Your bid, your choice! (bid tv)

Member Name: bonz

Product:	bid tv
Date:	20/04/02 (222 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: good quick service, well packed, some good quality items

Disadvantages: you don't have long to look at the product, may act on instinct and be wrong, could buy things you don't really want

After watching bid-up.tv (on channel 651 on SKY), I found it rather entertaining. It is an auction channel where there is a minimum bid needed and a certain number of the product available. As soon as there are more people bidding than the number of products, the auction begins to rise. There is usually about 5-10 mins before the hammer goes down. Bidders have to telephone the number on the screen and press in the bid they require. Calls cost 60p per minute. You can also hold on the line and bid higher if you get outbid. You will be charged for this, of course. Whilst bidding, there is some music for you to listen to, making you feel in a competetive mood. Your adrenelin really starts to get going towards the end when the camera focuses on the presenter's hand at the gavel, twisting the hammer. This makes the bidder feel as if time is running out. I have bought things from the channel and found the same item in the shops a lot dearer. I really do think that this depends on what you bid for. Recently ( I have been tuning in since January 2001) I have noticed it has declined. The prices seem to be getting higher. Whether this is because there are more bidders now I don't know, but you seemed to get lower prices when it first came out. Another thing I have recently noticed is that the presenters have come out wuth catch phrases such as 'your bid, your choice', which I translate as meaning if you want to pay over the odds for it it is your choice, so don't blame us if you find it cheaper elsewhere. One thing that puzzles me though! Why have quite a few of their presenters left to work on Auctionworld? In addition there is now a clock of 3 minutes which wasn't there when it was first established. This is to be 'fair' to viewers who have been knocked out of the auction, to give them a chance to bid-up. More like if they hold on a bit longer they can raise the price a bit more.
If I am interested in a product, I don'
;t bid straight away, since the items get repeated. I check out the real price in the high street, and see how much it goes for on a few auctions first. Then I know how much I should be bidding. I was worried about which high street they refer to when giving the estimated retail price. Since they are based in London it has to be London prices (the most expensive in the country.) Also they say they take 3 high street stores and work out the average. Well, two stores that have been mentioned on the programme are Harrods and Harvey Nichols. So are they 2 out of the 3 stores they are talking about? Anyway, providing you have your wits about you (cos some of the stuff for auction is absolute rubbish, and you can pay more than what it is worth)you can get some good bargains. You really need to research the product first though. Such products on offer are Calvin Klein sunglasses, Samsonite luggage, Viners cutlery sets, jewellery, digital cameras, and much much more.

Summary: