After months of being down, and a promise of returning on January 31, 2012, BidDogz.com has officially announced their closure today.

The following message can be found on their homepage:

Due to the tough Penny Auction industry, BidDogz has shut down the site.

With the numerous fraudulent Penny Auction Sites on the Web today, an increasing number of domestic Merchant Processors are no longer doing business with Penny Auctions. Unfortunately, that means the valid PA sites are out of luck as well. We enjoyed making our site as fun and as fair as we could for all of our users and wish you the best.

If you need to contact BidDogz with any questions please email [email protected]

We will be available for questions until Febuary 15th.

BidDogz, a Detroit-based penny auction site, opened in Summer 2011 with much fanfare and celebration. They were featured right here on PennyBurners, and in their local news. (See: BidDogz.com: New Dog on the Block!) They immediately set themselves apart from many other penny auction sites by making a big show of having all of their items in-stock, in a warehouse in Detroit.

BidDogz immediately gained a loyal following and pleased their customers with unique auction items, quick shipping, and good customer service. They were not without fault, however, and experienced occasional issues with programming and glitches in customer service. Many felt that BidDogz did not do enough advertising, as many of the same bidders kept winning auction after auction.

They went down without notice in the later months of 2011, but with a promise of returning on January 31, 2012 with bigger, better auctions and features for their customers. However, this morning, one day before the relaunch, anxious BidDogz fans awoke to the message above.

It is very unfortunate that yet another penny auction site that tried to make a difference is gone. Many bidders on the PennyBurners Penny Auction Forum said that BidDogz made them whole before closing; others say that is not the case.

What are your experiences with BidDogz.com? Are you owed items? What do you think of the reasons they gave for closing permanently? Do you agree or disagree? Please share your thoughts with us by signing up for our FREE penny auction forum.

We wish Michael Falk and the BidDogz Team much success in their futures, whatever they choose to do.