A very common question (and complaint) we get is:
Why do you all have “Hidden Bid” auctions? Why don’t you just show us the current bid price?
We really wish we could just show you the price, as we know you (our customers) do not like it. I was not happy about developing “hidden bid” auctions because I knew we were going to get complaints about it. However, we do not have a choice, because this is the only way our suppliers will allow us to auction these outstanding products at such low prices on our site.
We only use “hidden bid” auctions on products that have very specific restrictions from our suppliers to NOT show the current price.
Why, you ask? Because most of the hidden bid auctions are for premium products
that we are selling for less (usually WAY less) than the supplier’s minimum price. You are going to get a great deal on these items because we always beat our competitors “guaranteed lowest price“. The suppliers do not allow anyone else to sell it at the price we do!
The current bid price has to be “hidden” so that search engines do not pick up the price and so that our competitors still think they have the lowest price and do not complain to our supplier.
You’ve probably seen similar things on shopping sites, like Amazon, that say
“Click here to see the price” or “Add to cart to see price”, and the concept is similar on our site.
For our auctions, there are two easy ways you can get the current price:
- Bid a really low amount (like $1) and if you are not the winner, you’ll get a message on what the current bid price is
- Add the offer to your AuctionWatch
I recommend the second option, because if you are logged in and have an auction watch on the item, you will always see the current price.
We know the hidden bid auctions are slightly inconvenient, but we are sure the amount you will save will more than make up for it!
Gary Doughty
Chief Technology Officer
SkyAuction.com
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