One of the latest penny auction websites to hit the United Kingdom is Bidyell.com
Some of the graphics used on the site are okay which probably stems from the fact that BidYell is part of T-Enterprise a Scottish Games Design & Development Company although I must say considering their forte in hindsight I am probably a little disappointed in the appearance of the website or maybe it’s just another one of those off-the-shelf penny auction websites from our friends at Sonik Technologies that we featured recently.
Regardless of appearance the website itself is very easy to navigate around and seems to have a few innovative ideas like the ‘Knockout Auction’ which seems like a great idea although I personally being a lightweight boxer would not want to find myself up against a Super Heavyweight with his massive arsenal of bids if you get my drift.
The website is relatively new so it is hard to gauge feedback although BidYell does have a forum which attracts transparency and gets the big thumbs up from us. There were a few negative comments in the forum about shipping times but hey I am sure that will be sorted in due course.
On to the technical aspects of the website. I discovered that the website is quite slow and counters are not smooth enough. There is a very good reason for this in that every second the website sends a request of about 20 – 30 KB to its server which updates the clock counter and other stuff on website. The size of request is way too big if you compare it with other websites like Swoopo (1KB), Madbid(1-2 KB), Redbread (1-2 KB). so you could say that this websites bandwidth requirements are 15 – 30 times greater compared to other websites. This website sends data of about 2-3 MB per minute which is HUGE
Has anyone tried this website in FireFox? I tried it on 2-3 different computers and sometimes the website did strange things in Firefox. If anyone else has experienced problems in Firefox we would love to hear from you. The website also has a few JavaScript errors which can affect bidding. Please check the screenshot below.
December 18th, 2009 at 4:49 pm
Great post..Keep them coming
Thanks for sharing.
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January 11th, 2010 at 2:36 pm
I have tried this website for myself and there are close to no faults and the customer service is excelllent. Great review
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February 24th, 2010 at 3:33 pm
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April 4th, 2010 at 10:36 am
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April 4th, 2010 at 12:44 pm
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April 6th, 2010 at 10:19 am
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April 23rd, 2010 at 7:26 pm
I’m usually the first to defend penny auction sites like swoopo and bidfire, but this one takes the cake. Like others said before, only certain bidders win, except when the bid goes above a certain amount. I got frustrated and set my bid butler to use all my bids in one sweep. Surprise, I lost to one of their shill bots. Notice that their bots don’t bid against each other – a dead giveaway.
I left for about 2 months, then returned to check it out. The same bots win all the auctions at ridiculously low prices. If a real bidder tries their luck, the bots take over and force the bids up. Doesn’t really matter if someone wins or not, they still get the money from the bids.
They got me for 50 quid, and won’t get any more. Lesson learned. I’ll stick with the legit sites, at least you have a chance there.
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May 17th, 2010 at 12:48 pm
Sorry amarjeet but your wrong as i was 6th april,since then i have won many things from them eg wifi capable blueray disc player,4xbox360 games which i could never have afforded to buy and many other items.so i apoligise to them and say sorry try them out everyone ask for thomas 10 free bids good luck.
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May 17th, 2010 at 12:58 pm
wilma says sorry bidyell.com is a smashing site graet to play won loads of items i could never afford to buy.give it a try ask for thomas when you phone 0141 354 9911 10 free bids.
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May 17th, 2010 at 1:40 pm
Firstly Amarjeet is still bidding on our website. He has won multiple items around thirty items since this post. His motives for writing this post are bemusing at the best. He is bidding today.
Walnut1960 and Wilma are active bidders who visit bidyell every day and basically win at least one item daily.
Clutch I am extremely sorry you feel this way. We have no control over who bids against you. Yes we have members who have won many hundreds of items some very cheaply. At times they have imposed themselves by paying more than the actual worth of the item.
The members who do not bid against each other are the members who have fought each other in the past in different action website to bidyell and have decided to live in harmony. This could be quite easily verified. Can you post user name which concern you or alternatively you can contact me directly.
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May 18th, 2010 at 2:08 pm
First off I am not a bot and used to think that some of other bidders were because I wondered why the hell would they keep throwing their bids at me when they knew I would win at almost any cost.
Secondly I still see all of you bidders who complained out there winning items on bidyell
Thirdly if you think you should win because you wait till someone has thrown 500 bids on something then come in and put 2 or 3 and we should just let you walk away your crazy. I’ve seen your bidding strategies.
I can only win three now. So everybody has a chance to get something. If you choose to bid against me because you don’t like me thats your right but your gonna spend some bids. Don’t come on the board calling me a bot. And don’t say I walk away with everything cheap thats far from the truth.
Now clutch let me suggest that next time you “set all your bids on an item” you don’t do it against one of the power bidders.
Now as far as us not bidding against each other..I also see people that don’t seem to bid against each other and for one reason or another I’m sure its because of past experiences..
Mine are as follows. I’m not crazy. I’ve already fought huge battles with those bidders and since they leave me alone now I leave them alone. Why get into a battle with someone you know isn’t gonna back down if you don’t have to.
Another interesting item is you (Ameerjeet, Walnut) say the same people win over and over. Yet your lists of names are different and some of the names you have on there I haven’t seen for weeks yet I see yours (Walnut) everyday.
My suggestion to anyone new going on any site. Watch the board before you jump in. Find out who your power bidders are and slowly test the waters. I’ve seen several new people come on bidyell recently who seem to be doing just fine. They just didn’t try to win the space shuttle their first time out.
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August 21st, 2010 at 2:07 pm
Hi to all. Firstly I just thought I may add my pennies worth to the conversation to offer an opinion from someone whom is not defending themselves against allegations or responding to their financial loss.
I have been a member of Bid Yell for over a year now. I am certainly no power bidder as many others can tell you or see for yourself on the site (poor as a church mouse) but have still won a number of lesser value items.
As for the above mentioned names including BIDCLOSED, RANSOMCE, CLEMBOWSKI, P.P, YOUWONTWIN4, and others they are recognised power bidders whom have at some time bid against each other and other power bidders to extraordinary amounts. However to a new comer watching the auction when these names are bidding may well think bots are involved, which of course is not the case. When bid yell forum was up and running before you would have seen their names and their posts regarding their competiveness and their humour with each other, which formed competitive friendships. I t is a pity the forum is no longer available as it did help to show the human side of a person rather than just the name.
As mentioned I am not a power bidder and have won a good number of items as the real power bidder normally leave the smaller bidder alone and are normally always the first to bid on the item so their name are fully evident for all to see and it’s to the individual if they want to submit a challenge or not.
A number of persons who have posted in relation to their disappointments pertaining to Bidyell are still active members. Hope this helps a little to those considering the site and to the already established members whom were wrongly mentioned.
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January 12th, 2011 at 9:01 pm
I won once when I was new. But I never receive my item. It’s almost a month now since I paid. Not sure if this is a good site until I receive I will complaint.
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