Screen Names



Choosing a good screen name is important but probably does not help you win or lose auctions.

Choosing Screen Names

How do penny-auction customers come up with a good screen name?  Could your screen name help you win or lose auctions? That is something we might never know for sure. I have done a little experimenting with that, but I see no proof so far that your screen name has any significant impact on how many auctions you win or lose. Most bidders are not too easily intimidated. Regardless, most penny-auction sites will always discourage intimidation and rudeness, so it is important to put a lot of thought into choosing an appropriate screen name.  Once you select one, you might be stuck with it for a very long time.

Screen names can be fun, entertaining and/or intimidating. What image do you want your screen name to project to others?

Do intimidating screen names effectively intimidate other bidders into giving up early and stop bidding with you? Do those kind of screen names just make other bidders all the more determined to put you in your place?  Intimidating screen names like "DoNotWasteYourBids," "IAlwaysWin," "EndlessBids," "INeverStop," "WinItorBINit," "NeverQuits," "IWin' and "YouLose," are all selected with the intention of intimidating others, but is that the kind of bidder you want to be and is that playing fair?

Let's face it. We are all "in it to win it," and that is why I laugh whenever I see another bidder make that statement. What do you think, anyway? Am I "in it to lose it" or "in it to give it to you?" Sometimes I do allow other bidders to win on purpose, and I hope they return the favor sometime, but you cannot count on it. Most other bidders want to win just as badly as you do.

Some screen names can also be very funny. When I first started bidding on a shopping site for the first time, one site allowed bidders to start bidding several hours before the clock ran down, and I could not believe what I was seeing. "MrBigDog" and "Jackass" got into a bidding war. By the time the auction was about to start, they had already wasted hundreds of bids, evidently ran each other completely out of bids, and drove the price of the item up so high that I no longer WANTED to win it. First of all, I've heard of people being called that other word for "donkey," but for someone to be so proud of it that he would call himself that online is beyond my understanding.

Names Not Already Taken

Once I was having a difficult time selecting a name that was not already taken. Then I thought of choosing a name from the Bible because that would probably be the last thing any "gambler" would be thinking about. Then I really started thinking outside the box. Perhaps I could even evangelize and help "save souls" by choosing a Biblical screen name. If other bidders were atheists, maybe a name like "GodBlessYou," would make my bidding competition go away. Surely an atheist would want to avoid being blessed every time I placed a bid. On the other hand, some bidders might want to be blessed so much that they might never want to leave. You never know what goes through a person's mind when selecting a screen name. LOL!!! 

 Here are the screen names I selected for the four sites I am comparing:

• Beezid.com -- My screen name: PlayingTough

• BidCactus.com -- My screen name: UPSgrad

• DealDash.com --My screen name: SorryMyTurn

• ZBiddy.com -- My screen name: UPSgr

By using a name that indicates I "play tough" or using a name that lets everyone know I am a highly-intelligent college graduate from a top-notch university "UPSgrad," I thought that might also help to intimidate other bidders from not competing with me. It did not work. As far as I can tell, those names had no affect.

When it came to selecting a screen name for DealDash.com I decided the softer approach might work better in such a friendly environment, but now I think "SorryMyTurn" might make me appear to be a wimpy bidder with no guts to forge ahead to the bitter end. Who knows!  One new bidder, however, must have noticed that "SorryMyTurn" successfully won a lot of auctions. Suddenly, "SorryMyTurn" found myself in an auction with only one other bidder to fight it out to the bitter end --"NotYourTurn." So "SorryMyTurn" and "NotYourTurn" were having some laughs until "SorryMyTurn" finally won. That was such a sweet victory!

Bottom line: When it comes to winning or losing, I came to the conclusion that your screen name probably does not matter nearly as much as choosing the best penny-auction site and developing a good winning strategy. Using an "intimidating" screen name probably just gives other bidders the idea that you are somewhat of a "bully." If that is not the image that you want to project, think twice about what kind of screen name you choose. If "INeverStop" gets into the same auction as "INeverQuit," one of them is going to end up being a liar, because only one will win the auction. LOL!
In my next blog, I will discuss and compare bid packages.

Visit me here:  https://plus.google.com/111941944154930718258/about?rel=author Barbara Sellers