Tophatter is an amazing virtual auction site that runs 24 hours a day. They literally have an auction for everything you could ever possibly need or want and if you know what you are doing you can score some amazing deals.
- The first thing you will need to do is log on and create a profile which will include a personalized avatar that represents yourself whenever you enter an auction.
- The home screen will list the Featured auctions for that day, which will include several auctions that take place everyday, like Jewelry Showcase, Supplies, Daily Bazaar and many more.
- These are the advertised auctions that will usually have the most attendees.
All of the auctions that don’t have the word “Featured” or “Partner” will be your smaller scale auctions that sellers put together on their own, and it’s these auctions that get you more bang for your buck. You will need to look through these and if there are any that have items you think you want to bid on, you will need to RSVP so that they will show up on your homescreen the next time you log in.
These smaller scale auctions don’t have near as many attendess at the featured ones so you don’t have near the amount of competition. The first think I like to do when I find items to bid on is to go to the seller’s page, most of the time there will be a link to their personal store on sites like Etsy, Artfire or Facebook. I look to see if they have the item I’m looking at on their site so I can see what this item sells for on a normal basis, this way I don’t pay more for an item I can just purchase outright. Even if they don’t have a site, I will google the item and see what it normally sells for so I know what my maximum bid will be.
One thing that is great about Tophatter is their sellers are required to have good feedback on a regular basis, they do not tolerate sellers that don’t do good business. There are also no fees for bidders, the sellers are responsible for that depending on the price their item sells for.
A great feature they provide is that you can set reminders for not only auctions, but for individual items that you are interested in and don’t want to miss out on. You will receive a text on your phone for the auction when it is about to start, or the individual item a few minutes before it goes on the block.
Be careful, this site can be addicting, whether it’s jewelry or electronics to even all Coach or Kate Spade – it’s hard to stop once you start!
**New Michael Kors & Kate Spade Auctions go live at 6pm CST 8/14/13!** Make sure you sign up, find it in upcoming auctions and hit the remind button so you can bid along.
Sign up here to check it out.