www.quibids.com

[ddt0725]

And please stop spamming forums with marketing spam such as this - especially for a dubious site.


Meh.

Excuse me!? That was NOT my intent whatsoever and I really find youraccusation a tad out of line! I did not know the background of this site and that is why I posted the question. I trust my friends here to tell straight up whether it is a respectable site to get something a reasonable price (with a fee attached) or whether it is a scam, that I could very possibly got caught up in. Being naive is my downfall.

Moderators feel free to delete this thread. I guess I should have checked elsewhere for the insight I was seeking.


My apologies,


Denise

[Sean Setters]

And please stop spamming forums with marketing spam such as this - especially for a dubious site.

I know the original poster, and she isn't associated with the site and was not spamming. It was a legitimate question.

[DavidEccleston]

Moderators feel free to delete this thread. I guess I should have checked elsewhere for the insight I was seeking.

Nope. I won't delete it.


It serves as another warning to anyone thinking of using that site, not only for members here, but for anyone who stumbles across this post via a google search too. It's more valuable than the 2 minutes of Trondster's (or anyone else's) life we may have wasted.

[Sean Setters]

Moderators feel free to delete this thread. I guess I should have checked elsewhere for the insight I was seeking.

Nope. I won't delete it.


It serves as another warning to anyone thinking of using that site, not only for members here, but for anyone who stumbles across this post via a google search too. It's more valuable than the 2 minutes of Trondster's (or anyone else's) life we may have wasted.
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Agreed.

[Trondster]

Excuse me!? That was NOT my intent whatsoever and I really find youraccusation a tad out of line! I did not know the background of this site and that is why I posted the question.
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I am very sorry - I jumped the gun on this one. I have a background from other forums plagued by spammers posting "I just found this! Check this site out!", and I jumped to conclusions on your intentions regarding your post. I apologize - I'm sorry. [:$]





These kind of sites look legitimate - and tempting. But, as usually is the case, when it looks too good to be true - it usually is.


One site (ziinga.com - don't visit that site either!) has been around the danish news lately, exposing it for what it is. The operators get a lot of money from the bidders, and the average bidder ends up with a lot of fees and very little actual merchandise "won". For example, an iPhone sold for 680DKK (about $125). Based on an average bidding fee of DKK 5.50 ($1), and a price increase of DKK0.08 ($0.015) per bid,and thus 8500 bids (680DKK / 0.08DKK/bid = 8500 bids) the phone netted the operators 680 DKK + 8500 * 5.50DKK = 47,340DKK (about $8700). A flat screen sold for 3,587.36DKK would have earned the site about 246,631DKK, after about 44,842 bids.


Trying to win auctions at off hours won't help - you bid against others from all over the world. Filming customer trying to win auctions, one customer showed a repeating pattern. There were four or five users bidding on a single item. When one user started an automatic bidding - a series of 40 automatic bids - suddenly a new user appeared and started bidding - one user that had not been in the auction before. The user canceled the automatic bidding, and the user disappeared from the bidding. The user started a new series of automatic bids, and suddenly a second new user appeared, bidding on the item. "Our" user canceled the automatic bids yet again, and this second new user suddenly disappeared. Quite simply - bidding bots, run by the penny auction site, to inflate the prices, making sure that auctions do not end early.


Another user started looking through his bidding logs, after spending lots of money trying to buy a camera rather cheap. He discovered that he several times had bid several bids himself in succession, and thus actually should have won the item, as he was the only one bidding! He contacted the site, and they gave him 50 or so free bids as compensation. And removed his other bidding logs. And removed the display showing the number of other users bidding on items when logged in using his account. Making bidding rather useless. He closed his account, and bought the camera in a regular store. Lesson learned.





And of course, the entire site is run from a post box address in another country, Malta, Dubai or where ever. No - they did not want to talk to the press about if they were breaking danish law or not. They did, however, close the site off for new danish customers - so no new danish customers could register and see if it was legal or not.

[HDNitehawk]

Trondster


There are some differences between quibids and the site you described. The biggest difference is that they are based in Oklahoma City, OK. The company has actually gotten a lot of positive press in town, which surprises me. I do not have any doubt they would live up to what they promise on their website, as far as delivery of goods etc

[Trondster]

There are a lot of sites changing this and that from the basic principle, changing every little bit trying to stay just within the law. The site in question seem to be just about like the site i described - one obvious difference being that the auctions stay "open" for a couple of hours or days, before turning into ye olde penny auction scam. As the consensus here seems to be - avoid.

[ddt0725]

Trondster - Apology accepted. I know what you mean about those spam entries and at first glance I can see how my thread could have been misinterpreted.


I had no idea sites like this existed to this extent. I thought it was more on the lines of an ebay type thing. I guess I just live in a bubble! I am glad I posted the thread for I (once again) have learned something here.


Thanks to all for the education!!


Denise