CigarSniper Beta is open to all this weekend

[Jefft72]

Saw it this morning. I am checking it out now.

http://www.prlog.org/11703241-cigar-...r-smokers.html

[themoneycollector]

So this beta is just for testing right? Not really a purchase?

I will play for fun, but I don't like the format of these auctions. It's a sucker bet if you ask me.

[chaase321]

Yeah it is just for testing...you won't be obligated to purchase (at least that is my understanding, which seems pretty accurate to the way it was explained).

Also, I have already had bugs with it where it keeps logging me out and asking me to sign up again. It became a pain so I stopped for a while...probably get back on tonight to try some more.

[weak_link]

Looks like the beezid model?

[brigey57]

Originally Posted by weak_link

Looks like the beezid model?

..Don't take a suckers bet...

[kelmac07]

Looked at it earlier...could not get past the "bullet sounds" as it annoyed me to no end.

[big a]

Originally Posted by kelmac07

Looked at it earlier...could not get past the "bullet sounds" as it annoyed me to no end.

+1 on that, than i saw where you could turn them off. My wallet does not need any other sites to beat it up so I'll be staying away from this one for now.

[deadrise]

Originally Posted by kelmac07

Looked at it earlier...could not get past the "bullet sounds" as it annoyed me to no end.

+2 the pop up was there and I could not turn off the sounds and watch the video so I said f it I will wait to see how it is later maybe

[CigarSquid]

Originally Posted by kelmac07

Looked at it earlier...could not get past the "bullet sounds" as it annoyed me to no end.

+3

[themoneycollector]

I don't see there being any "deals"

There was a box of VSG's that I wasted all 250 bids on. Of course it's a beta so everyone was just clicking, but I started to think about it.

When I finished my 250 bids, it was at $13.xx.

At 60cents per bid, FSS has made 1300*.06 = $780 in bids + what the box actually sells for. As a non-winning bidder, I spent 250*.6 = $150 to not get anything.

In the end, there's 1 happy person and tons and tons of unhappy people. In this case there's over 1299 unhappy people.

Morally, these penny auctions should be illegal. I feel sorry for the CS reps who are going to be getting complaints after spending bits here and there and never having anything to show for it.

[sevans105]

Originally Posted by themoneycollector

I don't see there being any "deals"

There was a box of VSG's that I wasted all 250 bids on. Of course it's a beta so everyone was just clicking, but I started to think about it.

When I finished my 250 bids, it was at $13.xx.

At 60cents per bid, FSS has made 1300*.06 = $780 in bids + what the box actually sells for. As a non-winning bidder, I spent 250*.6 = $150 to not get anything.

In the end, there's 1 happy person and tons and tons of unhappy people. In this case there's over 1299 unhappy people.

Morally, these penny auctions should be illegal. I feel sorry for the CS reps who are going to be getting complaints after spending bits here and there and never having anything to show for it.

Yeah, penny auctions are HUGELY profitable. Especially the other ones...they usually don't even have the actual merch. They just drop ship to the "winner". You'll often see iPads going for $100 which means that the company recieved $6000 for the bids, plus the $100 winning bid. $6100 for a $600 iPad is a VERY hefty profit margin.

[Subvet642]

Originally Posted by themoneycollector

...At 60cents per bid, FSS has made 1300*.06 = $780 in bids + what the box actually sells for. As a non-winning bidder, I spent 250*.6 = $150 to not get anything...

Wow, they're selling theoretical pennies for real money; 60 actual cents each!

[Bageland2000]

+1 for these types of sites being illegal... Hopefully it's only a matter of time. They're TOTAL scams. Pure and simple scams.

[sevans105]

You need to consider the "penny auctions" to be a gambling site...which it is. Similar to slot machines. Do I play slots/poker/blackjack? Yes I do. Do I do it expecting to win anything? NO. If you view it as entertainment that may pay out, then its fine. If you view it as a way to actually buy something, you will always lose.

[Bill86]

I don't know how they got my email but I received an email from this place. I just tossed it in the trash.

By the way, the concept of this sucks.

[d'am]

Beezid gets hammered by computer programs trying to bid in the last few milliseconds before an auction closes. Beezid claims that they try to find and ban these users, but a clever programmer could make it very tough for them. And it's actually in the auction house's interest to let people game the system like this, as long as they can find suckers to continue to place meaningless bids.

So I'd be real careful before buying any cigarsniper bids. The "open beta" weekend provides a testing ground for anyone who wants to cheat, so you could very well be competing against computer programs when the site goes live.

[cmitch]

Definitely a scam. 1.00 in bids is 100 bids = 60.00. so, if an item is up to 10.00, that's $600 they made!

[andromalius]

Originally Posted by Bill86

I don't know how they got my email but I received an email from this place. I just tossed it in the trash.

+1

I'm not sure what cigar website sold my email address to these people, but I wasn't too happy about it, and deleted the message.

[bobarian]

Originally Posted by Bill86

I don't know how they got my email but I received an email from this place. I just tossed it in the trash.

By the way, the concept of this sucks.

Not too difficult to figure out. The original press release was done by Famous. Just another marketing tool.

[Cigahs]

There seems to be some confusion as to our motives and reasoning behind creating a site like CigarSniper.com. Now, we know there are penny auction sites out there whose sole purpose is to separate your hard earned money from your wallet without any other benefit than being somewhat entertained. This is not the case with Cigar Sniper.

We've tried to change the concept behind a penny auction to offer a tangible benefit to any one who decides to participate. I'm sure that the people who purchase from Famous on a regular basis understand that our everyday pricing offers a pretty good value, otherwise we probably wouldn't be in business for over 70 years. On Cigar Sniper we are offering the same pricing to anyone who uses a bid they paid for on any auction.

Let's say you normally go to Famous to buy a particular 5 pack that cost's you $30. It would be worthwhile for you to check and see if there is an auction running on that 5 pack at Sniper. If you spent $30 for 50 bids you have 50 opportunities during the course of that auction to receive that product at a discounted price. Actually, 60 chances because we give you 10 free promo bids with the $30 purchase.

If you use those 50 bids on that auction, you have reached the point where you have already paid for that product. All you need to do is input your shipping info through the Buy Now function and we send it to you. Now you may ask, how come I can't use "Free" bids towards the purchase price? Well they were Free and we'd quickly be under water if we let people purchase something for nothing, now wouldn't we?

Anyway, we created the BUY NOW function on this site so that no matter how many paid bids you use on an auction you still have the opportunity to pay the difference towards our everyday low price (same as Famous) and lose nothing. If you decide to purchase the product we'll also give you all of the free bids you used on that item to continue entertaining yourself on another auction.

Now we know this system isn't perfect. Different people are willing to take different levels of risk depending upon the reward. If you use 5 bids on a $200+ box of Ashton chances are that you won't want to cough up the rest for the box, but as adults we all decide whether or not to take that risk. If you wanted to purchase that box to begin with then you would have over 350 opportunities during the course of the auction to get it at a lower cost than you would have. If you didn't win using those 350 bids then you'd be getting it for what you originally expected to pay.

Everyday, people download video games on their iPhones, go to Disney World, or Vegas and pay to be entertained largely with nothing tangible to show for it. What you lose in Vegas, stays in Vegas.

Now we know this site may not appeal to everyone's tastes, but if you found that your experience was enjoyable then why would you not spend the same amount of money as you would at Famous for that product you wanted and be entertained for free?