Belt Auction

is online bidding considered gambling?

Public Comments

1. Doubtful
2. No, an auction is simply a way of determining a market price for something - stating how much you are prepared to pay, so it is not considered gambling. However, so called 'reverse auctions', that is; sites where 'the lowest unique bid wins' etc are essentially gambling. These are basically a guessing game, not a method of nominating a market price for an item.
3. Also, if it's a "penny auction", where you have to pay to bid, that *is* gambling. Because there's no way to win, it's just random. And/or a complete scam.
4. It's not legally considered gambling, but then again neither is playing the stock market. Some people treat the stock market as gambling every day, and they win and lose thousands every day. Some people treat on-line bidding as gambling, too, even though it's not technically gambling. These people become compulsive about it, just like junkie gamblers. Some folks have won GREAT stuff for very little money, so they live for that thrill of doing it again. The think they have figured out the "right" way to do it, so they pour more and more money into it. When all is said and done, most people end up spending MORE money on stuff they don't really need than if they had just bought the item in the store in the first place.
5. Nope