Sixjax

Sixjax is an ecommerce company based in New York City. In more specific terms, the business is defined as a pay-per-bid website, where gaming elements are fused with online shopping, providing users with opportunities to get discounts on products.

Overview

Sixjax LLC, the company that operates the service and associated website, was established in New York in 2010. The beta site launched on March 15, 2011 with the interface coded in the Ruby on Rails framework.

Model

To partake in auctions, users are required to buy a package of tokens. The offer on each package ranges from 40 to 1000 tokens, depending on whether the package is bought as a one-time purchase or via subscription. Based on these two modes of buying, tokens are individually priced in the $0.40 to $0.50 region, one of the lowest in the industry. Every token is equal to one bid that a user can place in an auction. Therefore, each token counts as one unit per engagement with the site.

Every auction is linked to a price and timer. Each placed token (bid) raises the value of the auctioned item by $0.01 (all auctions start at $0.00). If a user submits a token within the last 20 seconds of the auction (and there is currently a bid from another user), an additional 20 seconds will be added to the clock to provide other users with ample time and opportunity to place a bid in that auction. The auction closes when the timer reads "ENDED," and there is no counterbidder. The total costs for the consumer can be summarized like so: for example, a $99 Apple TV sold on Sixjax for $0.14—and the winning bidder used just one token. Consequently, the winner paid $0.54 cents (1 Token Spent @ $0.40 + $0.14 Final Auction Price) excluding shipping.

Since revenue stems from the sale of token packages, coupled with many token giveaways and promotions, to determine an accurate rendering of auction revenue by the final auction price would be inconclusive.

Auctions & Features

Sixjax currently has the functionality for 6 auctions, yet only runs certain types more frequently than others. The six auctions are Standard, Specialty, Upper Hand, Last Man Standing, Hyrbid, and VIP. The format and structure for Upper Hand and Last Man Standing is proprietary functionality that does not exist on any other pay-per-bid website. In May 2011, Sixjax auctioned off tickets to the NBA playoffs as well as accommodation and airfare for a total value of $10,500. The Final Auction price was $0.40.

Sixjax Gaming

In the summer of 2010, Sixjax sponsored an e-sports team entitled Sixjax Gaming. The team was composed of six competitive circuit players of PC standout game, StarCraft II. One year after its formation, Sixjax Gaming no longer has active players on its roster.