BigDeal.com is an entertainment auction site. This is a reasonably new genre in the shopping space, where the act of participating in an auction is as much about the thrill of the hunt as it is about winning the bid for the product. Like any other new kid on the shopping block, a number of people instantly decide BigDeal.com is a scam because they don't understand how entertainment auctions work. After having looked at how BigDeal.com auctions work, I'm inclined to say BigDeal.com is not a scam, but merely a more engaging way to shop for products online.
How does an entertainment auction work? BigDeal.com promises up to 98% off the purchase price of a product, which sounds highly appealing to almost anyone. But BigDeal.com would go out of business if they really offered 98% discounts on products, right? So you're asking yourself if you are being tricked into a scam by thinking the auction price is low.
There's no scam to BigDeal.com autions, you just need to understand how an auction works and what you are willing to do to be the winner. Unlike a tradtional auction site, like eBay, where you place bids, run up the auction price, and the bid closes when a fixed period of time runs out, BigDeal.com works a little differently. You pay for BigDeal.com bids up front in a bundle. A bid credit is used each time you place a bid.
Bidding on items in a BigDeal.com auction continues until no one bids for a round. When bids are made, a new round starts and the timer counts down to zero. As you bid on an item, you deplete your bid credits, with the result being you either win the auction and pay the final auction price for the item, while having depleted some of your bid credits. Or you lose the auction and are out the number of credits you used during the bidding process.
The accusation that BigDeal.com scams bidders seems to stem from this combination of paying for bids plus the cost of the item. But that really depends on how you look at it. Some people, enjoy entertainment auctions. The thrill of the hunt is no different than spending money on a new video game or going the movies for the night. As long as you enjoy shopping, with the bonus being a potentially amazing deal, the cost for bids is simply the price of being entertained.
If there's any risk in a site like BigDeal.com, it's for those people who are so caught up in winning that they simply have to win no matter what. For those who need to win, it's possible to get carried away with the bidding process. But like anything else, a responsible adult should be capable of taking responsibility for their own actions.
Remember, the whole concept is entertainment in the form of an auction. It just so happens you might get a Big Deal to go with your shopping experience. If you have fun and know what you're getting yourself into, there's no scam in BigDeal.com or any other entertainment auction.
