Bitcoin Forum

We've just launched http://www.blockrun.com , a play on penny auctions built on top on the blockchain.

- Each auction has its own bid address
- Auctions last for a certain number of blocks
- When blocks reach 0, each new bid extends the auction by 3 blocks
- There needs to be 3 new blocks with no transactions associated with that auction for a winner to be declared
- The highest bid wins, all other bids lose (we send winning, and losing transactions when you have been outbid)
- Winners are confirmed after 6 confirmations
- Winner creates a signed message to confirm they own the address

How it works: http://www.blockrun.com/how_it_works
FAQ: http://www.blockrun.com/faq
Auction for 5 coins: http://www.blockrun.com/auctions/5-bitcoins

Get bidding  ;)

Looking good guys!  ;D

Thanks  :)

We have added "Confirmed bids" so that users can view previous biding history on the page:
http://www.blockrun.com/auctions/5-bitcoins

Any questions, or feature requests?

So if we lose the auction, we lose our bitcoins. What stops you from participating in the auction to ensure you always win, or at least so you sometimes prevent other people from winning?

The most important sentence has a typo:  :-[


So..... everyone loses except you?

In theory, if we were really clever we could bid on our own auction. But this is not in our interest as we want people to win, tell others they have won, and encourage more people to play. Also, that's just not how we operate as it's dishonest & not cool! We know we will probably make losses on the first few auctions and are happy to take the hit in order to get things going.

You'll notice that we have no winners right now as have just launched, but we're offering an BTC0.5 to winners who give a testimonial: http://www.blockrun.com/winners

@Grinny;
Thanks, we have amended the typo. The winner wins the product/coins for a low price, losers lose their bids, we either make a profit or a loss.

5 Bitcoins currently about to close at BTC0.09:
http://www.blockrun.com/auctions/5-bitcoins

Get your bids in  ;D

You do realize no one can win, since you only have 3 blocks until it is over, and confirmation takes either 3 blocks or more as I can see by the unconfirmed bids.

Nope, of course somebody will win.

Each new bid that comes in at the end extends the auction by 3 blocks. The winner is the highest bidder before 3 blocks with 0 bids.

You can see from the page that the auction is now "blockrunning"; http://www.blockrun.com/auctions/5-bitcoins

It will count down 3 blocks, 2 blocks, 1 block, win. Unless of course a new bid gets accepted into a block, in which case the countdown will reset to 3 again.

Only 2 blocks left to win a brand new Nexus 4:
http://www.blockrun.com/auctions/lg-google-nexus-4-16gb

So far we have given away BTC6 for a total of BTC0.123  ;)

We need proof. The 'Bitcoin' bids have been a few days now, I want to see transaction proof, and I want the person who received it to say that they received it.

Sure:
https://twitter.com/greenglue/status/336649024549560320

On the chain:
http://blockchain.info/address/1Run2RUNo7bw1MB6dR2nNkdU1DNxE5Zwv

How can you profit of something like this? How do you pay for this?

Only the highest bid wins, all other bids are lost. So, for example if somebody bid BTC3.00001 on the Nexus auction, the current high bidder (BTC3) would lose and BTC3.00001 would be the highest (and maybe winning) bid.

At the moment we are making a loss on each auction, but that's fine as we are just getting started. Eventually we hope that the sum total of all the bids on an auction will be worth more than the item for sale.

Hmm, I see. Well if your site gets big, you could earn some decent cash from it. Goodluck!

A few comments:

1- On how_it_works example, you have an adders to copy (step 2), but then it sends the bid to a different adders (step 4). That may confuse someone...

2- On my actual browser+resolution I can't see the full bidding adders (just part of it), and I can't select to manually copy (Ctrl + C). The copy button works, but it is not very clear/instinctive, maybe you can replace the icon for just "copy", and allow selection for manual copy as well.

I agree that the address can be confusing, so we will change this.

If you double-click, you should be able to select the address. We'll also look at changing the "copy" icon to something more obvious.

Thanks for the feedback, it's much appreciated!

What happens if a bid takes a LONG time to get confirmed?
For example, if someone makes a winning bid, but id doesn't get confirmed before the 3 empty blocks for the previous confirmed bid?

Can the auction end with unconfirmed/pending bids?

A bid is only valid if it has 1 confirmation. We show pending bids as an indicator of what is happening, but your bid must be in a block for it to count.

An auction can end with pending/unconfirmed bids as these are not yet in a block, so don't count. If the auction ends (after 3 blocks with no bids) and your bid gets confirmed a while afterwards, we will refund the bid.

If there is only 1 block left on the auction, you could add a miners fee to increase the liklihood of your bid being accepted into the next block.

it's pretty much a scam.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penny_auction

at the best, it's gambling

Good implementation! Especially the signing part there. Clever use of the Bitcoin protocol.

I'm a little bit bummed that you don't ship to other countries (South African currently living Taiwan, so both are out of the question).

Thanks Niel! We will look at those countries and see if we can ship in future.

@Grue
How is it a scam? We offer a prize to the winner, and either make a profit or loss on the auction.
All bids are in the blockchain and everyone plays by the same rules of the blocks counting down..

Another Nexus 4 Auction will be ending soon;
http://www.blockrun.com/auctions/lg-google-nexus-4-16gb-1

My bet on the Nexus isn't visible, but it has conformations: http://blockchain.info/tx/a0cce40535884477a3107b11ceb66d5a0d24b494433c16c9260f3cc95ee3c147
I bet 0.014BTC, so it's higher then the one from that other guy.

EDIT: Nvm. it has been handeld.

Thanks for bidding  :)

Occasionally our blocks fall behind on the auction page. However, if it is confirmed on the chain, the site will process all the blocks as they come and the same rules apply; we are simply looking whether transactions (bids) are in blocks or not.

The problem with this is that either the collective bidders make money, or you do. Neither is sustainable.

The winner makes money, as long as their cumulative bids do not add up to more than the price of the product.
We make money if all the bids add up to more than the price of the product. Otherwise we make a loss, which is fine.
Losers lose their bids in order to subsidise a cheap prize for the winners.

It is completely sustainable if we make more profits on all auctions than losses; in the long-run we hope this to be the case but are also happy to cover any losses.

ONE winner makes money. The other bidders get NOTHING for the money they put in.

That is exactly what he said.

That's a reasonable request, we will look to add unsubscribe. At present, you are only subscribed to an auction until it ends, but understand you may want to unsubscribe before then.

A couple of more auctions ending soon and we'll then be done for today:

http://www.blockrun.com/auctions/lg-google-nexus-4-16gb-1
http://www.blockrun.com/auctions/1-bitcoin-2

Like others have said, you are probably out bidding so you don't have to lose money.  No way to tell!

Until you can prove its fair, I suggest everyone stay away from this site.   :-\

What proves my exact point that the whole business model is unsustainable.

Not sure how this proves it is unsustainable as a business model. We either make a profit or loss on each auction.. if we are losing too much money, we will just stop creating new auctions and shut up shop.


As I mentioned on the other thread;

I understand why you may think we would bid up, but this would be stupid as it would quickly become apparent that nobody ever wins. Why go to the bother of building a site & game mechanic on top of the protocol just to scam people out of a few coins? We hope that it will be profitable in the long-term and make more than a few coins. We will also be releasing more bitcoin projects, so I see my reputation as far more important than a few coins...

Hopefully someone off here will win soon and provide a little reassurance to everyone else.

Dude, you have no reputation on here.  You might scam all you can on this site, then move on to your next project under a new user ID.  It happens all the time.

I'm just warning people to stay away until you prove it's fair.  And I believe that is fair.  :)

Would it help to state who I am?

This is me:
https://twitter.com/dabrowne

This is where I was at the weekend:
https://twitter.com/DaBrowne/status/336233607276404737

Nice to meet you!

I'm Peter Griffen.

http://www.petergriffen.com/

 :P

Today at 21:21:55
Well, I think you are scamming at blockrun by pausing auctions.

One hour ago I bet for the 1BTC and it still says that it is waiting for 3 blocks. Which, by now, should have passed.
It didn't took that long on the Nexus, so this smells kinda fishy.


Today at 21:30:05
And now, suddenly, a bet appeared. Very strange.

Apologies, occasionally our blocks fall behind as we are using an external API that falls behind. One we get the blocks, they are processed and the page updates. It doesn't make a difference to the auction as transactions are either in a block on the chain or not. It just means the page may occasionally be out of sync.
We are working on switching to our own infrastructure so that the page is never behind

I placed a bid of .1 but it did not go through, it was on this auction http://www.blockrun.com/auctions/1-bitcoin-3 my wallet is begins with f0591

How long does it take for it to be refunded?

As far as I can see there were no other bids to the address after the auction closed:
http://blockchain.info/address/1Run24CHfzsS8xX1HS4MX21zcear6hsEd

Another BTC1 is ending soon:
http://www.blockrun.com/auctions/1-bitcoin-4

We've had a couple of winners from the forum so far:
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=207725.msg2243151#msg2243151
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=207725.msg2247017#msg2247017

Hopefully we'll have some more soon  :)

dont do it its a scam

It's not a scam & frankly I'm getting bored of comments like that.

It's a shame that when somebody like us puts a lot of time and effort into building a new service, it gets shot down immediately. People are winning, we are shipping prizes and winners are happy  :)

It doesn't have to be a scam.  With the way penny auctions work, even if only 2 people are bidding the operator of the auction has a really good chance to make money.  Prior bids are not refunded.  Take a look at http://www.blockrun.com/auctions/1-bitcoin-4 (http://www.blockrun.com/auctions/1-bitcoin-4) for 1 BTC.  Now look at how much the bet address received. http://blockchain.info/address/1Run2GkoUuik73pRSrvgQs4CfRva21CBu (http://blockchain.info/address/1Run2GkoUuik73pRSrvgQs4CfRva21CBu)

Penny auctions are basically gambling.  If you are going to bid, just be aware of that!

Thanks Jgguy, you're exactly right; as long as we have at least 2 bidders competing, we stand a chance of making a profit.

You'll notice that a bid of BTC0.99000001 came in, but was not confirmed by the time the auction ended:
http://blockchain.info/address/1Run2GkoUuik73pRSrvgQs4CfRva21CBu
This didn't have a transaction (miners) fee and has still not been accepted into a block. As soon as this is confirmed, it will automatically be refunded by BlockRun as didn't catch a block before the auction ended.

re my previous post, our app is set to auto refund up to 9 blocks after the auction has ended. This tx took more than 9 blocks to be confirmed.

We are in email contact with a user who bid and are asking them to sign one of their addresses. Once we've confirmed they are the rightful owner, we'll process the refund  :) TBH, we will end up paying the bid back to the sender address either way, but are just encouraging users to sign messages so they can claim when winning.

There's another BTC1 auction ending soon:
http://www.blockrun.com/auctions/1-bitcoin-5

Hopefully one of you will get it!

3 winners from the forum so far (the phone has been ordered):

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=207725.msg2270494#msg2270494
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=207725.msg2247017#msg2247017
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=207725.msg2243151#msg2243151

We also have users visiting from different sources (Reddit, Twitter, other marketing channels), so not every winner is be a forum user.

There's another BTC1 auction ending soon, maybe you'll get it:
http://www.blockrun.com/auctions/1-bitcoin-6

It seems we are having problems displaying pending (unconfirmed) bids on the page.
If you need to see this for the current auction, please check unconfirmed transactions at the bid address:
http://blockchain.info/address/1Run2yZU3szvKZmB8g1E9LH2TcfdHVff2

Apologies for any inconvenience, we are working to resolve the problem.

We've fixed the problem with pending bids, they are now visible on the page again ;)

Here's another BTC1 about to end for today:
http://www.blockrun.com/auctions/1-bitcoin-8

Hi!

I'm the winner of the 1BTC auction today: http://www.blockrun.com/auctions/1-bitcoin-8

It was great fun and the blockrun-support solved all my problems I had with recieving the winning amount, it is now secure in my wallet :)

its fun and you get to know the blockchain way better than you ever wanted :D

Wow.  A winner that joined the forum today.  (Roll eyes)

2 Tablets are ending soon:

iPad Mini about to close:
http://www.blockrun.com/auctions/apple-ipad-mini-16gb-wi-fi-white

Galaxy Note about to close:
http://www.blockrun.com/auctions/samsung-galaxy-note-10-dot-1

These will both be ordered for the winners today  ;D



I've been trying to encourage winners to come back here and post; even if they were a newb. The first eagle eyed bidders noticed on the site that we were even happy to tip for endorsements; you'll notice 0.25 for the picture/quote and 0.25 for the post, on top of his winnings: http://blockchain.info/address/12cXUUYApRNq9kjHAZfzkeJiYeB83PcQsy

Thanks for playing Eisbeutel ;)

- Closing Soon -

iPad Mini:
http://www.blockrun.com/auctions/ipad-mini-16gb-black

1Bitcoin:
http://www.blockrun.com/auctions/1-bitcoin-10

Tomorrow we have a Pebble smart watch:
https://twitter.com/blockspin/status/339793867773730816

We've also made some changes to our infrastructure, so blocks should (hopefully!) never be behind  ;)

Closing NOW:

Pebble Smart Watch:
http://www.blockrun.com/auctions/pebble-watch

1 Bitcoin (currently blockrunning)
http://www.blockrun.com/auctions/1-bitcoin-11

We have also listed some different products due to close in the next couple of days.

Additional features:

We have added a sound to the auction page:

• 1 "Ding" for when a new pending bid comes in
• 2 "Dings" when a bid gets confirmed in a block

On a desktop browser, If you keep the auction page open while navigating to your wallet; you'll hear any new bids come in  ;)

You can also now follow bid updates on twitter: http://twitter.com/block_run

We have also changed our back-end infrastructure to sit on our own node, so blocks should never be behind blockchain.info or blockexplorer.

Happy bidding  ;D

I can vouch for dipsy and his service by the way. I met the guy during the San Jose Conference and he is as solid as it gets.

Thanks man, much appreciated. It was also great to meet you  ;D

There seems to be a fair bit of interest in the Pebble Watch right now, exciting stuff!
http://www.blockrun.com/auctions/pebble-watch

Closing now  ;)

Micro Drone:
http://www.blockrun.com/auctions/micro-drone

1 Bitcoin
http://www.blockrun.com/auctions/1-bitcoin-12

We now display the miners fee on pending bids; this should give an indication of how quickly a bid is likely to be accepted into a block.

Good stuff!
We'll be glad to feature your website in our next edition. Just send us your request form: http://thebitcoincatalog.com/request-form/

- Ending now -

Sphero, Robotic Ball (current bid: BTC0.06)
http://www.blockrun.com/auctions/sphero

Jawbone Jambox, bluetooth speaker (current bid: BTC0)
htt//www.blockrun.com/auctions/jawbone-jamebox

Remember, transactions that have a fee of "0.0" or "unknown" are less likely to go through before the auction closes.


Thanks, I'll take a look  ;D

Include me too. I am a winner!

PS. Not weiner

Pebble Smart Watch is closing now:
http://www.blockrun.com/auctions/pebble-watch-1

I've also just added BTC1 that will close very soon:
http://www.blockrun.com/auctions/1-bitcoin-13

I won two items from the Blockrun.com! It seems to work flawlessly.

Micro Drone is about to close:
http://www.blockrun.com/auctions/micro-drone-1

We're also working to get some more stuff on there tomorrow  ;)



Congratulations and thanks for playing  ;D

- Ending now -

Pebble Smart Watch:
http://www.blockrun.com/auctions/pebble-watch-2

iPad Mini:
http://www.blockrun.com/auctions/ipad-mini-16gb-black-1

Closing today

Sphero (robot ball): http://www.blockrun.com/auctions/sphero-1
Tetris Light: http://www.blockrun.com/auctions/tetris-light
Minecraft Wallet: http://www.blockrun.com/auctions/minecraft-wallet
1 Bitcoins: http://www.blockrun.com/auctions/1-bitcoin-14

The difficulty is literally about to change, so that should spice the blocks up a little bit!

Don't forget to sign up for email notifications on each auction page  ;)

Closing Now

Pebble Smart Watch:
http://www.blockrun.com/auctions/pebble-watch-3

1 Bitcoin:
http://www.blockrun.com/auctions/1-bitcoin-16

Nexus 7 Tablet:
http://www.blockrun.com/auctions/nexus-7-tablet

Closing now:

Jawbone Jambox:
http://www.blockrun.com/auctions/jawbone-jamebox-1

1 Bitcoin closing soon   ;)
http://www.blockrun.com/auctions/1-bitcoin-17

The pebble should start at.... 5AM morning....

1 Bitcoin is ending now:
http://www.blockrun.com/auctions/1-bitcoin-18

Dammit, my Bitcoin client isn't setup on my new laptop.

updated my phone and lost my 2FA,thou i still have my wallet data on mail.....hope blockchain can reset the 2FA 4 me soon

Bad luck, you guys should have more than 1 Blockchain.info wallet!

Oh wait, does you're website allow any online wallets? if so any ones that are confirmed working?

ya.. i have the wallet_aes backup in mail... but i just dont wanna make another account coz it would have one more way have my funds be hacked

You can play from Bitcoin QT, Blockchain.info wallet, or Electrum.

It seems Blockchain.info is experiencing problems at the moment, so wouldn't have actually been much help with the last auction.

Yeah, I keep getting a error. Well that is good to know, I have been using Bitcoin QT and waiting for it to sync on my new laptop. I will use blockchain.info in the future. Now to wait..lol

1 Bitcoin is closing:
http://www.blockrun.com/auctions/1-bitcoin-20

I have one a auction for 1BTC for 0.25. I have signed the message and recieved a email for confirmation of winning. I haven't received the 1BTC yet. I will keep you up to date.



Received yet: Yes



Edit: Great service.

Sorry, was just out and not near a computer. We issue prizes manually (both Bitcoins and products).

Payment sent:

http://blockchain.info/tx/11d16c3d0991f16bc5acbf27ab03dd232d24abec3a8e3cc3ecf525e62c8d512d

Relax  ;)

No problem. I just like to keep the public informed. Thank you very much.

Fair enough, thanks for playing!

1 Bitcoin closing now:
http://www.blockrun.com/auctions/1-bitcoin-21

We will be taking a break for the weekend and have more auctions next week.

Have a great weekend  ;D

$20 Amazon Voucher closing now:
http://www.blockrun.com/auctions/20-dollars-amazon-voucher

FYI - It looks like I won't be able to issue the prize to the winner straight away as am not near a computer now.

The voucher will be sent to the winner roughly 12 hours after the prize has been claimed  ;)

Seems like a nice site. Keep up the good work.

Hey guys, we've mostly been working on other projects, but we're back today for another cheeky auction!

1 Bitcoin - Closing now:
http://www.blockrun.com/auctions/1-bitcoin-23

FYI, the last auction hasn't been claimed yet.

I won't be able to issue the prize for the next few hours, but will do in about 12 hours once claimed.