I felt an obligation to pass this one on...

I read on the "Bestfares" website about an auction company that was offering travel packages for bidding starting as low as $9. The sight is WWW.onsale.com. I checked it out, and participated in some of the auctions. I even bought some items. But I was shocked when one of the items I won at a very low price was "cancelled". Apparently, after they hold an online auction (which keeps you involved from 1 hour up to 1 day), declare winners, and charge credit cards, they can simply declare that "they don't have the item to sell", they're "sorry for the inconvenience", and that they'll "give you a full refund in 3 to 4 days".

So, if they don't like the deal they just committed to, they can change their mind.

Don't waste your time.

I've actually bought several items from Onsale and been very happy with them. I've never used their travel auction however ...

I was liking them too. That's why I was stunned by the following (item description deleted by me):


"Thank you for participating in a recent ONSALE auction.
Unfortunately, the XXXXXXX (ONSALE item
#XXXXXXX) on which you successfully bid is not available and we will not
be able to fulfill your order #XXXXXXX in a timely fashion. As a
matter of policy, we are refunding your credit card account for $#####
immediately. It normally takes ONSALE approximately 3 to 4 business days to process your refund and approximately 2 to 3 business days for the refund to appear in your credit card account.

On behalf of ONSALE, I want to apologize for this error and for any
inconvenience that this may have caused you. Thank you for your
understanding in this matter. We hope to see you bid and win another
item in the very near future!"

In my book, that's just B.S. for never mind. I want compensation for my time and the fraud. They wouldn't let me off the hook easily if my bids raised the price till the other buyers dropped out, then I tried to change my mind.

They really have me ticked-off now!

NJDAVID--this sounds an awful lot like clear consumer fraud to me. E-mail me if you want to consider doing anything about it. I haven't fully thought through whether there is clear legal grounds to sue them. I will log onto the site, and read the usual disclaimers, etc. Let me know. Your friendly neighborhood travel industry police. Djlawman.

Hmmm....Onsale.com. I too, have bought something from them and still awaiting the product. However, I have noticed that bids that start as $1, seem to get real high first bids. Now, why would someone want to bid so high on something that has started at $1? I have noticed this across the board.
Secondly, I have bid very low bids on items where there are many and have counted the bids, which leave many items left over for distribution. When the product goes into closing, it turns into "going going gone" and all of a sudden something like 40 of these items get bid out! I, of course dont win. My thought is that there is a set up.
Initial bids are set up by the company. Thus, all incoming bids have to go higher. Any bids that are too low are also bid upon by the company, thus buying the product back. Now, this is all hypothesis, but the whole thing seems suspicious to me. I have written them 2 emails and no response thus far.

Following-up, here is what their customer service sent in response to my complaint:

"Here is an update to your customer service request:

"I am sorry for the inconvenience, Please read our Policy page, it
does state clearly we have the right to cancel an auction for this
reason. We do not have the unit and we refunded you in full." "

I didn't realize that after you have an auction, and declare winners, that you could choose not to provide the goods or services, and call it "canceling the auction". I did not realize that finding out if they have the goods or services is something they could wait to ascertain until after the auction.

I agree that some of the auctions seem fishy. There seemed to be a lot of people bidding in the middle of the night on New Year's Eve (when I had to work). I doubt they ever actually sell anything for a dollar.

I don't want to make this a sounding board for a private crusade. I am aware that this board is full of technically (and generally) saavy people who might utilize such a service, and I want to spare everyone the angst.

NJ David, I appreciate that you have let us all know about these on-line auctions. My
gut (in front of me!) has put me off putting any bids on these services...

Question: What agency regulates these services???? FTC? With the growth of these services there should be some type of regulation.

I am also bothered by these Priceline/name
your own price type of outfits (as much as I am annoyed by William Shatner's "BIG, Really Big" Whiney slogen.")

So if we can name a price, then I can say I want a round the world airline ticket for 5 cents!

NJDAVID: Please keep us posted on how you and DJLawman make out with your problem. CATMAN

saw an interesting auction-type program on AB Airlines (a low-fare, London based airline). They take bids over 10 pounds for seats on every flight, every day. You can bid something like 90 days in advance. I was intrigued--LGW-Berlin for $16 is an interesting concept (uncertainty did not work for me for my recent trip, unfortunately)
www. abairlines.com

I have seen onsale "sell" used and refurbished computer equipment and claim it as new. They seem to have very poor business ethics.

I think you should contact the FTC and your state AG. They may be violating some laws
when they cancelled your bids.

Sounds like fraud to me, of course I'm not
a lawyer.