Did you get sucked into one of those auction sites that promote HDTVs for $50 or iPads for $87.13? Auction sites like QuiBids, uBid.com, HappyBidDay, and others are not traditional auctions. Rather, they're penny-auction sites, a hybrid of auctions and gambling.

Bids cost money and that money is gone whether or not you win.

Richard B. Newman, an attorney with Hinch Newman LLP said: "Those opposed to penny auctions believe that they contain the three basic elements typically associated with gambling—prize, chance, and consideration. In order to remove the activity from the realm of gambling, the element of chance needs to not be present. Penny-auction website operators take the position that the service is an exercise based upon skill."

The amount spent on bids is not included in the price when someone wins an item. So if they win a TV for $450, they'll pay that $450, plus however much they spent on bids. The winning bid prices advertised by penny-auction sites, however, do not include the cost of the actual bids.

Newman says that among the top complaints he hears about penny-auction sites is that they use phony bidders and bots to drive up prices.

Don't be sucked in.