Online Auction Websites

[Northendzone]

By now you have probably seen the ads - buy an iPad for $99

I am wondering if anyone has used one of these sites and if so, what did you buy, how much was the item and how much did you spend on bidding for it?

[3 Justin 3]

They are scams. A wise old man once said "if it sounds too good to be true, it is". I think that was my uncle Larry, who touched me... but the advise is still good.

[Ben_in_Canada]

quibids, where you can say for example get an ipad for $99 is a bit dodgy. (lot dodgy)
IIRC You have to buy 'bids' which are equivalent to 1 cent - but cost about 8 cents each.
So your $99 I pad actually costs $792.

(Feel free to correct my math).

[calumniate]

Originally Posted by Ben_in_Canada

quibids, where you can say for example get an ipad for $99 is a bit dodgy. (lot dodgy)
IIRC You have to buy 'bids' which are equivalent to 1 cent - but cost about 8 cents each.
So your $99 I pad actually costs $792.

(Feel free to correct my math).

Haha wow really? I never knew that. It's like amplified interest. They must be making a fortune.

edit - I mean amplified interest on having a great deal. Surely it made sense initially

[You Need a Thneed]

Originally Posted by Ben_in_Canada

quibids, where you can say for example get an ipad for $99 is a bit dodgy. (lot dodgy)
IIRC You have to buy 'bids' which are equivalent to 1 cent - but cost about 8 cents each.
So your $99 I pad actually costs $792.

(Feel free to correct my math).

Not exactly like that. But yes, the total you end up paying is on average, is around the retail price of the item.

To perhaps be more accurate, 99% of the people trying to buy an item pay a bunch of money to receive nothing, while one lucky one may pay less than retail, but still a lot more than the advertised prices.

Essentially, it's a scam, except they are not hiding anything, and thus not doing anything illegal. Its essentially gambling. You buy opportunities to win a prize, in reality.

[saskflames69]

We tried it out once and won a $50 gift card to Walmart. But you have to buy packs of bids.

[squiggs96]

I love the idea of QuiBids. I actually wish I had started it.You buy bids for about 60 cents each. Each time you use one of your bids the price of item goes up by 1 cent. So in effect, every time you've bid, you've spent 60 cents.

For Ben's math, if an iPad sells for $99, that means 9,900 bids were placed. The person bidding placed between 1 and 4,950 bids, assuming they placed somewhere between the last bid and every other bid. QuiBids makes $6,039 in revenue (9,900*.6 + 99). The person who wins the process gets to buy the iPad for $99 and has already paid for all of their bids.

If you don't win the process, you get the option of taking the amount you spend on bids and put it towards the retail price listed in the auction. So if you bought 100 bids for $60 and you spent them all on an iPad and didn't win, you could purchase the iPad for $539 ($599-60). If you are already going to purchase the item, it is worth it to try, and at worst you buy the item at full price, like you were going to anyways.

The company is upfront of this, and those that say it is a scam are usually ones who have not fully read all the rules. It's not like an eBay auction, so when people see auction they may think the terms are the same. One of the big instances wear people cry foul, is when a person is bidding on multiple items and/or at weird times. You are allowed to set up your bids on items. You can put a setting on a specific item for a specific amount of bids (suppose 100). Every time you are not the high bidder, and you have bids left, the computer uses one of your bids to make you the high bidder. When you run out of bids you stop and if no one else bids you win. There is a maximum of 20 seconds between each bid. If there are no bids the item ends.

Full disclosure, I have not bought any bids or bid on any items on QuiBids. I did look into it for a long time, tried to find good buying times, good items, etc. In the end, it would take too much work in order to make it worth my while. I was also worried I'd start buying too much stuff on their site. I still think it's a great site to run, but as a consumer it's not for me. It's well run, completely transparent, and must make money hand over fist.

[JonDuke]

Originally Posted by Ben_in_Canada

quibids, where you can say for example get an ipad for $99 is a bit dodgy. (lot dodgy)
IIRC You have to buy 'bids' which are equivalent to 1 cent - but cost about 8 cents each.
So your $99 I pad actually costs $792.

(Feel free to correct my math).

Nope....you pay that final price ($99) for the item if you win it. But then you have to have to factor in the price you previously spent on the pennies to win the auction. So, if you spent 3000 pennies, at 8 cents (or whatever) each, then that was $240 plus the $99 to buy it at the end.


I used to be very addicted to these just over a year ago.

I did extremely well, winning 4 flatscreens, 3 ipads, well over 3k in gift cards, and dozens of other smaller electronics like e-readers, ipods, coffee makers, etc etc.

I came in well ahead, but the very high majority of people do not and lose a LOT of money doing these, so I would never recommend them.

Quibids especially. Its been around for a while and advertises so it has a large userbase that already has established "power bidders"

Powerbidders willingly spend and lose hundred of dollars just to make a name for themself so the other users will remember their usernames and never big against them. Penny sites HATE them, as do other bidders.

I have personally watched an auction where 2 powerbidders went toe to toe and spent a well over $1000 EACH for an ipad. Their pride took over their math logic.

If you can find a new, and legit site though, and become that powerbidder, it's golden.

You also have to really worry about "jumpers" who will come in after you go toe to toe with someone for hundreds of bids, and when one drops out, the jumper will come it to try to finish you off with whatever bids they have. Jumping is highly frowned upon and if a PB sees one, they will remember them and make them pay.


Lots of strategy, and I could go on forever. I have a carbon copied email that I use to send people when I was winning lots, and if you want it, shoot me a pm and I will dig it up.

Although there ARE lots of scam sites, many are still very legit. But you have to be very good with math to calculate how many bids you have spent and what the final cost will be to make sure you are getting it for cheap. There is definitely a lot of deals to be made, or were at least when I did it, but I honestly would not suggest it at all anymore unless you can find a newer site and want to spend the money to become a PB. The advertises and established sites have become too popular and attract too many bidders.

Also, there is a great forum called Penny Auction Watch that is great for letting users know what sites are definitely scams and to avoid. This is also the site where people post what sites are new too though, so many regular bidders are already onto the new ones


So....to paraphrase, all are not scams, but I would still advise against them