A NEW internet auction site is hoping to become an eBay for big spenders by turning the traditional auction model on its head.
Instead of shoppers bidding against each other for goods and pushing up prices, the new site, called Saveoo.com, gets sellers to compete to offer the lowest price to a potential buyer.
The site's founder hopes it will lead to savings worth thousands of pounds on big-ticket items, from private jets and quad bikes to luxury watches. Customers have already posted messages on the site claiming savings of £9,000 on a yacht or £650 on a new plasma TV.
There is no obligation to buy, so even when the lowest prices have been set, buyers can walk away from the deal.
Saveoo, which launched at the end of last month, has already signed up 10,000 suppliers and 700 buyers. Last week there were 141 auctions in progress, including bids for two aeroplanes, 30 cars and 10 hot tubs.
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Britain is in the grip of an online auction boom. Up to 10m customers are registered on eBay, while newer auction sites sell everything from gold bullion to personal loans.
However, Saveoo is the first to pit sellers against each other to bring down prices for consumers. Tony Perry, the site's founder, has been operating this kind of "reverse auction" site for businesses for the past six years.
He said: "British consumers are very savvy and have learnt to embrace the internet as a way of saving money. We are some of the biggest users in Europe of price-comparison sites and, with that in mind, this is a step forward, offering consumers another way to bag a bargain."
Buyers determine how long they want the auction to last, after which the site picks the three cheapest deals and presents them to the buyer. The buyer can then choose which one he or she wants and purchase direct from the vendor.
Saveoo charges 1% commission to the seller on each sale made, although this is not passed on to the buyer.
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David Birmingham, Saveoo's first buyer, saved himself £1,700 on a £7,600 Cartier watch for his wife. He stumbled across the site after searching for the watch on Google. "I felt I had nothing to lose. There was no obligation to buy so I registered," he said.
"I use eBay all the time, but I didn't want to make such a big purchase with it. Using Saveoo I was able to get in touch with a dealer directly and then go in person to the London outlet and make the purchase there."
The dealer he used does not want to be named because the shop usually charges more than £7,000 for the watch.
There is no obligation to buy and no time limit for a purchase to be completed, although sellers may decide to withdraw offers if you don't contact them within a few days.
Unlike with eBay, all items on the site are new and sold by the dealers directly. Saveoo functions as a mediator and does not ask for any bank details from the customer.
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If you buy a product direct from a business you get full protection. In other words, you can return the product within seven days, regardless of whether it was faulty or not, and get a refund. If, however, you buy the product from an individual in an auction you lose these rights.
EBay said its own buyer-protection scheme means that if goods fail to arrive, or are faulty, shoppers will be offered refunds of up to £500 if the transaction took place via its Paypal payment system. More than 90% of goods are covered by this scheme.
HOW TO USE SAVEOO
- You first have to register with the site. You will not be asked for a credit card number though you must provide contact details.
- You then type in the item you want, the model and make.
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- You can also enter other specifications such as colour and trim.
- A customer services operator will contact you to confirm the day the auction starts.
- In an auction last week, a seller initially offered a Pentax digital camera that normally retails at more than £800, for £775. Another seller came in and offered it for £650, followed by another at £620. The last offer on Friday was £575 - a £225 saving and the auction still had three days to go.
- When the auction has finished, Saveoo will e-mail you the three best deals as well as contact numbers for the dealers.
- You then contact the dealers directly to seal the deal.