An On-line Penny Auction Exclusively For Antique And Vintage Jewelry Launched

Online, April 17, 2011 (Newswire.com) - Michael C. Hinton, a fixture in the art and antiques community in Bucks County, Pennsylvania for the last 30 plus years has announced the launch of a new web based auction, www.VintageJewelryByThePenny.com. The sites offerings will consist exclusively of antique and vintage jewelry. This internet based venture will be a dramatic departure from the traditional brick and mortar or on-line auction format that most antiques enthusiasts are accustomed. The international web craze for the penny auction will be the style used.
This new venture will be the only on-line penny auction that will be listing authentic antique and vintage jewelry items. Penny auction sites have been around for approximately two years, but have really become a major force on the internet in the past six months, all currently offer only new consumer type items. In the penny auction every time someone places a bid, the price of the item goes up by a single penny and extra time is added to the auction clock. Whoever places the final bid gets to purchase the item at the final price at the end of the auction. The final auction price will always be well under the regular expected antiques shop retail value of any specific piece of jewelry.

"What I like about penny auctions is that they incorporate an element of skill and excitement into the antiques shopping experience," Mike said. "Antiquers love to compete against each other for the thrill of the hunt and the intrinsic antique value which will make everything great fun." With this unusual penny auction format bids are purchased in advance and these bids are used to increase the bid price of a listed item one penny at a time. For the buyer one of the best things is that in the penny auction format each bid that is placed with less than 30 seconds on the clock will reset the auction clock for an additional 30 seconds. This eliminates the bid snipping that is common in other on-line auctions.
With the current stagnant state of the economy and the general malaise in the antiques arena specifically, Mike says there has never been a better time to generate some excitement in the antique/vintage jewelry business. In these uncertain times, jewelry, whether it is antique or vintage is not only an alternative to traditional investments but a remembrance of times gone by and the superb workmanship of the artisans' who worked to make great jewelry. "Penny auctions are the wave of the future," Mike said "People love auction bargains, but they also like to have fun while they save money. That's why people are flocking to penny auction sites." With the penny auction format the bidder can save up to 90 - 95 % off the expected antiques shop retail price. This makes it the ideal option for the dealer, collector or just the person with casual interest in a specific piece antique or vintage jewelry.
As the www.VintageJewelryByThePenny.com name implies all listings will consist of only antique and vintage jewelry. From a currently on hand collection that totals approximately 75,000 pieces of jewelry and runs from the early Victorian era to the 1980's and a level of quality that will range from Tiffany to the unique unsigned. There will be offerings to satisfy everyone's desires for antique and vintage bling. Mike says every man should go to this web site to save money when buying jewelry for the woman in his life and every woman should go to the site for the great and varied selection of antique and vintage jewelry. Additional jewelry items are being actively picked and all items will be fresh to the market. Many items will be listed in the auction format on a daily basis. The current plan is to have an auction end every 30 minutes, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. That will give the bidder nearly 700 antique/vintage jewelry items to bid on every week. The penny auction format will allow everyone to win a great piece of heirloom quality jewelry for really pennies on the dollar. As with everything Mike has done all listings are 100 % guaranteed to be as described, and the buyer can get a full refund if an item is not as described.
Many individuals take pleasure in participating in penny auctions, the newest kind of auction web site, in which the price of an item offered for sale increases only by a penny each time someone bids. These kinds of auctions differ from standard internet auction in two distinctly different ways:
First, bidding is not free. Anyone wishing to bid on an item must register and purchase a package of bids. Bids can be purchased in packages of between 10 to 1000, and they cost a maximum seventy-five cents per bid and can be paid for by credit card or PayPal. www.VintageJewelryByThePenny.com will auction off bid packages as well, so it's possible to acquire extra bid packs at a greatly reduced rate.
Secondly, the auctions don't end at a set time, but will end ten seconds following the last bid. Every bid placed in the final 30 seconds of the auction extends the length of the auction 30 seconds. This means that an auction that seems near its conclusion may actually continue for a bit if interested buyers continue to bid.
This uncommon method of selling is a radical departure from sites like eBay, where the highest bid, regardless of when it's placed, wins the auction. Because of this, penny auction strategies vary from those used in conventional online auctions. While there is some benefit in putting in a bid late on an eBay auction, for instance, there are lots of auctions where people win by putting in a high bid early. In the penny auction format the nearer you are to the end of the auction when you bid; the more likely you are to win. Bidding early does not help much, as most of the bidding in penny auctions happens during the final few minutes.
This is a totally new concept in the antiques arena and Mike says there is a lot to learn about what the buyers would like to have available for bid. At this point Mike and his team are still working out what other jewelry related items will be made available on www.VintageJewelryByThePenny.com and finishing up the final site design and marketing materials. "Initially we plan to focus on a wide mix of rings, necklaces, bracelets, etc.," Mike said. "Obviously we will be doing a lot of testing and may introduce other types of jewelry related items such as vintage jewelry boxes to expand our overall marketplace."

Mike said the sites focus will be on providing the best customer service possible in the penny auction industry. "We are working on an online live chat system where people will be able to get answers to their questions and concerns about the listings 24 hours a day, seven days a week, right from their home computers," Mike said. "We feel this is a great way to start our customer service initiative."

All of the products offered by www.VintageJewelryByThePenny.com will be antique/vintage and shipped directly to the bidder's home or office. "People are tired of buying second rate goods from some shady on-line sellers," Mike said. "They are ready for the real value of a site like www.VintageJewelryByThePenny.com will offer to the jewelry dealer, wearer or collector'.