Penny auction sites lure consumers with cheap prices on brand-name electronics, designer handbags, and discounted store gift cards. But an investigation by the Washington Attorney General's Office shows how some of these sites can fool consumers into paying big bucks on an auction with no winner. These sites use shill bids to drive up prices by one unlucky penny at a time. The owner of PennyBiddr, based in Federal Way, agreed to shut down the site and refund consumers nationwide as part of a settlement announced today by the Washington Attorney General's Office. Documents filed by the state accuse the company of using phony bids to artificially increase prices and sometimes make it impossible for consumers ?who had already spent money ?to win an auction. The agency began investigating PennyBiddr after receiving a referral from the Federal Trade Commission. The company was launched by LionHeart Mint, owner Kanwal Preet Singh, a.k.a. Laly Singh, in November 2009. Singh, who complied with the state's investigation, recently shut down the site. In a traditional Internet auction such as eBay, a bidder decides what item they want and how much they're willing to pay for it. If no one bids higher, they win the item. Consumers who lose the auction pay nothing. In a penny auction, a consumer pays to bid. The price varies; bids cost $1 each on PennyBiddr. All auctions are time-limited, usually starting with several days. But as the time ticks down to a few minutes or seconds, each bid extends the auction by a few more seconds and increases the product purchase price by a cent. This continued bidding prevents an auction from concluding until no more bids are placed. When the auction closes, the individual who placed the last bid must pay the final price of the item, plus shipping and handling. That's on top of whatever was spent on bids. For every winner, there are also losers who are out whatever they spent on bids. Some sites including PennyBiddr use shill bids, which Assistant Attorney General Jake Bernstein said are illegal. These bids are placed automatically by a software program or people may be hired to manually place bids. Each fake bid inflates the price and extends the auction time and the number of bids required to win an item. In addition, the program used by PennyBiddr would allow an auto-bid to "win" an auction, in which case nobody received the item and the company simply pocked the money spent by real bidders. The state's settlement doesn't require any finding of wrongdoing or admission of guilt. As part of the agreement, Singh will refund every consumer who paid for a bid on PennyBiddr. The Attorney General's Office estimates about 85 consumers are owed money. Refunds will be made through PayPal and are expected to total more than $7,700. Singh will also pay $8,000 to reimburse the agency for legal costs. He is prohibited from using a penny auction site to generate income again.
http://luxury-new.blogspot.com/2010/09/in-that-respect-constituted-foursome.html
http://fashion-handbags-news.blogspot.com/2010/09/in-that-respect-constituted-foursome.html
http://fashion-handbags-news.blogspot.com/2010/09/in-point-of-fact-sales-agreement-from.html
Dolce & Gabbana sent their spring and summer 2011 collection down the Milan Fashion Week runway yesterday and it was light, white and lacy. Dolce & Gabbana created short white flirty dresses, long white elegant dresses and black dinner dresses with lace as the main focal point. Dolce & Gabbana carried the lace trend from fall into their spring and summer 2011 Milan Fashion Week runway with a collection of feminine, flirty and lacy dresses and a handbag collection to match. The handbag collection Dolce & Gabbana sent down the Milan Fashion Week runway was white, feminine, casual and structured. Dolce & Gabbana created a white hobo with lace detail that was large, slouchy and soft. The hobo was shown with short white flirty dresses and handheld rather than worn on the forearm. There were also several styles of the lady bag; a trend from fall that Dolce & Gabbana has carried into spring and summer 2011. The lady bags featured one top handle and were shown in white or black leather as well as leopard print; another carry over trend from fall. Dolce & Gabbana also featured small, dressy handbags in white with gold beadwork with a short chain strap. Unlike other designers who have been showing the long strap for spring and summer, Dolce & Gabbana chose to use a short shoulder strap where the handbag ends up tucked under the armpit when worn on the shoulder. The small clutch trend appeared on Dolce & Gabbana's Milan Fashion Week runway in the form of tiny, white clutches that can be worn during the day or evening. The clutches were so small that a Fashionistas will have to forego a wallet and just carry cash, a credit card, keys and lipstick. The handbag collection Dolce & Gabbana sent down the Milan Fashion Week runway was white, clean and crisp. The styles were not new with the exception of the lace hobo. Fashionistas in need of a white handbag may opt for the hobo since the large, soft hobo is turning into an important trend for 2011 while the lady bag might be losing some steam.
http://www.designseo.com/blogs/entry/Both-are-fountainhead-honored-the-Swiss-manufacturing-business-of-immaculate-timekeepers-which-2010-09-27
http://blog.cnfol.com/honeyreplica/article/27454802.html
http://amizade.biz/blog.php?user=gltpei&blogentry_id=614
“Entertainment Shopping” is one of the more controversial genres of startups emerging on the web. The basic premise: you pay for a chance to get something at far cheaper than it normally sells for, but there’s a risk that you’ll come away with nothing. It’s part gambling, part bargain hunting and it’s proved to be very popular, with sites like Swoopo leading the charge and other sites bringing the model to hotels and other verticals. And today, TechCrunch Disrupt Finalist ToVieFor is bringing entertainment shopping to a new market: high fashion. If you like Gilt Groupe (a site that offers high-fashion items in fire-sales), this should be right up your alley. Log onto the site, and you’ll see an array of high-end handbags and accessories being sold off at a potentially steep discount. If you want to buy one (or at least, a chance to buy one), you need to buy some ToVieFor credits, which run 99 cents and are cheaper in bulk. And then you can get down to business. Jump into a ToVieFor sale — it costs you one to five credits to join one — and you’ll see whatever handbag or accessory you clicked on featured front-and-center. It is featured with a suggested retail price, which begins to drop. As it continues to drop, you can hit the ‘buy’ button to nab it at the price that’s currently being displayed. It’s a bit like a game of chicken — the site only sells a finite number of each item, so if you wait too long for the price to drop even further, you’ll miss out. And even if you don’t wind up buying the item, you’re still out those credits. To help allay any frustration about missing out on a sale the site will often offer users, namely those who bid on many sales, some discounts, incentives and gift cards for the same brand if they’ve missed out on an item. ToVieFor can offer these goods at significantly below retail price because it makes money off of these credits (a similar model is used by other entertainment shopping sites). And brands benefit from this because ToVieFor gives them a new marketing channel to connect with customers — you might not get that Rebecca Minkoff or Louis Vuitton purse at 60% off, but the company can email you a coupon for 20% off. ToVieFor’s model isn’t totally novel, but the site looks well done. The success of Gilt proves that consumers are hungry for deals on fashion, and ToVieFor’s addictive model could well harness it. That said, the site is going to have to figure out the balance between making money and leaving users frustrated, and it needs to make sure it keeps premium fashion brands on board.
http://www.newneon.kz/gltpei/blog/565/
http://www.listenarabic.com/fb/baiigmh/blog/6380/
http://live508.com/gltpei/blog/2470/
Remember Tana Umaga's handbag? The streaker's bikini? The Prime Minister's cast? The scary washing machine? Anyone eager to get a sneak preview of these and other stories featured in 'Handbags & Hovercrafts', the new release from Trade Me and Random House, can do so from tomorrow, September 29. Duffy Books in Homes, a literacy charity which gives away hundreds of thousands of books to children in low-decile schools every year, is selling the first 100 copies of the book via Trade Me's Daily Deals section from 10a.m. tomorrow. Trade Me is donating 100% of the royalties from the sale of the book to the charity. This is not just limited to the Daily Deal but also applies to all ongoing retail sales. Paul Ford, Trade Me's head of community, said Duffy Books in Homes was an obvious choice as a charity partner. "It's a great cause and should be good for a few laughs as Kiwis remember the weird and wonderful auctions they have talked about at the work water-cooler or at their backyard BBQs for the past 10 years." Since the official launch in 1995 with 80 schools, 16,000 students and 14 sponsors, the Duffy Books in Homes programme has grown to encompass 547 schools, around 100,000 students and 198 sponsors in 2010. More than seven million books have been distributed to children in low-decile schools since the programme's inception and August 24th marked the 15th anniversary of its launch. The Trade Me Daily Deal for 'Handbags & Hovercrafts' is available from 10a.m. on September 29 at
http://replicahermes.dusten.se/2010/09/27/woman-ordered-off-jetstar-flight-by-pilot/
http://tatwall.com/honeyreplicas/2010/09/27/newspaper-inspired-fashions-make-headlines-on-the-runway/
http://replicahermes.dusten.se/2010/09/27/newspaper-inspired-fashions-make-headlines-on-the-runway/