Purses for a Penny! Really? REALLY?? No.
BY Editweapon @ October 7, 2009
There I was, minding my own business on woot.com and I saw a banner ad for PennyPurses.com with the caption, “Designer handbags for pennies. Really.” (paraphrased)
Even though I’m all filled up on man bags at the moment, curiosity got the best of me and I clicked through to check it out. After reading a few pages, I decided I would sign up and try it out because it just seemed too damn good to be true!
Well, in summary, it pretty much is.
Here’s the review I posted to their Facebook Fan page:
The item I’m bidding on, and will surely lose.
Comments are now open for jokes about me bidding on purses. But you have to buy a package of “100 Comment Credits” for $65 for me to publish them.
Popularity: 16% [?]
I learned my lesson the hard way about this site. It really is too good to be true. The only purses you can possibly get for “cheap” are ugly ones I wouldn’t buy anyway. I got in on an auction the other night that went all night long and in the end I used about 1000 bids ($650!) and didn’t win. I could have bought the purse for that (their MSRP was $890). I have lost a few hundred here and there on other purses on there and never won. Unless you have unlimited money to spend on a CHANCE to win a purse then you’re not going to get any deals on there, and even if you do have unlimited money you’d have to spend as much in bids to win it as the bag is worse. They must be raking in the money. You know they aren’t paying full retail price for any of these purses anyway and they regularly get 500 bids on the low auctions. The one I lost $650 on? They got about 5,600 bids on it. Bids are, at the very least .65 each and they go up to .80 each. You do the math.
I hate these total crooks!!! How do they sleep at night? Thank you guys for reporting them!! I was looking into bidding. I obviously would have lost my ass.
These are online gambling sites, you’re essentially buying for pennies against bots for a prize. if you factor how many times people are bidding every second.
These companies are raking $1000’s of dollars.
This is not really an auction, you’re just throwing money on the table until the other person gets tired, or dies at their desktop. All those bids add up and to add insult to injury you still get to buy the product at the so called reduced price.
Stay away.
Wow, thanks for the info. I likewise saw a similar banner ad for a “stupid low” price on something. I clicked thru not because I was looking for a purse, but to figure it out. I didn’t dig this deep, so I’m glad you did.
Thanks,
@AcmePhoto
It’s great if you like the fun of gambling, I mean look at las vegas. People lose all the time (if more won than lost vegas would go broke). Yet the strip is the most valuable place on earth. People go there to lose money and have a good time. Penny purses is a scam? Hardly. It is entertainment! If you want a purse go buy one at Neiman Marcus. If you want a “steal” of a “deal” then look online and buyer beware (caveat emptor). Everybody wants a deal to brag about, that is all this site is doing. Giving bored women something to brag about…
In Vegas, you know what you’re up against. The better casinos even have brochures explaining the rules of the games & the odds upon request. This purse scam is misleading for a reason. It’s a scam!!! Not gambling.
Please check out Penny Auction Watch and discuss your experiences with Penny Purses under our penny purses posts as well as in the forum http://www.pennyauctionwatch.com
http://www.pennyauctionforum.com
Thank you!
I won’t bid on their site again either, I had the very same bid time as the winner yet they selected the other person to win the purse????? How is that fair? I’ve lots way too much and it seems odd that the same people do all the winning.
Question for you all – really 2 questions. First of all, did any of you that were jilted contact Penny Purses to either get your bids added back to your account or more preferably a refund from your forfeited bids due to their “glitches” in the system?
Second question – in the cases where it was an infair ending to an auction, did ou notice if it was a bidder using future bids that may have won against the single bidders?
Has anyone tried to open a resolution dispute through Paypal to get their money back – that is my next step pending the response I receive from Penny Purses as to why twice I lost out when it appears to be their system causing me to lose.
I just signed up because someone e-mailed me how great the site is. I don’t get it , there are 4 ugly purses on auction. I also don’t understand how one bidder lost $650 but never won a single purse. When I go to regular auctions, I only pay for what I won. Why do people love this site?
I cannot speak for Penny Purses, but I can state with absolute certainty that my site, http://www.dime-divas.com, is not a scam. It is not gambling. We auction off designer purses too, but our bidders are rewarded with spafinder.com gift cards just for bidding. So, even those who don’t win the product can still win something! Take a look. I think you will like what you see!
Kindest,
Traci
We would love to hear about your experiences with PennyPurses.com and all other similar penny auction sites on Penny Auction Watch, we offerpenny auction news, reviews, directory and discussion board. Thanks!
Traci, your site is basically a replica of pennypurses.com, plus some gift card spiffs. Wow, how generous of you.
But your site is still, with absolute certainty, a rip-off for the 99.9% of users who bid and never win because bidding costs money! Duh!!!!
People of Earth, a deal that is too good to be true, IS TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE!
Thanks Patrick. You truly opened my eyes to this scam.
Hell yeah penny purses rocks!!!!!!Purses for Pennies Perfect, I Love This Blog keep It up, And Comment More on Whats Going On here
Traci Eskildsen of Dime-Divas (post above), how can you say you “can’t speak for Penny Purses” when you yourself have won a bag from the website? (http://www.pennypurses.com/auctions/view/295)
And also we happily refunded you a bid package purchase because your husband was angry with you?
James:
I am sorry. I never meant to imply that Penny Purses did not operate with integrity. I sincerely hope that anyone who read my post did not take it as such. I was merely indicating that I was not a representative of PP. You guys run a fabulous site, operate with absolute integrity, and are in no way a scam. Please accept my apologies. If I could edit away that portion of my post, I would.
Traci
Penny Purses is NOT a scam. I have won a few purses on there. It IS a form of gambling…(my opinion) but did you really think that the web-host was just going to throw away money and give the purses away for a couple of bucks a piece? It is a business…duh.
Adrian, the problem with PennyPurses is that it’s deceptive. They make you think you can buy a purse for a few bucks, but that’s obviously not really what happens for 99.9 of their users who spend money bidding and don’t win the purse.
Is that the definition of a scam? I don’t know. But it sure isn’t a business model that will get lots of referrals. It’s about tricking people into playing/bidding/gambling — based on their own greed — and then screwing them out of a few bucks.
I agree – for people to come back to your website – they have to be winners. I found a site that has great reviews, they give stuff back, and everyone wins – check out http://www.myezbids.com
Actually, they use bots to steal your money. You can either suspend your payment to the company or lose it.
Oh come on guys wake up. Every business in the world has slogans that are more for marketing than anything else. Just because they say you can win purses for a dollar, doesn’t mean they have to let everybody win for a dollar. You guys are total babies, and honestly if you think that good marketing is a scam, then you are going to have a problem with most every profitable business in the world. EVERY business knows how to market their product. Wal-mart claims to have the lowest prices, well just because I find something cheaper on eBay doesn’t make wal-mart a scam haha. And to whatever idiot said that Vegas is fair and tells you the odds up front are you kidding me? Casinos are designed to trap you, keep you losing money, and keep you coming back for more. Lol!
There is really no deception involved. The concept is brilliant and rather than writing a ridiculous article about it, why don’t you think of a good idea of your own?
Of course they are out to make money. There has got to be a reason why the purses are sold so inexpensively, right? It is a business. Not everyone wins.
I guess that some people like to feel victimized – as if the company made you purchase the bids. Just use your head while you are bidding and you should have no problem winning. Bid recklessly and, yes, you will waste your money.
This is a great business model for those with an OUNCE of common sense!
@ Megan — Shame on you for letting your auction run to 1,000 bids! In retrospect, I’m sure you’re now thinking that was quite a dumb move on your part. But YOU couldn’t possibly be at fault for your own stupidity now could you? No, let’s blame the Purse Auction owners, who have laid out the terms and conditions (as required by law) for all to see prior to becoming a member of the site…
I totally agree… that is the biggest scam… but the time you pay for all those bids you can just go buy it full price… p.s. I really don’t have any proof but I think the people that are the winners win all the time because it is set up….
For any of your readers that want more info, they should have a look at http://www.bestpennyauctions.com – as they appear to give an unbiased overview of most of the popular ‘penny’ and ‘unique bid’ auctions around.
I found it an interesting read, but I have not played on any of the auctions yet
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