QuiBids - a site more addictive than TUG! CLOSED account!

[vacationhopeful]

Okay, 1 hour got me 3 Gift Cards worth $35 for less than $10 total. 2 Home Depot cards with face value total of $25 and a Walmart card face value of $10.

Penny Auction... win only 3 bids a day. A new midnight hobby?

Oh, did I mention they sell laptops?

 

[pjrose]

Sounds good - I hope your gift cards work!

 

[#1 Cowboys Fan]

I've looked at three of these types of sites----but haven't got the urge to make multiple sixty cent bids and lose.

Now, if there was a proven strategy to win within four or five bids, for example; then I might give it a try.

BUT, how do you know when the FINAL bid for a $50 gift card will be $1.08, $3.47, $6.12, $9.61, etc ??

Enlighten me,
Pat

 

[vacationhopeful]

When you hit the BID button as the timeclock winds down, the BID AMOUNT only goes up by 1 cent (.01). The clock may or may not extend the sale (haven't figured that out exactly). Other bids might be hitting the bid button at the preceived same count down second of time. Or the clock might run out before your bid gets transmited to their site.

Smaller auctions of value have less players. Or not automated bidders (very different from eBay as these bids are transmitted between 1-20 before the end of bidding - you can't set.)

So bidding is part waiting til the other bidders have spent their 60 cent bids (over their limit of what they want to bid) or bidding at the last second on the clock (jumping in on the bidding). Auctions show how many different bidders have been in last 5 minutes. There is a "shipping" charge on the gift cards which I included in my cost/winning basis.

Wack-A-Mole might be a close game.

 

[#1 Cowboys Fan]

So bidding is part waiting til the other bidders have spent their 60 cent bids (over their limit of what they want to bid) or bidding at the last second on the clock (jumping in on the bidding). Auctions show how many different bidders have been in last 5 minutes.
Wack-A-Mole might be a close game.

But, I have seen where people make, say 10 bids against another person, then both bow out, as you said.

However, then OTHER people enter, starting the process over again.

That's why it's hard to determine if the FINAL bid (for a $30 item)might be around $1, $3, $6, $9, etc.

The site shows where people saved over 98% by winning a $50 item for 22 cents----but the SAME item may sell for $5+ the next time posted.

And, as I mentioned, I'm not willing to make any/multiple bids (at 60 cents each!) unless I felt that the FINAL bid was VERY NEAR.

If my math is right, and I bid raise the bid twenty times----I've spent twelve bucks.
If I don't end up being the FINAL bidder----I'm not happy after those twenty bids!!

Pat

 

[MichaelColey]

And that $50 item that sells for $6 ended up getting 600 bids, so collectively the bidders paid $360 for the item. Look at the Canon EOS camera on the site that's currently at $52.22. That means there have been 5222 bids and $3133.20 spent, and the "auction" still isn't over yet.

 

[PigsDad]

And that $50 item that sells for $6 ended up getting 600 bids, so collectively the bidders paid $360 for the item. Look at the Canon EOS camera on the site that's currently at $52.22. That means there have been 5222 bids and $3133.20 spent, and the "auction" still isn't over yet.

Exactly -- the site owners are the real winners here.

This is a gambling site, plain and simple. To call it an "auction" site is, IMO, false advertising. If you like online gambling, great. As for me, I'll stay far away.

Kurt

 

[siesta]

awesome site, thanks for sharing.

 

[Pat H]

My son has purchased several items including baby monitors that only cost him a few $$ (including the bids) plus shipping. He really likes it.

 

[laurac260]

Exactly -- the site owners are the real winners here.

This is a gambling site, plain and simple. To call it an "auction" site is, IMO, false advertising. If you like online gambling, great. As for me, I'll stay far away.

Kurt

So everytime you bid, you spend your money, whether you get the item or not? Saving money is great. However, gambling is not my cup of tea. I once lost 5$ on a pony. At Starbucks I can atleast get a latte and a cookie with my 5$. If it's gambling, I won't be visiting either. I have to say though, after reading all the posts, I'm not sure I quite get what it's about.

 

[pjrose]

So everytime you bid, you spend your money, whether you get the item or not? Saving money is great. However, gambling is not my cup of tea. I once lost 5$ on a pony. At Starbucks I can atleast get a latte and a cookie with my 5$. If it's gambling, I won't be visiting either. I have to say though, after reading all the posts, I'm not sure I quite get what it's about.

I didn't either - I just looked up this explanation on the site:
http://www.quibids.com/help/faq.php?cat=15#81

 

[Elan]

I love the fact that you can bid on bids. The founders must be laughing all the way to the bank.

 

[vacationhopeful]

You can also bid on packages of BID POINTS (those token which you pay 60cents to bid on an item).

You can WIN bid tokens on items you WIN - like 2 of the Gift cards included 5 Free Bid Tokens - which were added to my bid token pool.

You earn Badges which have various Free bid tokens include - which when you claim them, gets added into your bid pool. I won two badges - a 1 bid token won for winning my first auction and a 3 bid token won for winning 2 different auctions within 10 minutes. (Actually, I won all 3 of my auctions within 15 minutes).

There is alot more action going on tonight than there was this afternoon. Prices are higher. It is interesting to note that multiple auctions of the same or nearly the same item is happening at the same time. The first one on the list gets the most attention (most bids) & the lower ones on the page less. The last one listed ends first (fewer bidders causing the lowest price, less time added to continue the auction) and the next one up ends last - spiking the bidding fever for the first one even higher.

 

[vacationhopeful]

Neither do I.
Sounds like you pay to bid?YES, 60 cents per bid

And you're limited to how many times you can bid? NO, but your pocketbook will.

So the loss to any one person isn't too large, but those losses go into the site owner's pockets?YES

Each time someone hits the BID button which costs that person a bid credit of 60 cents, the value of the bid goes up 1 cent.

So when the bid is 80 cents, 80 people have paid $48 to try and WIN that item to the site owners. If MS LUCKY bidder #80 is the last bidder, she pays 80 cents for the item and the posted items shipping cost plus it cost her the bid credits use in the bidding process (which could be a few as 1 or as many as 40 for that auction).

 

[pjrose]

Each time someone hits the BID button which costs that person a bid credit of 60 cents, the value of the bid goes up 1 cent.

So when the bid is 80 cents, 80 people have paid $48 to try and WIN that item to the site owners. If MS LUCKY bidder #80 is the last bidder, she pays 80 cents for the item and the posted items shipping cost plus it cost her the bid credits use in the bidding process (which could be a few as 1 or as many as 40 for that auction).

And as the seconds wind down to zero, if someone else bids the clock goes back up to 20 or 10 seconds. It's not the highest bid that wins, it's the one left when the clock hits zero - kind of last man standing I guess.

The big question is, can we buy stock in the company ?????

 

[PigsDad]

The big question is, can we buy stock in the company ?????

That's a good question. I bet the owners are laughing all the way to the bank on the backs of gullible people.

And having "auctions" to buy more bids is just brilliant -- it's like printing your own money! For example, I watched an "auction" for a 100 bid package go for over $7. At $0.60/bid, that brought in over $420. Effectively, they just sold 100 bids (which didn't cost the site a dime to "produce") for over $4.20 EACH!

Kurt

 

[Tia]

Gambling new version sounds like.

 

[MichaelColey]

It's probably more like a raffle. Everybody pays. One person gets the item. Except instead of benefiting a good cause like most raffles, it benefits the "auction site".

 

[pjrose]

It's probably more like a raffle. Everybody pays. One person gets the item. Except instead of benefiting a good cause like most raffles, it benefits the "auction site".

That's what I was thinking. There could be dozens or hundreds of $1 tickets in the basket for a $10 item...and someone wins it for $1.

 

[Kona Lovers]

Thanks for the warnings. I won't be visiting that site.

 

[vacationhopeful]

Final Report on my QuiBid site activity - Account Now Closed

When I signed up for the site, I brought $60 in BID TOKENS (credits). I won 4 auctions over 2 days of bidding and recouped my remainder of BID TOKENS by bidding on a Gift Card (excessively, so as to do a B-I-N) where the loser gets to apply "purchased" BID TOKENS used in that auction against the price of the item (by doing an after auction as the loser, a full price - token cost used to bid figure).

I paid a total of $23.08 more for my Winning Auctions, shipping charges, and the Buy-It-Now for the 5 Gift cards I "WON". Therefore, my TOTAL COSTS equalled ==> $83.08.

The GIFT CARDS accummulated were:
$100 Home Depot
$25 Walmart * B-I-N
$10 Home Depot
$15 Home Depot
$10 Walmart........
$160 of Gift Cards

NET: $76.92

The QuiBid account is CLOSED. I am getting out while ahead.

 

[laurac260]

ok, just one more question...
why didn't I think of that?????

 

[Bourne]

Technically, the lost bids are not lost...

You bid 20 times on a $25 card. Should you not get it, you get a credit of 20*.6 = $12 towards the full listed price with a Buy Now option.

Yes the margins for the company are there but not as huge as a lot of people would utilize "Buy it now" option to recoup their "lost" bids.

 

[vacationhopeful]

Technically, the lost bids are not lost...

You bid 20 times on a $25 card. Should you not get it, you get a credit of 20*.6 = $12 towards the full listed price with a Buy Now option.

Yes the margins for the company are there but not as huge as a lot of people would utilize "Buy it now" option to recoup their "lost" bids.

That is why I bid on the Walmart Gift card, to use up my purchased Bid Tokens - if I won, great; if I lost, fine - as I did the B-I-N option to recoup my Bid Tokens.

Just have to watch, that there are NO FREE Bid Tokens on your 'clean the slate' BIN auction. You get charged $.60 each on the BIN.:annoyed:

 

[PigsDad]

Technically, the lost bids are not lost...

You bid 20 times on a $25 card. Should you not get it, you get a credit of 20*.6 = $12 towards the full listed price with a Buy Now option.

Yes the margins for the company are there but not as huge as a lot of people would utilize "Buy it now" option to recoup their "lost" bids.

For gift cards and smaller value items, I can see that a decent percentage of the bidders would use the "buy it now" option to recoup their costs of the bids they made. But for the large items such as TVs, laptops, etc., I hardly think very many people are going to exercise that option. Those items are probably where the bulk of the profit is made for the company.

Kurt