High Bids in Auctions

[RussellP197074]

Your mention of donating points to a charity has me wondering if that is where these monstrous bids are coming from.  What do the charities do with all those points? Does anybody know?  Is someone high up in the charity using the points to get something nice for themselves?

[ks18192309]

You have given me a great idea!

On my boyfriend's account, I use the points I accumulated for $5 Walmart cards when the balance gets up to 35,000, so that I can still see the lower auctions.

I'm going to start a list of my most popular uses of the points.

We like a few of the gift certificate discounts, like I did use the Carnival one.

I'd like to see what everyone is using their points for.  I saw where millions of points have been donated to charity, for those who are altruistic.  It would be interesting to see,

Karen

[fishdoggy1]

When you see a $15 gas card go for 100,000 pts you see what a real demand item is. I often burn 100's of points on sweepstakes for gas cards, no winner yet.

[Brightpool]

Karen,
Did you notice that the items with the lower points were all Apple products?
As difficult as the R4G auction system might be to decipher, and without having a truly objective view of it, I think it still reflects at least some of the supply-and-demand rules of business. The lower points cost for Apple products on the auction seem to indicate to me that fewer people are interested in Apple products as a whole.
I know that anytime I see an auction or sweepstakes for just about anything under the Apple brand, I just ignore it.

Enjoy!

P.S. I thought I was the only one tracking those auctions. I did quit a few months ago, but only after daily tracking for several months.

[RussellP197074]

 I have resigned myself to just getting points so I can buy Carnival Gift cards to feed my cruising addiction at 10% off. That and an occasional Daily deal that might save me some money on something I might be paying for anyway.  There are a few restaurants I will buy cards for, such as Chilis or Cracker Barrel.

[ks18192309]

Hi,

The only person who has stated they have a lot of points is Epster, who is always positive over the years about the site regardless of the negative issues on the site, bless her heart.

I have 198,000 points and have been saving for 6 months.

On my R4G Facebook page I have over 60 followers and no one has over 100k points.

In Sept 2018, I pulled the data of all the auctions listed that month. Here are the high winners:

Ended 08/31/18
Grand Savings on Everyday Essentials
Winner
KERRY A.

SPRING, TX

894,105 Points

Ended 08/10/18

Accessorize with Apple
Winner
WAYNE I.

COLLINSVILLE, IL

541,944 Points

Ended 08/22/18
Apple iPad mini 4 - 128 GB - Space Gray
Winner
STEPHEN K.

TRAVERSE CITY, MI

510,318 Points

Ended 08/17/18
Refresh Your Nest Winner
THEODORE A.

CLARKESVILLE, GA

499,351 Points

Here are the suspicious winners:

Ended 09/01/18
iPod touch 32GB - Space Gray
Winner
VERONICA D.

, FL

20,106 Points

Ended 09/01/18
Apple TV 32 GB - 4th Generation
Winner
LEXI P.

, FL

18,751 Points

Ended 08/29/18
Apple TV 32 GB - 4th Generation
Winner
CYRUS S.

, FL

18,004 Points

Ended 09/01/18
Apple TV 32 GB - 4th Generation
Winner
STEVE H.

TEMPE, AZ

38,947 Points

Ended 08/15/18
Apple TV 32 GB - 4th Generation
Winner
NOAH W.

WYOMING, MI

34,726 Points

I was in the midst of doing a full analysis when I delayed this to stay with my mom while my brother had cancer treatment. 

Regardless, it appears best to have less than 20,000 pts and try to stay in the group that is limited by point size to get the best auction deals.

Karen

[mi4090]

@fs13428951 

I recently posted "Bidding on Valuable Items" and I also, can't understand how member have some many points.  I asked for members with million points to reply.  I got No Replies, as I stated if a member has this many points it must have taken many, many years to accumulate while using none.  Asked also, for member with a millions to let me know how long it took them to accumulate them, again No Replies!!

I saw a high bid for a laptop that was over 850,000 pts.  With point earning activities being removed, whoever won that, it was a Once in a Lifetime win.  It will take them the remainder of your life to accumulate that again

As I stated, nobody replied that they had a million points, and most comments on your post states that members have nowhere close to a 800,000 points after years as a member.

I saw a post that AARP employees have to ability to bid on these items first, before members.  Thus, the reasoning for no members winning bids on Valuable Items.

Have a Blessed Day,

[HokiePoq]

@mi4090   Never accumlated more than 300K myself as I do the daily deals when I can and did a lot of auctions in the beginning when the quickie ones allowed you to get things at a reasonable value.    @Epster who posts here has that many points but has rarely used any of them and worked hard from the beginning using points only to buy gift certificates.   There may be some certificates not available at the warehouse clubs but there you save $10 on $50 and $20 on $100.    It is surprising how many people have that many points to bid on the big iterms.    

[mi4090]

I recently saw an Auction for a laptop computer with a High bid of over 850,000 points;  for a R4G member to bid on that item they would have to be earning points for many years and saving them only.  

R4G is removing numerous Point Earning activities (Daily Recipe Search Tool - 30 Pts. Daily=10,950 Pts. Yearly) was removed this week

It's hard to believe that there are so many members that have accumulated over a million points.  

This is a scam to get R4G members to use their points for something they'll never win!!

If you have over a million points please reply with how long it took for you to earn them!!

Thanks for your replies in advance!!

[RussellP197074]

Just entered my first bid for something.  It was about an hour away from ending, and I though, how many points would I be willing to spend.  So I bumped it up 5K points.  Sure enough, I was outbid by one right away.  I figured at the very least I would feel some satisfaction in making someone else pay 5k more for their card. And I was right.  It was satisfying!  Now I know why Dave on the show where they bid for storage units does that.  Yuuup!