A listing of penny auction sites by country gives you an opportunity to choose sites that can ship items to you more quickly and for a lower cost. For example, suppose you live in the U.S., and are the winning bidder in an auction for a large screen HDTV. Shipping the item within the U.S. (or from Canada) is likely to take less time and cost less than doing so overseas.
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We also understand that a lot of people are simply more comfortable participating at penny auction sites that are headquartered in their country. There are hundreds of places to bid for items, and many of them are untrustworthy. Sites that are closer to home offer a sense of comfort. With this in mind, we’ve categorized penny auctions by country, and specifically, by those located in the USA, UK, Canada, and Europe.
Penny Auction Sites By Country
To begin, one of our goals in creating this site has been to build a one-stop resource for those who are interested in getting started with penny auctions. It matters little where they live. Penny auctions work very similarly, regardless of whether they are located in the U.S., Germany, or England.
We’ve created tutorials addressing penny auction basics as well as guides that explain bidding strategies – both general and for specific sites. We have also categorized sites that are particularly good for bidding on specific types of products (e.g. gold, Apple iPads, sporting goods, etc.).
Another goal has been to continuously review penny auction sites to uncover those that are reliable and offer a good bidding experience. Thus, you’ll find several detailed penny auction reviews of the best places at which to bid. With a couple exceptions (which we’ll note along the way), our listing of penny auction sites by country includes the industry’s cream of the crop. We’ll start in the U.S.
USA Penny Auctions
The following sites are headquartered in the U.S., but also cater to bidders in other countries.
Happy Bid Day – Centered in Florida, HappyBidDay is one of our current favorites for a number of reasons. They are much smaller than the industry titans, so there are fewer people competing for the items on auction. They maintain a reasonably broad range of products given their size, and ship more quickly than their bigger competitors. We’ve also watched Happy Bid Day become one of the best penny auctions for gold and silver.
Quibids – Located in Oklahoma, Quibids is the largest penny auction site online. They have an enormous number of people bidding for items each day, which helps to ensure the site’s legitimacy. They also have one of the most diverse selections of product categories we’ve seen. This is due mainly to their size and popularity.
BidRivals – Hailing from New York, BidRivals is known for holding worldwide auctions, and offering items from a wide range of product categories. If you’re new to penny auctions, you’ll enjoy their “New Bidder Only” auctions. One drawback about Bid Rivals is that they often ship items slowly… As of October 24, 2011 they’ve also stopped allowing US players to participate in auctions however are still targetting their core market in Australia and Europe.
BidCactus – With headquarters in Connecticut, BidCactus is a medium-to-large penny auction site. Three noteworthy items: First, they have proven to be a great resource for HDTV penny auctions. Second, they extend exciting promotions to new bidders. Third, they have the distinction of being audited by Ernst & Young, one of the most reputable accounting firms in the world.
SkoreIt – Located in Wisconsin, Skoreit.com has an engaging interface, good bidding tools, and fast shipping. We’ve also noticed that their customer support is extremely responsive.
Nail Bidder – From New York, NailBidder hosts less action than the larger auction sites. However, the people who frequent the site tend to be competitive and knowledgeable about bidding strategies. The site is trustworthy, but can be overwhelming for new bidders.
UK Penny Auctions
We’ve found very few UK penny auction sites that meet our review criteria. This is not to suggest the field is empty, but only that we have yet to review more than one. Other UK penny auctions we’ve reviewed have not warranted inclusion on this list.
Quick 2 Bid – Headquartered in London, Quick2Bid maintains a reasonably large variety of items. You’ll find gaming consoles, concert tickets, gift cards, and gadgets. They also give a portion of their revenue to charity, one of the few online penny auctions to add charity into their business plan.
Canada Penny Auction Sites
There are several Canadian penny auction sites. Three have met our review criteria. As we take a closer look at others down the road, we may add them to the following list.
Beezid – Located in Westmount, Quebec, Beezid is a very large penny auction site that hosts auctions for a vast array of items. You’ll find everything from iPads and GPS systems to kitchen sets and gaming consoles. One particularly noteworthy item: Beezid makes it possible to use advanced bidding tactics while competing for items. See our “Beezid strategies” page for more details.
PennyAuction.ca – Catering primarily to Canadians and those who live in the U.S., PennyAuction.ca is relatively new to the penny auction industry. The variety of items they place on auction leaves something to be desired since a large portion are gift cards and Paypal transfers. However, they are legitimate, and their customer support is responsive.
Space Antiques – Space Antiques is a small penny auction site hailing from Montreal, Quebec. Their selection of items is reasonably good, considering their size and short time in the industry. They also host several types of auctions, including “Revenge Auctions,” “Newbie Auctions,” and “Charity Auctions.”
European Penny Auctions
Up to this point, we haven’t stumbled across many EU penny auction sites that we feel comfortable placing on our list. However, we’ve made one exception to illustrate an important point:
Swoopo – Swoopo died in early 2011. They filed for bankruptcy in Germany. We had high hopes for this site since they were one of the first to appear on the scene (back in 2008). They had millions of dollars in funding, but seemed to grow so quickly that they imploded.
The point worth making is that even the largest, most trustworthy penny auction sites can disappear. This is one of the reasons we continue to reevaluate the sites on our lists periodically.
If you have experience with any of the companies listed above, we encourage you to visit our review page for the site (where available), and leave your comments. Your insight will help others find the best penny auctions while avoiding the potential catastrophes.
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