of competing bidders.

Bid at the right time of day
The number of bidders varies throughout the day – smart bidders can use this to pick up bargains by bidding when others are busy having breakfast or taking the dog for a walk.

Fine-tune your "Bidder's Insurance"
If you use the "Bidder's Insurance" to bid on your behalf, it’s best not to set your ‘Bid To’ value to a round number – other bidders will be watching out for this (see above!).

How do I buy bids?

You can buy bids using either your credit or debit card, or via PayPal.

We accept Visa, Visa debit and Visa electron cards as well as MasterCard and Maestro cards.

You can do this from your "My Account" page.

Where can I keep track of the auction(s) I’m bidding on?

We've created "My Account" for registered users so that you can keep track of all the auctions you’ve bid on that are still running, as well as those you’ve asked to watch.

Simply click on 'My Account' and select 'My auctions' for all auctions that you have placed a bid on, or 'My Watched Auctions' for auctions that you want to watch.

Where can I see how many bids I've placed on an auction?

You can view the bids that you've placed most recently under 'Bid history' on the right hand side of the auction detail page, just under the Bidder's Insurance section.

You can see a full bid history under Bid Account ('My Account' -> 'Account' -> 'Bid account') by clicking on the '+' sign alongside every auction.

Where can I see my booked Bidder's Insurance?

You can see the Bidder's Insurance bids that you have booked on a specific item on the auction detail page. Simply click on the 'Bidder's Insurance overview' tab next to the 'Book Bidder's Insurance' tab in the Bidder's Insurance section.

To see all of your currently planned Bidder's Insurance bids across all auctions, go to "My Bidder's Insurance" under "My Account" -> 'Auctions'. Remember, these are only your planned Bidder's Insurance bids and do not show Bidder's Insurance bids that have already been placed."

Where can I see who's bidding on an auction?

To see who's bidding on an auction, just look under 'Bid history' to see a list of the most recent bidders on that auction and the type of bid they placed.

I've placed a bid but I am currently not the highest bidder, why?

When a bid is placed, it will always be the highest bid, but might get out-bid very quickly. This can happen if there are many bidders or if there's another user's Bidder's Insurance bidding on the auction too. You might not see this simply because other bids have been placed with a few seconds of each other - sometimes even within the same second!

To help you make your bidding more effective, here are some tips:

• Look at the bid history, check the number of bidders on the auction and the type of bid placed. If there are only single bids, try placing a Bidder's Insurance, a Bidder's Insurance can not only save you bids, but also help you to become the highest bidder.
• Try looking for a similar auction with fewer bidders, you can often find a similar product on auction at the same time with fewer users. You could pick up a bargain without needing to place as many bids.

Can I bid on a future auction?

We'd ask you to wait until the auction's countdown has begun. These auctions are shown in the drop down menu under "live auctions".

I’ve just won an auction. What now?

Firstly, congratulations - well done on winning the auction!

Confirming your win
Once the auction has ended, you’ll be automatically transferred to a page where we’ll ask you to confirm that you still want the item and explain what to do next. You’ll have the opportunity to redeem any coupons you may have and will be told how to pay the final amount. We’ll also contact you via e-mail to explain how to do all this. Just remember to confirm that you still want the item within 7 days of the end of the auction. If you still haven’t confirmed within 21 days, we’ll assume that you’ve changed your mind and no longer want to buy the item.

Paying for the item you won
Just as for your bids, you can pay for your item by credit or debit card, or via PayPal. Please make sure that you pay within 7 days of the end of the auction. We’ll confirm you payment via e-mail and arrange for the item to be shipped to you. If the item hasn’t arrived within 14 days of our confirmation of our payment, please contact us.

How can I redeem my coupons?

We occasionally give away different types of coupons to make your Swoopo bargains even better value. Here’s an overview of some of the different coupons that are available:

Coupons linked to special offers
We sometimes give away other coupons, for example in return for completing surveys or during “happy hours” on the site. These coupons may have specific restrictions and always have an expiry date. Just like Welcome coupons, they can only be used against the final price of an auction that you’ve won.

Redeeming your coupons

Once you've won an auction, you'll automatically be transferred to a confirmation page where you'll be able to enter your coupon code. Don't forget to redeem your coupon, as once you've confirmed your win you'll no longer be able to use it. Please note, that if you use a coupon with a value that exceeds the auction end price, the remaining coupon credit will expire.

What's the difference between a live auction and a future auction?

Live auctions are auctions where the countdown has started running. Future auctions are planned to start at some time in the future, so don't yet have a countdown that's running.