A Users Guide to Smokoo |
A Users Guide to Smokoo In order to get started with an auction you must first buy some bids. They are available in a variety packages and the cost of an individual credit is R1. During a basic auction, every bid placed results in the item price increasing between R0.01 and R10 while the countdown timer is extended by a minimum of 10 and a maximum of 20 seconds in the instance of multiple bids in the final seconds. Auction Categories All Smokoo auctions, excluding bid-package auctions, are categorised into three categories to ensure fairness to auction participants. Customers, who win the maximum number of auctions within a category in 30 days, will automatically be restricted from participating in further upcoming auctions, in that category, for 30 days after the most recent win. The auction category is denoted by a chalice/ trophy of corresponding colour in the auction information. The limits for auction wins are: Gold - 1 Auctions Types of Auction Understanding how the bidding works and following certain strategies can help you to win more auctions. These strategies will vary according to the type of auction you are competing in. Smokoo offers bidder the choice of FOUR types of auction as follows: · Newbies Auction · All in Auctions · Fast and Furious Auctions · 100% OFF Auctions The AutoBidder This is very useful to bidders who may need to take a break during an auction but don’t wish to forfeit the chance of winning. The AutoBidder allows a bidder to set the lowest and highest price points between which automatic bids should operate and the number of bids he or she is willing to invest. The bidder may then depart and the AutoBidder will just carry out his or her instructions. There are certain rules governing the use of the AutoBidder. · You must load at least two bids · You may only use one AutoBidder at a time on separate auctions · The highest price point must be at least 2 bids more than the current item price · You may load no more than 100.000 bids · You can cancel your AutoBidder at any time and unused bids will be returned to your account Countdown Timers The start and finish of each auction is controlled by a countdown timer. During auctions, the remaining countdown time may be increased slightly when someone bids. All auctions have an average 24 hour countdown and new bids only begin to affect it once the 2 minute mark is reached. Below this point, each bid will add between 1 and 10 seconds but the time remaining will never again exceed 2 minutes. These small extensions of the countdown provide time for more bids. Some Basic Bidding Strategies Practice on smaller Items first: Get you practice bidding for small ticket items to begin with. Obviously the big ticket items such as flat screen TVs attract a lot of bidders and you will need more skill to win in these auctions. Cheaper items draw fewer bidders and provide an excellent opportunity to get the hang of things. Look out for a newbies auction: These are strictly for bidders who have never won before and will provide you with a good opportunity to make you first winning bid. The confidence you gain will help you graduate to bigger things. There’s no rush: If you are not too confident, take time out to go through all of the information and tutorials on the site and then watch some actual auctions in progress. You will soon begin to see how others do it. Even when you see an item you want to bid for, take a while to watch the action. Check out the bidders and how much they’re bidding. If your previous studies have taught you how much the item normally fetches you should be able to judge the best time to join in. Leave yourself enough time: If you have other things to do, it is probably not a good time to start bidding, Although many auctions end quite quickly some can go on for a much longer period. If you are serious about winning an item rather ensure that you have enough free time to go the distance. One item at a time: You may be tempted by all of the great items on offer but they will all become available again at some stage so don’t be tempted to bid on several items at once. Not only can the practice cause confusion, it’s also a good way to run out of bids when you most need them. Check who is bidding: The auction page will show you details of the last 10 bids placed. From this you can get a good idea of who is bidding, how often they bid and whether they seem to be following any sort of strategy. If there are a lot of recent bidders it may be better to look for something less competitive. Don’t rely on the latest bids alone, it’s important to see how active the bidders actually are. You should also check to see if bids are being placed by the BidButler or Single Bids. Try to bid as late as you can: Everyone wants a bargain and some of the bidders that have been battling it out for an hour or so could be running short of bids and while there’s an hour to spare, there’s plenty of time for them to buy more. That’s precisely why you should try to leave you bid for the last 10 seconds. That should still be enough to upload and store your bid to our system. Try not to leave your bid too late as a slow or busy connection at your end could mean internet lag may mean your bid is not uploaded in time to beat the countdown. Make Use of the AutoBidder: You will notice that auctions are often won by bidders using the AutoBidder. On occasions you may even see two or more Autobidders competing. The AutoBidder is there to support you. It will only perform the instructions you give it. The AutoBidder will bid according to a preset pattern and, if you are placing manual bids, this gives you the opportunity to learn its strategy and modify you bids accordingly. The AutoBidder can work for you also. Timing its use just right can be an effective way to frighten other bidders away. Try to avoid setting your upper bid limit to a round number as other bidders tend to expect this and can figure out when your last bid has been placed. Note: In our “fast and furious” auctions the AutoBidder function is inactive, so it’s live action all the way! Set your price limit and stick to it: If you have ever been to a traditional auction you will know that it is easy to get caught up in the “auction fever” and spend more than you intended to. Remember, each bid is costing you R5 and you will still need to add the item price and delivery charges. Decide what the item is worth to you and make that your limit. If you don’t win the item, you can still buy it at the advertised retail price less the value of the bids you used. Be sure not to run out of bids: If you know that you risk running out of bids, be sure to replenish them before you enter an auction. You could lose out while you are busy topping up you bids in mid-action. Consider buying the one of the larger bid packages to be on the safe side. Keep Focussed: Try to avoid distractions during an auction. It is probably a good idea to turn off the radio and exit your favourite PC game. While you are taking your eyes of the bidding, somebody else could grab that flat-screen TV. Earn yourself some free bids: There are several ways to do this. You could refer a friend and collect some free bids when they buy their first bid package. Look out for our specials too. Free bids come in handy when you have exceeded you planned limit but believe you could still win with just another bid or two. Optimize your PC’s performance: If your PC is not operating at its best, it could result in internet lag and loss of late bids so switch off all those functions that drain your computer’s memory and processing power. These include graphics programmes, games, multimedia programmes such as DVD players and any other programme that may be competing with your browser for your internet connection. Strategies for the More Experienced Be a Sniper: Bidding at the last minute has long been known as sniping but in a Smokoo auction, almost all bids are placed in the last 20 seconds so sniping takes on a new meaning. In these circumstances it really means holding back as long as you dare until you are certain that the remaining bidders are approaching their limits. Starting to bid this late means you will use fewer bids and this offsets the fact that the item price may be a little higher than earlier. Show some aggression: You will need confidence to pull this off effectively as it does carry an element of risk. The idea is to appear as if you have bids to spare and are determined to win. Chose an auction with few bidders and no AutoBidders, then counter each bid immediately without waiting until the last few seconds. This will often frighten off the competition quite quickly but it could also spark a fight to the finish so there are no guarantees. Sniff out your opposition with the Autobidder: You want to avoid battling against another AutoBidder if possible as you will simply exhaust your bids and lose ground. It is better to “test the water” by loading a few bids within a limited price range. If you are tackled by another AutoBidder, let your bids run out and leave it to a manual bidder to do battle while you watch. When you see the AutoBidder is no longer active you can revert to sniping. If you initial test picks up no competing AutoBidder, then you can go ahead and place your maximum bets in an attempt to scare off any new bidders. Please be aware that the advice given above, although based upon actual experience of pay-to-bid auctions gathered over a considerable period, Smokoo.co.za wishes to stress that following this advice neither offers nor implies any guarantee of success.
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