Topic: BlockRun.com - Penny auctions on the blockchain - page 13. (Read 10316 times)

just a small comment: your site updates its blocks way too slow. you should have some sort of push notification so incoming blocks are updated instantly.

Another BTC1 is ending soon:
http://www.blockrun.com/auctions/1-bitcoin-4

No bids so far, but hopefully one of you guys will win it 

Thanks for bidding Grue, it's nice to see a second winner from the forum 

Here's my testimonial:

Great site. Got my prize within 10 minutes of winning the auction! Everything couldn't have gone any smoother!

I'll even sign it:
G0Uoz59RC8ujFUvRut8e1VXK0k4Xxd4+zTMG/gHxkJ01BuxHzYrhu64OOV1TNkmxu9d8jaxiwKCI5oyiz8KtGZU=

ps. there's a good reason why I'm choosing not to disclose my motives.

*thread subscribed* 

I'm not sure I can take the suspense!

Just so everyone is clear, there was no shenanigans going on. I was the winner of the auction. My motive for winning the auction will be disclosed 7 days from now.

edit: the reason is to get the 0.5 BTC reward for testimony. (0.5 net profit for me)

True 
Maybe somebody is happy to make a super small margin on the auction, I can't see why anyone else would bid now.

Well, it's a sure 0.001 BTC win

Yes, I don't know why anybody would bid so high either.
I thought it might be because they put a lower bid in earlier and wanted to scare others off with a high pending bid right at the end, but hoping the bid would not be confirmed before the auction ended (and therefore refunded). That's the only reason I can think of, other than trying to make a tiny margin.

ummmm..okay

@ Roomservice; thanks for bidding and thanks so much for posting back here, it is much appreciated.

With regards Rhodon, I actually mailed him yesterday to ask if he could slow down for a few days to give others a chance to win. He was pretty much the first person to discover blockrun & bid, and was loving it. Asking him not to bid will damage our profit margins, but hopefully others will win as well. I can't 100% stop him from bidding and obviously some of you won't believe me, but I am telling the truth.

There's a 1 BTC auction ending soonish, hopefully one of you will get it:
http://www.blockrun.com/auctions/1-bitcoin-3

You should also bear in mind that not all users are coming from Bitcointalk, we have publicised the site on other channels too.

Not a single person who has won has posted on this thread.

This is disgusting IMO.

Since bitcoin's key feature is anonymity - i guess it's quite impossible to prove that BlockRun.com ops don't bit on their own auctions.
I understand that new bitcoin services should be taken very carefully to prevent scams. This makes perfect sense to me.

At a clooser look to BlockRun.com this seems to be a serious project which is just starting to build trust.

Trust will be a key successor for this platform, so i wan't to share my thoughts and experiences:

- The website is really professional made. I doubt someone would spend so much time/money and effort to build up such a front- and backend just to scam people, get caught (maybe) and disappear again.
- This service seems to be build to generate profits on the long run. It makes perfect sense NOT to scam people - build up trust - and profit from it's existing business model.
- PennyAuctions is pure gambling but i also think thats fine and has a right to exist in the bitcoin ecosystem just like other gambling services.

yesterday i deceided to give BlockRun.com a try and bet on this auction:
http://www.blockrun.com/auctions/lg-google-nexus-4-16gb-1

I know it's gambling - but i really like the thrill and the fact to support new serious bitcoin startups.

So you call me the miner who has gone allin with my recent earnings and won the auction.

## Proof ##
address: 1294HsDaF8MkeW9TC5XZDtzrdsCPucu9dc
message: Hey it's me roomservice from bitcointalk.org!
signature: HIb+QA6vO9H+RgBzkw1Wse0QXp7bLYBHoXH0tJ50oHNkSpLsV25DapuL/mIDG+O8UOg6YM78OoaCNmgkpA6sjh0=
## END of Proof ##

After going through the claim process on the website, i just received a confirmation and was told to get a tracking number soon. So i don't get a product yet - but since now everything looks fine.
If you want i will keep you up to date and post a picture of proof after delivery.

Some final words:
Since i know from personal experiences how hard it is to get a bitcoin business started - i would recommend this BlockRun.com from my personal experiences just now.
My best guess is that the operator is honest, serious and really interested to build up trust and get a critical mass of customers.
I think we need more professional and well presented services like this to show what bitcoin is capable of. Making use of the blockchain for auctions is genius.

Just give it a try - if you like the thrill

Disclaimer: I never had any contact or relationship to BlockRun.com or the site op(s) since i discovered the project yesterday.

oh hey, a non-Rhodon wins an auction!

And this happened after this issue got raised up

Thanks KingOfSports; hopefully we can convince some winners to come back us up. I'm hoping the miner who won the last auction might consider posting once they claim and receive their prize.


We are actually more open than typical penny auction sites. They usually encourage users to buy "credits" and then bid with those. We have all bids openly displayed in the blockchain, with no credit system providing a layer of abstraction from the price.

I would love it if we could 100% prove that we are not bidding on the auctions, but there is no way I can think of; other than creating a system where people have to sign-in with facebook and bid with credits rather than sending from any address. You could then link back to people's facebook profiles, but that would spoil the fact that anyone can currently play without publicly revealing who they are.

Since we are being honest, it would be much better for us to have some way to prove that we are. If you have any suggestions on how we can be more open or prove that we are not bidding, I am all ears!

the problem is that penny auction sites obfuscate the house's edge and makes it really easy for the house to cheat.

Grue, I understand people might not like these sites...I am in the middle honestly. But it is in the gambling section for a reason. The house always wins in gambling and thus if he makes money so be it. As long as someone besides the owner wins, I don't see a problem with it. However I will agree there has not been any proof that the owner isn't bidding it up or winning these auctions so only time will tell to see if anyone high in trust here can vouch and prove they won an item and rec'd it with no affiliation to the owner prior.

two more bids should do it