Well I was glad that she contacted me. She wanted a Penny Auction site like Quibids.com, where there is a time limit and micro bids, to sell an abundance of car-related products.
Some deep Google searching lead me to PHPPennyAuction, and immediately was stunned, relieved, and excited at the same time.
PHPPennyAuction's's website is so slick, a huge credit to their developer capability. If your product website looks like it was made in 1990, what will your product look like?
Enough of the cheese, PHPPennyAuction is serious business. This monster is packed full of features, many of which its competitors charge thousands for, and there are too many to list!. Here are a few of the ones that stand out:
- 9 Auction Formats
- Embedded Newsletter Application
- Address Book Importer for users to invite their friends
- Buy It Now Module
- SMS Text Bidding!
- Multi Currency Support
- 10 Different Languages
- Coupons Module
- Switch/Design Templates Customization System
- Stats & Analytics Integration
- Auto-Relist items
- Full Member Area
- Coupon System
- Micromanage Auctions
- Full SEO Optimization
- 9 Different Payment Gateways
- Auto-Installation Program
- Lifetime Support
- Optional Hosting / Installation / Customization options, no coding needed!
- Only $749 starting package! Starting package includes almost all the features, they aren't stingy!
The list goes on! Now, the real important question comes to picky programmers like myself. I want customization, I need that code readable and not encrypted. I have questions, how was this application built? What technologies does it use? If a client comes to me and asks me to customize PHPPennyAuction for them, will I turn 180 degrees and run away?
Check this out:
PHPPennyAuction was built on open-end technology. The only encrypted files are their license files. All backend code not having to do with licensing is open, allowing you complete inhibited freedom.
Even more surprising PHPPennyAuction is built off Wordpress CMS technology as their base CMS system. Wordpress is quite possibly the greatest Content-Management-System in the world. Note their CMS Interface is even simpler than Wordpress, and is slicker than their website.
PHPPennyAuction was also developed with cakePHP, a proven reliable tool endorsed and used by big companies like IBM.
In case that wasn't enough, quite possibly the most tech-savvy-friendly feature is a testing/autobid tool. How many web applications out there actually have testing tools to make sure your site is running right? That's incredible, and a huge tip of the hat to the developers for including it.
The only negatives I found with this are the inability to set custom increment levels when someone bids on a product. Say if you are both auctioning Cars & Car accessories, you want the increment for the cars to be $50, and the car accessories to be $0.50. That is something you would need a programmer to custom in yourself. Luckily this is open-source.
Now, onto the important stuff. How does this piece of auction software actually run in the real world? Below are some excellent, very attractive, and active sites completely running off PHPPennyAuction
- http://www.sharepal.com, a very active DVD & Blu-Ray auction house (check out all the features)
- http://www.trendypenny.com, a designer label auction site (notice the design difference)
- http://www.pinotte.ca, a canadian penny auction site, on various items. Demonstrating the ease of language transition
You may be wondering what kind of profit websites like these are making. The answer is ludicrous. Take this example of my own PHPPennyAuction site I'm currently working on:
- My auction: Gibson SG Special Satin Ebony Electric Guitar - Retail Price: $799
- Average selling price on my penny auction-style website: $200
- $200.00 means (at 1c per bid) - 20,000 bids placed
- Minus costs, 50% profit level, 50 cents per bid
- That's around $2,000 - $5,000 gross per product
Conclusion:
PHPPennyAuction may be the fastest way to get a money-making penny auction system up and running on your website. And you don't even need a coder or programmer like myself, the Auto-Install sets everything up for you, and even if you don't like the templates included - they will create one especially for you with certain packages.
I highly recommend visiting their website at www.phpPennyAuction.com if you are even thinking a LITTLE bit about starting an online auction business website. At $745, it is cheaper than other solutions of extremely lower quality, and that makes it a very great financial opportunity.
Usability: 10/10
Support : 10/10
Customizability: 10/10
Ease of use: 10/10
User Reviews
Well done guys!!!! Rating: 5 - ExcellentReviewed by on Dec 2nd, 2010
I just wrote this review to say great work with the software guys it's awesome and I love it!!!! Just waiting on some cutomization and I should be good to go! Thanks again, Terry
Would definitely recommend this product Rating: 5 - Excellent
Reviewed by on Nov 18th, 2010
An excellent product packed with many features and good value for money. You can see that these guys take their work and reputation seriously. Their support is top-notch and the team is very professional and polite. I will probably buy more from these guys.
Wonderfull! Rating: 4 - Very Good
Reviewed by on Nov 11th, 2010
I buy the PHPPennyauction script to make my auction website myfunbids and i find it very impressing.My favourite feature is the reverse auctions ability.I so far have 45regular customers and the site is growing.I have only 1 disvantage and that is because the script is possible a little expensive i payed 749USD
Powerful software that's extremely customizable Rating: 5 - Excellent
Reviewed by on Sep 8th, 2010
I use the Penny Auction PHP Script in line with my online store to auction a wide range of consumer electronics and gadgets ranging from mp3 devices to women's epilators. Since I started auctioning products about four months ago, the penny auction aspect has become increasingly popular by the week. There is still quite a way to go before I can match the sales of my store but I believe this is definitely attainable. One of the aspects I like most is the profit margin as it is quite substantial. The only qualm I do have with the software is that does not come with many languages installed, but it was fairly easy to overcome this I just had to translate a few files. Overall some good software and I would recommend it to anyone who wishes to modernise their business.
