Auction System of DD1 - UPDATE 4

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Comments

  • Dominic BrennanDominic Brennan Member, Administrator
    edited October 2018
    Hi everyone,

    I’m happy to confirm that we’re giving our Fanatec Australia customers a second opportunity to participate in an auction for the Podium Wheel Base DD1 on Tuesday 30th October, starting 21:00 AEDT. Other regions will follow, and we’ll make separate updates about that.

    As before, each unit starts at 1 AUD with no reserve. This is for Australian customers only, but all regions can view the auctions in real-time.

    Instructions:

    - For those based in Australia wishing to participate, please create a Fanatec account in advance and log in.
    - Once active, you’ll see an ‘Enter Auction Page’ button on the DD1 product page, which launches a secure bidding area hosted on Amazon’s servers, which has been thoroughly tested for stability. (Anyone can click this link to watch the bids in real-time.)
    - Click to bid as many times as they wish. Each click automatically increases the price by a fixed increment of 10 AUD.
    - After every new bid is placed, a 60-second timer will reset.
    - If there are no new bids after the timer reaches zero, the auction ends, and the winner receives an email with details on how to complete the pre-order.
    - The next auction begins immediately, starting at 1 AUD.

    Please note:

    - Every auction is automatically capped so it will not exceed the region RRP.
    - You will be able to see the previous winning bid values.
    - There is an unlimited amount of auctions if the Auction ends at 1500 AUD or higher (which is still below the regular price of 1599,90 AUD).
    - We will stop the auction event in Australia after 10 Auctions reached an end price below 1500 AUD.

    Good luck!
  • Hi,

    Is there a date when we can expect the auctions to start in Europe?

  • Hi,

    Is there a date when we can expect the auctions to start in Europe?

    I think they are still waiting to see if their servers die in a fire before widening the target audience.
  • edited October 2018


  • damian shawdamian shaw Member
    edited October 2018
    I was one of the winners last night (in fact or unit 1) of the first lot that were auctioned before it was reset and restarted last night - it went for significantly higher RRP (the Auction add clearly stated all would go for significantly below RRP).  The issue was there was a delay between when one hit "place bid" and when it registered.  So it placed a bid at a price showing $1400 and by the time it had registered the price was above RRP.

    I mentioned this on the Fanatec facebook page assuming Fanatec would do something to fix this (given about 12 of the first lot went for above RRP so their was clearly an issue, which Fanatec admitted) - and was told to contact the webshop.

    So i did, this is their exact response to me, a winning bidder that won at much higher than RRP against the conditions they themselves set:

    "thank you for your message

    This was an auction, every one can place a bid, as hight as he wants.  The highest bid win.

    We can cancel this order, you are welcome to buy the base in our online store.

    Thank you for understanding"

    I have been a long term customer and never been to upset by the multiple returns required to keep my multiple wheels going over the years as ultimately the products fit the niche i want.  But i must admit i was surprised by this response - really does reinforce a bit for me the increasingly poor customer service reputation the company is getting.

    This is not really a "fantastic auction opportunity" and certainly would test the boundaries of false and misleading advertising.  I know they don't need to do anything, and in my view as a loser in this that would have been a better idea.  

    Id have thought it would be s fairly simple exercise to offer discounts to all the winners of the first lot of auctions above RRP when there was a fault in the auction system.  Given the whole exercise has cost Fanatec not much more than $2500, discounting the winners of the first lot would add much more to that.
  • Id have thought it would be s fairly simple exercise to offer discounts to all the winners of the first lot of auctions above RRP when there was a fault in the auction system.  Given the whole exercise has cost Fanatec not much more than $2500, discounting the winners of the first lot would add much more to that.
    The guys at the webshop might not have the power to fix this, but someone should.

    That response is totally short of good customer service. Hopefully Dom will get in here and make this right. Their auction plan has maybe one more chance to work before they shelve it.  3rd times the charm right?

    Anyway Dom, Thomas, make it right for this guy!
  • Dominic BrennanDominic Brennan Member, Administrator
    @damian shaw, I'm sorry that you were unsatisfied with the response from the webshop, I'll try to offer a little more detail. Unfortunately some of the early auctions ended with erroneous higher-than-MSRP values, so naturally these are not valid. But nothing prevented people from bidding all the way to the MSRP, if they wished to do so. Of course it doesn't make sense to do this, but it happened, perhaps as a result of the latency between the rate of bidding and the time the current value was updated on your screen. That is unfortunate, but it is the nature of this style of auction. Once we resolved the overbidding issues at the beginning of the process and reset the system, the auctions ran as intended, and in the end there were 20 auctions that ended below the MSRP, including 10 that ended below 1500 AUD.
  • 20? I thought the auction was stopped after the 17th auction! I would be mighty peeved if I was a bidder on item 18, the auction started and there were 3 bids, the last one was $21 and then it just ended. I would have thought fanatec should have honoured that one as bidding had commenced.
  • I think we can peacefully call this auction style attempts an EPIC FAIL!!! :D
  • Fanatec… its about time to admit that this auction thing is a bad idea... its not working fine, people is getting tired, this is taking ages to work… Just give a few good discounts and let forget about this. I never had a doubt about buying a DD1 but… taking a look at your communication politics and how you´re handling this matter makes me wonder if its a better idea to just wait or buy something different.

    Think about it. I don´t feel that people is happy about this… they are probably angry or worse… tired.

    Greetings and have a nice day.
  • Wow! This is getting into a shady zone... I preordered a DD1 and thats my first Fanatec product, but Im seriously starting to have doubts if I went the right way entering this ecosystem instead od open market solutions, following this thread for months now... The only advantage that Fanatec has over other DD solutions is size of the company and professionalism that would be expected to come with that kind of money, but no.
    One would get an idea that online auctions are something just impossible to run, if one wouldnt know about companies like eBay running it for decades now...

    Guys, let me give you some PR advice - if you promise something - deliver. You cant start an auction and not honour the result, even if you end it too soon [like for that guy above]. You cant promise people discounts and then have auctions run over the RRP. You cant have people waiting for auctions for months, then announce them on short few day notice as well. And if you do so, at least BE OPEN AND HONEST about the reason you redo the Australian one [fe. small market test] not to upset the other markets [from their perspective - one market is priviledged - not only gets the priority, but also a second run before the others]. Its just astonishing how many mistakes a big company from Germany can make during a launch of just a single product. Looks very amateurish.

    Look at just how many of your own customers/FANS you upset by taking such course of actions. Certainly not gaining my trust as a new customer... And that secrecy also doesnt play into your favour - given the run so far people will assume the worse rather than the better, so no perceived gain for you there.
    Someone there is making all those calls - I believe its time to recompose.

    And seeing how things go, I hope that there isnt a bigger crysis ahead, closer to Christmas.
  • Jesus, people.  Either don't participate in the effing auctions, or don't get your panties wound up so much.  Despite technical issues, it sounds like a good number of people got some decent deals.  This all sounds like a good faith effort on Fanatec's behalf despite some hurdles to get their newest/latest/greatest product out to the public at discount (10%+).  Hell, I'd love to get a 10% discount on the DD1 I pre-ordered.

    At the end of the day, I just don't see the logic of the auction complainers.  If you get your way and Fanatec stops having auctions, then you nor anyone else is in any better of a situation.  If Fanatec was charging a fee to participate in these auctions, then sure, I'd understand all the noise, but they're not.
  • C NC N Member
    edited November 2018

    Jesus, people.  Either don't participate in the effing auctions, or don't get your panties wound up so much. 
    Yeah, well, most people arent participating, because they cant, yet they've been promised that multiple times. Thats the upset and the deal you dont seem to get.
  • It definitely seems there are some stumbles as this auction system comes out of the gate.  Hopefully, Fanatec will figure out the technical issues, and I am sure they will step up and do the right thing for the people that accidentally ended up "winning" above MSRP, or the pre-order price.  

    From my perspective, I was just trying to buy an SQ1.5 shifter from the regular web store, and had all kinds of complications and delays because somehow the system logged me into one of the European stores, even though I am in the U.S.  That took several back and forth tries to figure out and resolve.  Though the staff were friendly enough doing it, it shouldn't have been that convoluted to sort out.

    Looking forward to the U.S. auction, if it comes to fruition.
  • So given the struggles with even the second auction, the impending week of black friday deals, and the product launch shortly after (although it sounds like it's been pushed at least a week or more), are there going to be US auctions at all?

    I think a raffle might suit these products better.  Pick 50 entries from each region and sell them at 25% off?  These auctions are becoming a real source of frustration for your biggest fans. Granted we are the ones that will likely still buy, but the long silences punctuated by failure are frustrating for someone who was planning giving the auction a go before placing a pre-order.
  • Dominic BrennanDominic Brennan Member, Administrator
    20? I thought the auction was stopped after the 17th auction! I would be mighty peeved if I was a bidder on item 18, the auction started and there were 3 bids, the last one was $21 and then it just ended. I would have thought fanatec should have honoured that one as bidding had commenced.
    The 20 figure refers to the 3 valid auctions that were honoured from the first session (before we reset it as I described). The last auction was stopped as the 17th auction of that session was the 10th unit to end below 1500 AUD (it was stated before the auction began that "We will stop the auction event in Australia after 10 Auctions reached an end price below 1500 AUD"). We did not have a automated system in place to end the auctions, so it was done manually. As the system immediately starts the next auction, it was difficult to avoid a few bids appearing on the 18th item. We have now made a revision to the system that adds a short delay after an auction finishes, so we should be able to avoid this for the next auction session.

    @Cezary Nyga: I will try to be a transparent as possible with my response to your statements: "You cant start an auction and not honour the result, even if you end it too soon [like for that guy above]." - as I explained to Paul, the auction was stopped once 10 units went below 1500 AUD, as communicated before the auction started. "You cant promise people discounts and then have auctions run over the RRP." - the auctions that ran over were invalid. 20 auctions ended below MSRP. "You cant have people waiting for auctions for months, then announce them on short few day notice as well." - this is a fair point, and we will give more notice for the next auctions. "And if you do so, at least BE OPEN AND HONEST about the reason you redo the Australian one [fe. small market test] not to upset the other markets [from their perspective - one market is priviledged - not only gets the priority, but also a second run before the others]." - we redid the Austalia auction because the first attempt had technical difficulties preventing people from reaching the bidding page, which was then resolved. We wanted to give Australia another session with the fixed systems before moving to the next region.

    @Joel Barsotti: Yes there will be US auctions.
  • Dominic BrennanDominic Brennan Member, Administrator
    edited November 2018
    Hi everyone,

    I’m pleased to confirm that auctions for US and EU customers will commence next week! The auction for the Podium Wheel Base DD1 for Fanatec US customers begins Tuesday 13th November, from 18:00 PST (21:00 EST). This will be followed by the auction for Fanatec Europe, which begins Thursday 15th November, from 19:00 CET (18:00 GMT).

    As before, each unit starts at $1 (1€ for Fanatec Europe) with no reserve.

    These are the only auction sessions we have planned for these two regions.

    Instructions:

    - For those based in the relevant region wishing to participate, please create a Fanatec account in advance and log in.
    - Once active, you’ll see an ‘Enter Auction Page’ button on the DD1 product page, which launches a secure bidding area hosted on Amazon’s servers, which has been thoroughly tested for stability. (Anyone can click this link to watch the bids in real-time.)
    - Click to bid as many times as you wish. Each click automatically increases the price by a fixed increment of $10 (10€).
    - After every new bid is placed, a 60-second timer will reset.
    - If there are no new bids after the timer reaches zero, the auction ends, and the winner receives an email with details on how to complete the pre-order.
    - The next auction begins immediately, starting at $1 (1€).

    Please note:

    - There is an unlimited amount of auctions if the auction ends at $970 (970€) or higher (which is still below the regular price of $999.95 (999.95€).
    - We will stop the auction sessions after 30 units (for US) and 45 units (for Europe) reach an end price below $970 (970€).
    - You will be able to see the previous winning bid values.
    - Any bids above the regular pre-order price are automatically invalid.
    - PLEASE BID CAREFULLY. You will be prevented from bidding on another unit if you win an auction, even if this value is above the MSRP.

    Standard pre-orders for both the DD1 and DD2 wheel bases are already available in all regions; the auction system is a genuine opportunity for our customers to score a great pre-order price for this cutting-edge sim hardware.

    Good luck!
  • And this concludes our auction saga correct?  The number was a $100, so with the early AU auctions counting for 25, this gets to 100 and wraps it up?


  • Very good news. Thanks Dominic
    Is it possible to get the warranty extension after you get one through the auction system?
  • Do I need to login with an amazon account or can i participate with my standard Fanatec login(ger)?
  • Mark ComansMark Comans Member
    edited November 2018
    Japan website is stating auctions for DD1 will start soon.

    I have seen 2 Aust auctions,, and Fanatec have just announced EU and US auction dates (good luck to you guys :D )

    Will there be any auctions for Japan ?
  • What is the difference between the DD1  and the DD2 ?
  • What is the difference between the DD1  and the DD2 ?
    Torque mostly
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