Burger King loyalty auction site proves to be a whopper

Burger King’s pilot of a loyalty program that allows customers to bid points for items at a special Burger King section of eBay attracted 1,000 users who bid more than 30,000 points in the first 10 days of pilot’s start in Erie, PA, last month. Burger King customers bid on a range of products from Palm Pilots to ski and spa vacations.

Burger King customers earn up to 250 points with every purchase of French fries. The loyalty program expanded this month to Albany, NY. Burger King expects to roll it out nationally in the next three months.

Other rewards include cases of soda, videos, clothing, books and CDs

Burger King is promoting the program in its restaurants, on local TV and radio and in print advertising.

Woburn, MA-based FairMarket Inc., which helps retailers sell excess inventory through eBay, operates the program and hosts the web site from which auctions are offered with partner eBay. FairMarket developed the loyalty program for the Miller Brewing Co. in the late 1990s.