Although this new site has the word “itsy” in it, they are offering HUGE savings on amazing vacations! Just launched on September 20,2010 itsyBiD is a unique travel auction website that offers luxury hotel rooms, vacation packages and destination experiences to winning bidders.
The site was developed by two Portland, Oregon based social entrepreneurs as a way to make travel more accessible and affordable to all sorts of vacationers. The site holds auctions for high-end hotels, resort destinations and a variety of travel-related packages.
How it works:
Each auction starts at an opening bid of one penny. Each time a bid is placed, the price only goes up by a penny. Auction participants pay for the opportunity to place a bid. The cost is 75 cents per bid. They are purchased on the site in bundles of 20, 50, 100, 250 and 500. Each auction lasts 24 hours. During the final seconds of the auction, each bid extends the length of the auction by 20 seconds, which means the auction will only continue as long as there is interest. There is no option for automatic or proxy bidding. The winning bidder pays the final auction price and gets a gift certificate for a predetermined dollar amount. These gift certificates are treated as cash by the travel partners which gives the winner unlimited flexibility in how the certificate is used.
Not only does the winner benefit from these auctions but all bidders can apply the money they spent on credits to purchase an identical room or vacation package that they were bidding on. Bidders also get additional discounts ranging from 10 to 20 percent. So everyone wins!
Proceeds form every auction will be given to a charitable giving program that provides funding to different nonprofit organizations each month. This month the recipient is the Special Olympics of Oregon. The charity receives 5 cents from each bid.
So go to the site now to participate and you could be shipping off to a great escape for the holidays!
Try it for free today with promo code squire2010 (Expires Oct 31, 2010)