Some of you might have heard of tatarah in Singapore, where lowest unique bid wins an auction. I have previously encountered this type of auction before: selling properties in Europe. It was quite tempting at that time because you can win a house for a couple of bucks. But I decided not to bid because the website didn't look legitimate and I am worried that my credit card details would be stolen. Wait! At that time I was still in secondary school. So I guess I didn't have any credit card at all.
The ideas is ingenious. You bid low, but nobody must bid the same as you. Truth is, winning in this type of auction is based on luck. And I would equal bidding the auction as betting. Why? Because when you place a bid, you are required to pay processing fee ranging from $1 to $200 (depending on what items you are bidding on, the more expensive the item the higher the fee). So if you happened not to win the auction, then you forfeit the processing fee. Sounds like gambling isn't it? And I wonder why the government doesn't regulate the business.
A success or a failure
Recently tatarah changed its bidding system and instead of lowest unique bid wins, single highest bid wins. This indicates that lowest unique bid might not be as profitable as the owners thought. When the number of bidders is small, the website makes little money or maybe a loss when an auction is closed. This is because the total processing fees earned in an auction do not cover the item cost. And considering the million-dollars marketing campaign the website did months back, they certainly have to move to highest unique bid.
Many users then complain that the highest unique bid system is not as interesting as the lowest one. And I personally agree. Highest unique bid is quite similiar to buying from normal auction like ebay, but in this case buyers have to pay the processing fee. Doesn't look very tempting, does it? Still, some people can get bargains when there are little bidders.
Whether tatarah becomes a success is difficult to tell. There will be people frustrated spending $30 bidding in 5 auctions only not to win any. There are also people who continually bid because they know there will be other frustrated people who simply cease participating in tatarah and hence, the lesser bidders mean the higher the chance of getting products at bargain price.
Conclusion
Personally I would stay away from tatarah because you are risking your money when you bid. The most recent auction I saw was the 'Mount Faber Valentine Dining' worth $316 but the maximum allowed bid is $50. The last received bid is $48.48. You can potentially get about $270 discount. But you may potentially don't. So it's more like gambling.
