Ok, I started bidding when it had an hour left. I bidded $5, and it said there were no unique bids below it, so i presume that means it is over $5. Then I bid $15, same thing. Then $25, and it says there are 255 unique bids below, so I take 255 from 2500 and submit it. Then it says there are 110 unique bids, so same thing. Then it said my bid was unique, but not the lowest. IT said the winning bid was between $10-$12. How do they work that? Then I submit $11.50, and no unique bids below. Then I submit $15.50, and same answer. Am I doing something wrong, or is this rigged?

Haha, yet a classic example of why not to use SMS services for these types of 'legal scams' hehe... These bid things have been around for ages with the same types of things coming out. I don't enter any of these 'scam' type services myself, and I suppose you have learned a very cheap lesson (I know people who have rigged up $1000's in SMS bids).

I can assure you for the interest of the company providing the SMS service that a prize is available, and that the person with the lowest unique bid got the prize. You see, it's not in the interest of these Premium SMS companies including the infamous 19 40 40 'scams' not to award a prize given they are borderline as it is.

If you have a complaint about the service, I would highly recommend forwarding a letter and proof (in the form of SMS's both sent and recieved including a copy of your bill if not prepaid) to your local ombudsman or alternatively contact from memory CBN Media Pty Ltd, or 5th Finger and inquire about it. I can assure you, you will get a full refund.

Oh, and besides - I did win an XBOX 360 from CyberShack TV, and well - it's back in Microsoft's hands for the second time Whether it's still worth trying to win one, I don't know Especially if you are entering SMS competitions like this one. I mean in all honesty, it looks as if you could have potentially spent $50 all up by the time you finished SMSing and paid your low bid fee... I suppose I was lucky - one singular SMS because I didn't have enough credit to make a call

Good luck,
Orb!ter

Michael - I have forwarded your post to our carrier and have requested they check out what you have posted. They may not be back at work at the moment, so I'll chase them again next week. Your feedback is always appreciated and will be responded to shortly.

When something doesn't work correctly, it's not necessarily rigged. Ever gotten a car back from the mechanic's, only to find that it's still got a problem? You take it up with the mechanic, but you don't deliberately accuse the mechanic of sabotaging your car.

I have had the response from our SMS gateway partner on the Cyber Bid Reverse Auction. I think it explains how it works to a point where no one should be confused anymore. Have a read -

This is not a scam, it is simply a fun way for people to bid on cool stuff. The person that places the winning bid on the Auction gets the lot at their bid price, which is usually just a few bucks. Cybershack always gets the items to the buyer for their bid price. We even pick up the postage!

The other services you mention send you messages that cost money whether you want them or not. Cyberbid charges the normal 55c rate to send Text messages (not $2 - $6.60 like some others charge) and you only get charged for messages you send to us. All of the replies are free and you don’t get subscribed to receive any messages other than 1 message to say that the auction that you are bidding on closes shortly (which is also free).

It seems like you got a little confused by some of the messages so there are a few simple rules and messages that the system uses to help you place bids:

1) First you need a unique bid (Your bid has no chance of winning the Auction if it is not unique). So, when you place a bid that is not unique (i.e. Somebody has already placed a bid for that amount before you), the messages you get tell you how many unique bids (amounts that no one has placed a bid in at yet) are left below the bid you just placed. If there are none, then you need to bid higher, if there are some, then you know you can bid lower. By using this as a guide you should be able to find a unique bid quite quickly (and therefore have a shot at winning the auction).

2) Once you have your unique bid, the other people's unique bids that are lower than yours need to be knocked out in order to make your bid the LOWEST unique bid. When you get a unique bid, you get told a range for the current lowest unique bid. You nee to try a few different bid amounts to see if you can knock this bid out. If you knock out all of the unique bids between the current lowest unique bid and your unique bid, then you will become the lowest unique bidder and other people will try to then knock your bid out.

For example, if there were the following bids between 1c and 10c

1c - 5 people have bid 1c

2c - 3 people have bid 2c

3c - 1 person has bid 3c (The current lowest unique bid)

4c - 6 people have bid 4c

5c - 0 people have bid 5c

6c - 1 person has bid 6c

7c - 0 people have bid 7c

8c - 5 people have bid 8c

9c - 2 people have bid 9c

10c - 6 people have bid 10c

Scenarios:

1. If the user bids 10c, the system will tell them that their bid is not unique (there are 6 other people who have already bid 10c) and that there are 2 unique bids available below their bid (5c & 7c).

2. If the User bid 4c it would tell them that there are no unique bids below their bid (Because every amount below their bid amount already has a taker).

3. If the user bid 7c, they would have a unique bid, but not the lowest. The lowest bid would be between 2c and 4c. (So they have to knock out the bidder in order to make their unique bid the lowest).

4. If someone bid 3c, then they would knock out 3c as the current lowest unique bid and make 6c the current lowest unique bid. If someone then bid 5c, then 6c would still be unique, but it would no longer be the lowest unique bid as 5c becomes the lowest unique bid.

:/ By scam, I mean all SMS things like this to entice people to submit more bids But yeah michael_9992, they aren't going to tell you that there are no lower unique bids doing so would make the auction easier

and Charlie, there are 5 people bidding 8c in your scenario Might want to check that one out.

It's not a scam, I was perfectly well aware of what each bid cost, and I don't think it an unreasonable price.

But it's bloody good marketing. I just got my phone bill, and there are quite a few messages sent to "5th Finger", who run the SMS comps for Cybershack.

As an aside - I edited Charlie's post! Me! I am the overlord! Mwahahaha!

Good for you, "Darth".

I enjoyed the excitement leading up to the closing minutes of the cyber bid yesterday... couldnt watchthe show due to tv issues, but I think that the cyber bid especially since it only costs $0.55 is good value.

Lots of those dodgy latenight game shows charge huge amounts of money to get in & bid or call in... then they can sometime scharge when they reply to u too.

Good luck to all who enter & may you be unique!

and its good how they give you a text back before it finishes to tell you were abouts the winning bid is

I didn't get a txt back to tell me the winning bid.. I only knew what it was between when I tried to bid.

(I need my real estate to fix my antennae so I don't have to keep lugging my TV upstairs to the working RF cable port.... rggggghhh... I wanta watch Cybershack!)