Computer Science Canada TopDogBidZ BETA Contest |
| Author: | Viper [ Thu Oct 14, 2010 3:45 pm ] |
| Post subject: | TopDogBidZ BETA Contest |
Welcome to the TopDogBidZ BETA Contest. During the course of the BETA you will be given free bids everyday to try and win as many auctions as possible. After the Contest is over we will put the players with the most wins(top 25%) into a raffle to win the Apple Ipad 16GB Wi-Fi. We are increasing the number of auctions the closer we get to the end of the BETA to give new users the same chance of winning as users who have been playing for a while. Need To Know: 1. You will not be winning any of the auction items that you win DURING THE BETA. 2. You cannot buy bids during the BETA, please do not attempt to do so. 3. This is a BETA as well as a contest and we would appreciate your feedback at support@topdogbidz.com 3a. If you are sending a new suggestion for the site put "NEW DOG" as the subject. 3b. If you are reporting an error put "BAD DOG" as the subject. 4. The winner will be notified that they won through the forums and email and have 14 days to claim and pay shipping if applicable. Poll Details: What we would be doing is provide php with an error. First to provide a correct fix will be given FREE bids for when we go live(i.e. us bids to win real items unlike BETA) |
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| Author: | TerranceN [ Thu Oct 14, 2010 4:50 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: TopDogBidZ BETA Contest |
Penny auctions are immoral in my opinion, you capitalize on the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irrational_escalation_of_commitment">irrational escalation of commitment</a>. There is a good example of this <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dollar_auction">here</a>. People can't control this, it's a psychological defect to our rational thinking (<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WarGames">"the only winning move is not to play"</a>), and the fact you would want to make a profit out of it bothers me. |
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| Author: | Viper [ Thu Oct 14, 2010 8:52 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: TopDogBidZ BETA Contest |
I totally entitle you to and respect your opinion on the subject of penny auctions in general. What I cannot agree with is that all sites are maliciously designed to disadvantage the users. For example many penny auctions donate massive amounts to multiple charities and we intend to do the same. Also what you do not seem to mention is that; although with every win there are multiple losses that is only one auction, and the person that did win more than likely got a good deal compared to even retail sale prices. Like any other game it does require some skill or strategy to win excessively but winning in general only requires at most a few days of observation to determine high and low traffic times during the day. To be good at soccer you have to practice and invest in equipment, to be good at football you have to practice and make and investment in equipment, to play penny auctions you need practice and an investment in bids; Penny auctions are no different than other games except we provide real prizes. Even though people can make largely irrational decisions and ultimately not win any thing, its the same for anything and everything - nothing can't be abused or is impervious to irrational decision making in its processes. Now to address your "here" link that is a totally different concept than our and many other sites. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bidding_fee_auction Is a better example. Lastly you seem to have based your argument on the "fact" is it a psychological defect please direct use to a charity, school or group we can review as one of our places we can donate to. Thank You For Your Comments And Feel Free To Contact Me Personally If Your Have Any Other Site Inquires Or Issues CodeyBurdett@TopDogBidz.com Thank You And Have A TopDogDay. Sincerely, Codey Burdett - Vice President - TopDogBidZ |
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| Author: | Dan [ Thu Oct 14, 2010 8:57 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: TopDogBidZ BETA Contest |
Viper @ 14th October 2010, 8:52 pm wrote: For example many penny auctions donate massive amounts to multiple charities and we intend to do the same.
Which ones and what %? |
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| Author: | Viper [ Thu Oct 14, 2010 9:37 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: TopDogBidZ BETA Contest |
http://www.swipeauctions.com/world_vision_charity.php |
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| Author: | rdrake [ Thu Oct 14, 2010 9:59 pm ] |
| Post subject: | RE:TopDogBidZ BETA Contest |
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| Author: | Viper [ Thu Oct 14, 2010 10:08 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: TopDogBidZ BETA Contest |
Im not a part of their business so I wouldn't know any numbers like that but im sure if you contacted them they might release the information. |
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| Author: | jafar25 [ Thu Oct 14, 2010 10:24 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: TopDogBidZ BETA Contest |
it's an interesting deal, but after all, i would have to say no due to my beliefs against gambling. you're right, it is no different from studying how to succeed in a game, and i like that you're donating some profits to a charity, but this is still a betting game, and that's the fact that makes it immoral for me, sorry... 
i dont mean to force my opinion on ppl, just giving my reason for disagreeing lol good luck with the business tho. |
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| Author: | Viper [ Fri Oct 15, 2010 12:32 am ] |
| Post subject: | Re: TopDogBidZ BETA Contest |
1. TopDogBidZ and Swipeauctions are not linked in any way which I though I was clear on in a previous reply. 2. Try Looking into sites like, swoopo, beezid, quibids. Honest and Successful. 3. Since we have not officially opened and therefore have not gained anything at all are not donating yet. To what organizations and how much will be determined when we are able to do so. 4. This is not gambling a user in a penny auction is less affected by chance and can apply more skill to increase win frequency than in gambling. 5. Yes this is Legal in Canada Once again I totally respect all opinions but wish to ask that the discussion we are having about the integrity of penny auctions end since I can only speak on behalf of TopDogBidZ. Secondly I am intending on hiring programmers fresh out of school looking for steady employment in the near future and was intending on using the bug fix contest to fish out a few possibilities. What im asking is that I not be targeted for the wrong doings of the penny auction industry and that you only post in this thread if you are interested in the BETA Contest , Bug fix contest or have a question or comment about TopDogBidZ. Also just want to remind everyone we are giving away a 100% free iPad for our BETA, no shipping cost. Visit www.topdogbidz.com and sign up today. Thank You And Have A TopDogDay. |
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| Author: | Dan [ Fri Oct 15, 2010 8:35 am ] |
| Post subject: | RE:TopDogBidZ BETA Contest |
I think our questions are only fair considering how corrupt your industry is and how close this topic comes to being spam. Where is the venture capital coming from to hire the programmers and buy the first auction items? Edit: Also about it being gambling, you may want to check with the OLG (assuning you are in ontario) before you continue with the site. Canada/Ontario has stricker laws about "contests" and you may need a licenses for this. |
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| Author: | Viper [ Sun Oct 17, 2010 5:36 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: TopDogBidZ BETA Contest |
Here is login.php so you (DanShadow) can complete your fix. |
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| Author: | DanShadow [ Sun Oct 17, 2010 11:58 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: TopDogBidZ BETA Contest |
Here is the "fix" for the registration and login. In the registration, when a user is registered the page will set session variables for ['uid'] and ['objregmsg']. When the page is reloaded there will be an if check for whether or not these variables are set (thus checking whether or not a user has been registered). If so, this page will redirect to the login page. The login page will check if the session variables ['uid'] and ['objregmsg'] are set, and if they are - display the text stored in the session variable ['objregmsg'] on top of your "Welcome" text. I always added 'session_start();' to the start of both pages so that session variables would work. |
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| Author: | Dan [ Mon Oct 18, 2010 2:32 am ] |
| Post subject: | RE:TopDogBidZ BETA Contest |
You realy should take Amailer's advice from the other thread and use some kind of framework, esptaly if this is for a project that is going to be handling money. At the very least you should have some kind of template system so your html is not mangled in with your PHP and some framework to help you with the SQL queires (i am prity sure there is a SQL injection vector in their). Also if other pages on your site are coded like this, you likey have XSS vulnerabilities all over the place. Edit: Also i still want to know where the VC is coming from to buy the items in your auctions. |
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| Author: | TerranceN [ Mon Oct 18, 2010 2:35 pm ] |
| Post subject: | RE:TopDogBidZ BETA Contest |
Kind of off topic, but a possible answer to Dan's question: The venture capital can actually come from the auctions themselves. Depending on the price for bids and how much a bid increases the auction price, the auction price only has to get to a fraction of the retail price of the item in order for the house to make a revenue great enough to cover the cost of the item, and as long as it seems like a good deal, people will keep bidding (giving the house a sizable profit). Then the item can be bought after the fact, and shipped to the winner. I don't know if thats how Viper plans to do it, but with the amount of profit that can be made it's certainly possible. |
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| Author: | Dan [ Mon Oct 18, 2010 3:32 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: RE:TopDogBidZ BETA Contest |
TerranceN @ 18th October 2010, 2:35 pm wrote: The venture capital can actually come from the auctions themselves. Depending on the price for bids and how much a bid increases the auction price, the auction price only has to get to a fraction of the retail price of the item in order for the house to make a revenue great enough to cover the cost of the item, and as long as it seems like a good deal, people will keep bidding (giving the house a sizable profit). Then the item can be bought after the fact, and shipped to the winner. This is exctaly why I am asking that question. It may seem to works in theory, but if they don't achvece enought bids the hole thing falls apart. Meaning that biders are left not recving the items they won or the site goes down well they have unused bids. It's also some what dishonest to be auctioning items you do not have and only inintend to buy with the bidders money. Using this method, also clearly makes it gambling and not auctioning. The only diffrence is that the money is replaced with a discount on an item to be purcached for the winner. |
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| Author: | SNIPERDUDE [ Mon Oct 18, 2010 9:57 pm ] |
| Post subject: | RE:TopDogBidZ BETA Contest |
Just as one would consider raffling gambling. |
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| Author: | DanShadow [ Tue Oct 19, 2010 2:56 am ] |
| Post subject: | RE:TopDogBidZ BETA Contest |
I've been doing a bit of research  .
TopDogBidz is a penny auction web-site who paid for a template by www.Pennyauctionsoft.com This template costs $799-$1000, including site setup. Based on what i've seen/read, the people financing TopDogBidz.com don't have a good understanding of PHP/Javascript/MySQL, so they are (in a way) asking for help in the form of running a contest for free bids on their web-site (compensation for services rendered you could say). Additionally, due to this lack of knowledge, the owners of TopDogBidz.com were using this request as a means of seeking prospective programmers proficient in PHP/Javascript/MySQL, and potentially (at some point) ask to hire them. In terms of venture capital, it would seem likely that the owners have some measure of money to invest in this "penny auction" business venture, as the template software costs $799-$1000. So Codey Burdett (aka Viper), if you are interested in hiring a freelance computer programmer proficient in numerous programming languages (specifically in relation to your project: PHP/Javascript/MySQL/CSS/AJAX), consider me. I have been programming for nearly 10 years, have a college education, and charge approx. $25 per hour on contracted work. If you want to make sure your web-site works in time for your official launch (and streamline the process, make adaptations as required), I'd be willing to help you in that venture. Let me know, - Dan |
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| Author: | Brightguy [ Tue Oct 19, 2010 6:37 am ] |
| Post subject: | Re: RE:TopDogBidZ BETA Contest |
DanShadow @ Tue Oct 19, 2010 2:56 am wrote: TopDogBidz is a penny auction web-site who paid for a template by www.Pennyauctionsoft.com
Well, if what you say is true that helps explain things. Heh, that was pretty surreal. Somebody asking "help me figure out why it fails to tell the user the account was created" when there was no attempt to tell the user that! I figured I was being dopey or he posted the wrong file. But are they really trying to administer a PHP driven site without knowing PHP...? Also, I know nothing about penny auctions but if they are so commoditized that you can buy an off-the-shelf solution that is not a good business sign. That's just basic economics. |
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| Author: | rdrake [ Tue Oct 19, 2010 9:07 am ] |
| Post subject: | Re: RE:TopDogBidZ BETA Contest |
How many free bids per hour does this work out to be? 
DanShadow @ Tue Oct 19, 2010 2:56 am wrote: I've been doing a bit of research  .
TopDogBidz is a penny auction web-site who paid for a template by www.Pennyauctionsoft.com This template costs $799-$1000, including site setup. Based on what i've seen/read, the people financing TopDogBidz.com don't have a good understanding of PHP/Javascript/MySQL, so they are (in a way) asking for help in the form of running a contest for free bids on their web-site (compensation for services rendered you could say). Additionally, due to this lack of knowledge, the owners of TopDogBidz.com were using this request as a means of seeking prospective programmers proficient in PHP/Javascript/MySQL, and potentially (at some point) ask to hire them. In terms of venture capital, it would seem likely that the owners have some measure of money to invest in this "penny auction" business venture, as the template software costs $799-$1000. So Codey Burdett (aka Viper), if you are interested in hiring a freelance computer programmer proficient in numerous programming languages (specifically in relation to your project: PHP/Javascript/MySQL/CSS/AJAX), consider me. I have been programming for nearly 10 years, have a college education, and charge approx. $25 per hour on contracted work. If you want to make sure your web-site works in time for your official launch (and streamline the process, make adaptations as required), I'd be willing to help you in that venture. Let me know, - Dan |
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| Author: | Dan [ Tue Oct 19, 2010 2:08 pm ] | ||
| Post subject: | Re: RE:TopDogBidZ BETA Contest | ||
DanShadow wrote: In terms of venture capital, it would seem likely that the owners have some measure of money to invest in this "penny auction" business venture, as the template software costs $799-$1000. Well that explains why their site looks exactly like some of the scam sites such as swipeauctions.com. I wounder if they relay payed upwards of $800 for such low quality code. DanShadow wrote: So Codey Burdett (aka Viper), if you are interested in hiring a freelance computer programmer proficient in numerous programming languages (specifically in relation to your project PHP/Javascript/MySQL/CSS/AJAX), consider me. I have been programming for nearly 10 years, have a college education, and charge approx. $25 per hour on contracted work. I highly recommenced not working for them. Even if you do manage to get payed (which i find doubtful) it's not an ethical business which you will permanently have your name linked to. At least with other start ups when they fail they just take their investors money with them, with this one they will end up screwing over clients either by not proving prizes or leaving them with unused bids. However that's relay beside the point since even when they are not going under they are basically taking money from all but the winning bidder in return for nothing. Penny auctions are just a loop hole to get around online gambling laws. Consider for a moment what the game sounds like if you remove the words auction and bidding and consider the prize as it's dollar value:
It's a classic war of attrition game model. The only difference here is that the pot is replaced with a discount on some item and bets are in the currency of bids rather then dollars. |
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| Author: | DanShadow [ Tue Oct 19, 2010 2:59 pm ] |
| Post subject: | RE:TopDogBidZ BETA Contest |
If I were to do any work, it would be on a contracted basis, so if I didnt get paid I could take legal steps to obtain my payment. I am not a fan of this kind of service, as I tested it out in his beta, and spent 20 minutes with 1 other person sniping an auction at the last 3 seconds.. then I just said screw it. (was watching a movie at same time, so wasnt too boring). Overall, money is money.. and money can help fund startups for one of my 3 other projects on the go which require more of my time than I can give 
P.S. TopDogBidz seems to give around 100 free bids per day in their beta phase, but the sites states you do not get to keep any won items. You will likely lose all free bids when the site officially launches too. P.S.S. Its possible they bought the code (there are some things in the code they havent changed yet, like DB messages that represent a different penny auction name then theres - lol), but the could have been given it by a previous buyer, or downloaded it. |
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| Author: | Viper [ Thu Oct 21, 2010 6:17 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: TopDogBidZ BETA Contest |
Anyone With The Skills So Elegantly Described By DanShadow Wishing To Be Considered By TopDogBidZ For Contract And Or Permanent Employment Please Contact Codey Burdett At CodeyBurdett@topdogbidz.com. |
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| Author: | DanShadow [ Tue Oct 26, 2010 3:00 pm ] |
| Post subject: | RE:TopDogBidZ BETA Contest |
Wanted to let you guys know how this "project" panned out
After beta-launch, the site owner offered a promotion with free bids/free shipping, and posted a couple relatively cheap items (10$ amazon g/c, bidz, etc). After the 5 or so auctions finished, no other auctions were put on, and after a few days the site is no longer operating. (rather, it redirects to a default page in their cgi-bin) My guess is: the site didnt reach the critical mass during its beta launch necessary to generate any forseeable income to fund the auctions. Their "Buy Bids" feature never worked though, so I doubt anybody lost any money. Thats what happens when you invest in a project without adequately advertising, having little understanding of the software your using, and having a low investment capital. |
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| Author: | rdrake [ Tue Oct 26, 2010 3:07 pm ] |
| Post subject: | RE:TopDogBidZ BETA Contest |
I still see it redirecting to the main site, though there are no auctions or anything on there. I do like to see them getting screwed out of money instead of their potential suckers/clients. |
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| Author: | Viper [ Tue Oct 26, 2010 4:16 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: TopDogBidZ BETA Contest |
We Are Still Actively Working And We Will Be Having Another FREE Day Tomorrow (WED 27). We Have Stopped Showing Auctions And The Redirect Was Due To A Few Changes And Will Be Available Shortly. All Is Well And We Will Be Announcing Our Official Launch Date After Wednesday's Event. Also We Never Had The Buy Bids Activated Because People WOULD Have purchased Bids Not Knowing We Are In BETA ( Contrary To The Giant TITLE) And Just Caused Frustration On Both Ends. It Will Be Available After Wednesdays Event. |
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| Author: | SNIPERDUDE [ Tue Oct 26, 2010 8:55 pm ] |
| Post subject: | RE:TopDogBidZ BETA Contest |
Kind of off-topic here, but why does every word start with a capitalized letter? |
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| Author: | Insectoid [ Wed Oct 27, 2010 2:15 pm ] |
| Post subject: | RE:TopDogBidZ BETA Contest |
That was bugging me too. |
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