Introduction

 Do you know Penny Auctions? Do you know Swoopo, Madbid, Mr123, BigDeal?

 

Here is the story: A small company from Germany (Telebid, now renamed Swoopo) started a new type of auction business in 2005.... they are now in 7 countries incl. the US, Canada, UK, Australia and Korea as well as several European countries.
  

 It's not like ebay. It's different and exiting. Even more exiting for the owners since they make often three, five and sometimes even more then ten times the money that they have to paid for the products.

Some call it a "license to print money". Some think it is like lotto (but no license is required).

This has the potential to make millions...   

They offer auctions from a small catalog of products and sell and collect the payments before they have the items dropshipped. This can completely avoid the need to pre-finance or keep inventory.
 

Swoopo and BigDeal have been financed by multi-million Dollar investments from venture capital firms. Many perceive this auction model to be "the next big thing".
 

 There is also a ton of "swoopo clone" software out there. Most of it doesn't work in real life. Even when it might work initially... as soon as you have more customers and visitors the program crashes. The cheaper software doesn't scale and is not optimized for speed.

Powerful Custom Penny Auction Script

Our penny auction software is written in PHP5.0 Object-Oriented Language/AJAX and uses MySQL4.1/5.0 databases, creating an extremely scalable architecture allowing hundreds of thousands of simultaneous users. To optimize execution speed the script strictly avoids so called frameworks (like phpCake). The software is a result of a $180,000 custom project. 

General Penny Auction Features

The Penny Auctions feature a pay-per-bid format with the price increasing by a set amount. Each bid extends the auction closing time. Price increases and time extensions are fully flexible and set for each auction by the Administrator.

Related auction features implemented are: Fixed Price Auction, Percent Off Auction, Zero Cost Auction, Beginners Auctions where the Bid Agents are disabled.

Unique Magix Script Features

1. Viral Marketing Script  powerful viral system to get members to sign up friends and family. The build in multi-tier reward system (3 levels deep) is an industry first and saves you up to $9,500.00 or more per year - the cost of the premiere third party application.

   Advanced viral "Refer a friend" implementation. Members get free bids or cash for referring friends. Referrals can easily be made by uploading complete (almost unlimited) email lists for the referrer, posting social bookmarks incl. Digg, Delisio.us, Google, Reddit, Stumple Upon, sending Instant Messages or posting to social sites incl. Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, LinkedIn and dozens of others, posting to blogs including Wordpress, Blogger, Typepad, LiveJournal, MovableType, and many more...

2. Referrer Management and Payment System (supports free bids or cash as rewards, Paypal Masspay advanced via API or by using downloaded Excel data.)
3. Social Media Integration (a) Socialtwist (b) RSS to Blogs, Twitter, Facebook
4. Loyalty Reward System (when member has purchased a bid package recently)
5. Admin settable amount of bid credits used per bid (for each auction) let's you allow lower bid cost for low price items and higher amount for expensive products
   
6. Multimedia   

   Grab attention with eye-catching video. Video is implemented in the "Featured" area on the top of the home page. You can also use any multimedia incl. video, images and audio  on each product page or those that you add.
   Video emails are reportedly resulting in up to 96% higher click through rates.

7. Featured Auctions 

   show featured auctions in a large rotating field on top of the home page. Use separate custom images and define background.

8. Search Engine Optimization  

   SEO options to boost search engine rankings: Fully implemented dynamic Google Sitemap.Other functions incl. meta titles, meta keywords and meta description for the home page and each individual auction product page; image alt text for thumbnail, large product image and each of the image gallery pictures; custom page titles, header title and text.
   

9. Dropship Management System (with Vendor Management), Email Orders, Webform Orders
   
10. Cashback Option

    offer Cashback to your members and credit the cost of the bid credits they used towards either...future auction wins or as a discount when using Buy Direct.
    As a result there are only winners - and those that didn't win get Cashback. (We will teach you a method where you also win with this feature).

11. Unlimited product picture gallery with zoom
12. Custom sidebar modules for any content you choose (even set different before and after user login). Use it for example for Special promotions, surveys, item suggestion requests, contests...
    

13. Advanced Customer Relationship Management System (system emails, system SMS)Automatic Email Notifications for the following events: (can be individually activated/de-activated)

• Individual Customer email                                
• Registration                                     
• Registration Success (after verification)                                  
• Won Auction                                     
  
• First Won Auction                                     
• Closed Auctions (triggers when auction in which user participated closes and user didn't win)                             
• Profile Change                                   
  
• Password Reset/Resend
• Password Changed in Profile                                    
• Account Denial                                     
• Invite Friends Referrer Details Modified                                
• Account suspended                                     
• Account Reinstatement                                     
• Referral Income Tax Form reminder (triggered when Invite Friends cash option is submitted or resubmitted/changed)                          
• Payment Reminder Won Auction (trigger after 48 hours of auction close if not paid or declined, repeat 2 more times after 3 days)                                     
• Order Confirmation and Payment Receipt (Won Auction)                                  
• Order Confirmation and Payment Receipt (Buy Direct)                   
• Order Confirmation and Payment Receipt for Bid Package                                     
• Auction Relisted (only once after close of original auction if user bid in prior auction or had auction on watchlist)                                    
• Payment Failure Alert                                     
• Email Blast                                     
• Bids Credited                                     
• Bid Package Credited                                     
• Bid Agent Outbid Notice                                
• Closed Account Notification                                    
• Escabid Email Order Text on Admin/Manage Orders 
• Profile                                     
• Feedback                                     
  
• Newsletter                                     
• Referral Fees (trigger when user payment has been included
• in Paypal mass pay)                                     
• Referral Bid Credits
• Referral Cash Credits                                     
• Referral Bids Chargeback                                     
• Referral Cash Chargeback

Each of the system generated messages can be complemented with  pre-set custom messages that you define under settings.

SMS messages (can be activated/de-activated)

• Auction Won notification
• Bid Agent Outbid notification
• Item Relisted notification

Advanced Magix Script Features

1. Bid Agents 

   Powerful Bid Agent Function (automated bidding system) – the ability for users to ‘book their bids’ in advance.

2. Buy Direct
3. Coupon Module
   
4. Automated Restart of Cloned Auctions
5. Optional time extension when reserve price is not met (no price increase)
   
6. Powerful Build In CMS

    Add, edit, delete and clone auctions. Schedule immediate of future start and duration. Full product inventory

   • WYSIWYG Editor – no ugly code!
   • Advanced Editor 

     (http://ckeditor.com/end-user-features) allows you to show multimedia: Images, Video and audio

   • Add and edit any number of custom pages
7. Fraud Prevention
8. Automatically provide free bids (or cash towards future auction wins) for registration, certain larger bid package purchases, winning the first auction
   
9. Payment Systems 

   Paypal, Moneybookers, Authorize.net, Google Checkout, Noca/SecureCheck and more. Referrer Payments via Paypal Masspay API

10. Third Party System Integration: a) build in: WP (Full Wordpress CSS integration (look and feel of the main auction site). All plugins and addons are available from the WP Dashboard.), Socialtwist,  b) optional free services: Google Analytics c) optional modules or services: ClickATell SMS notification system,  CKFinder - image and file browser, Virtual Smart Agent (intelligent chat/sales agent) 
    
11. Automated database backups

Front End Features

1. Home page with Featured (auction items or videos) and Live Auctions
2. Sidebars with Registration, How It Works and other customizable modules
3. Header with buttons for:Home, How It Works, All Categories, Feedback, Celebrate (Won Auctions) and FAQ
4. Search field for product titles
5. Bookmarks and RSS Feeds links
   
6. Login/Registration popin
   
7. User/Member Registration

User Account Managementwith the following sections:

top announcement section showing username, available bid credits and cash credits as well as notices when payments are due

• Buy Bid Credits
• Loyalty Bids
• Coupons
• Cashback
• Bid Account
• My Auctions
• Watched Auctions
• My Bid Agents
• My Won Auctions
• My Buy Direct
• Invite Friends
• My Profile

Live Auctions, Future Auctions and Won Auctions as main auction categories.

All Categories shows unlimited sub-categeories

Footer showing site owner info, copyright notice, payment option image

Administration Features

Magix Script Admin Structure 

Orders
Auction Orders 
Buy Direct Orders 
Payment History 
Bank Transfers 
NOCA Payments
Manual Credits (Free, Won, Paid)

Inventory
Categories 
Products Management 
Product Catalog 
Auction Types 
Vendors 

Customers
Customers 
Customer Approval 
Registration History 
Login History 
Feedback
FAQ

Marketing
Coupons/Discounts
Registration Credits 
Blog (Wordpress Admin)
Newsletters 
SMS Blast 
Email Blast 
SEO (Google Sitemap, General Site Meta title, Meta Description, Meta Keywords)

Referrers
Referrer Settings
Referrer Payment (Paypal Masspay)
Referrer Bid Chargebacks
Referrer Cash Chargebacks

Stats/Reports
User Status
Free Bids
Paid Bids
Bid Agents
Closed Auctions

Design
Logos 
Manufacturer Logos
Add Pages 
Page Titles/ Custom Script Inserts
Error Pages
Website Text 
System Messages 
Sidebars 
Header/Footer 
Featured (Auctions//Video) 

Administration
Create Sub Admin 
Sub Admin Permissions (38 different admin sections selectable for each Subadmin type)
Admin Password Reset 
Admin History 

Settings
Site Settings 
Custom Email Text 
Company Info 
Active Countries 
Payment Settings (Paypal, Moneybookers, Google Checkout, Noca ACH/Secure Check, Bank Transfer, Paypal Masspay)
SMS Settings (ClickATel Info)
Bid Packages 
Email Provider Permissions (Manage Anonymous Email Providers disallowed in user registration)
Currency 
IP Firewall 
Backup

Features of Third Party Modules

CK Finder  

• Folders tree navigation: intuitive for all users.
• Quality image thumbnails, making it quick to find things.
  
• Multi-language support with automatic user language detection.
• Sensitive context menus for files and folders.
• Full user control: create, rename and delete folders and files.
• Full developer control: all features can be precisely configured with a powerful ACL and user roles system.
• Lightweight interface.
• No page refreshes: quick responses.
• Secure file uploads: all uploaded files are checked according to the rules set by the developer.
• Full source code included for the server side integration.
• Instant integration with CKEditor

 

Virtual Smart Agent Features     

• Insert custom agents    
• Create unlimited campaigns     
• Initiate chat on page exit     
• Log unanswered questions     
• In depth statistical data     
• Integrated list builder     
• Custom html in chat window     
• Custom html in chat text     
• Integrate online videos     
• Integrate audio files     
• Over 40 How-To videos     
• Email opt-in conversion stats     
• Ability to change on exit message     
• Initiate chat using window or modal view     
• Initiate chat by moving mouse off page, similar to most exit popoup scripts     
• Initiate chat by clicking a link or image link. (multiple Live Agent Images Included!)     
• Ability to change the unanswered question response     
• Auto thank you email advertisement (killer feature!)     
• Message personalization for both names and emails     
• View each individual chat with customer name and email     
• Ability to contact customers that asked unanswered questions     
• Instant email notifications when customers ask an unanswered question. Great for following up!     
• Full campaign export features     
• Install on unlimited websites     
• Load unlimited campaigns in one setup for unlimited websites!

Socialtwist 

TAF4Commerce makes it easy for those that love your product to shout about it to their social circle. But unlike TAF4Branding, which uses static template elements, TAF4Commerce automatically takes dynamic content from your web site and places it into the referral messages themselves.

The difference is a level of customization found in no other share product.
Imagine receiving a referral email from a trusted friend that includes product-specific content including images, descriptions, pricing, offers, reviews-even links to related products. Such functionality is particularly helpful for e-commerce sites that have product catalog pages dynamically constructed from database information. 

Users gain minimal-click access to their entire email address books, social networking sites, bookmarking, IM and more. It also makes it easy to display your corporate logo and identity, so that the end result is a solution that is custom built for you and your brand.

Sign up for TAF4Commerce (via Magix - an official reseller), then access SocialTwist’s Easy Set-up Wizard to quickly customize your button, widget and email templates. Next insert the Javascript code from the wizard on your product pages (or let Magix do it for you).

That’s it! The end result is a highly customized, word-of-mouth marketing tool that requires no additional oversight and that drives targeted, interested buyers back to your site.

Magix has expanded the TAF4Commerce features to include the highly advanced TAF4Rewards features from Socialtwist and integrated a three tier referral system with free bids or cash rewards directly into the Magix Penny Auction software, saving you up to $9,500.00 anually.
The TAF4Commerce subscription is available from Magix (official Socialtwist Reseller) at substantial discounts or free for Magix customers.

Wordpress + Buddypress

Fully supported Wordpress Module accessible from the administrative panel. Add Buddypress and get a social network in a box.

Optional Magix Services

• Custom Skin Development, Design, Implementation
• Script Customization
• Commercial Animoto Video Production
• Video Syndication
• Search Engine Marketing (building backlinks, viral marketing, social marketing)
• PPC and PPV (Extremely Cheap Clicks) Campaign Management
• Product Sourcing (wholesale/manufacturer direct)
• Complete Auction Platform Management
• Consulting Services
• Custom Programming

Partnership and Joint Venture Opportunities

Do you want to become an Internet entrepreneur? Do you want to work from home or anywhere in the world? Do you want to replicate the Escabid.com auction model to another geographical region or start selling products from a certain segment, such as art, memorabilia, items for ethnic markets (for example "Iced out" jewelry for black urban markets), internet marketing products, software, fashion for women, gold or cash gift cards, cars or motorcycles or even intangible products or services? You may even copy our product mix. Alternatively, you may want to add another exciting auction component to your website?

Let us evaluate your idea and put it to work. The Escabid management team has extensive experience in different industries and functions. We can assist you to fulfill your dream; to start your own Internet based auction business or alternatively to add an exciting auction component to your website or to start a charity auction channel?

You should have solid business experience, a strong business network in your field and sufficient finances to start a pay-per-bid (penny auction) platform.

Contact us to present your idea to us with an executive summary so that we can evaluate your opportunity. All correspondence should include your full name, full address, telephone number and the opportunity description in order to guarantee a professional and transparent way of communication. We at Escabid honor your privacy and full confidentiality.

Escabid can provide you with an Internet based auction platform on a purchase basis or as SaaS (Software as a Service) basis, fully hosted and with monthly payment options.

We are also open to joint ventures for exciting proposals from product or marketing partners. Vendors may evaluate the results of using penny auctions as addition to their site by requesting a marketing joint venture with Escabid initially. Once satisfied, product vendors can move to their very own licensed auction platform.

This business model provides exciting ways for new or existing businesses to interact with their clients and generate new revenue streams. Escabid can provide you with a turn-key solution quickly and professionally with very advanced analytical tools that help you make smarter business decisions in your day to day activities, on a tactical as well as on a strategic level.

Sign up for our newsletter and get updates.

Contact us at

email: magix@zoho.com

skype: mathias.pruestel

phone: (+1) 206-552-8490 

fax (+1)  408-547-3771

Magix Corporation, 93 S. Jackson St. #73482, Seattle, WA 98004-2818