Penny auction sites like Quibids have been quite popular in the recent years. These businesses have proven to be successful and buyers also like the idea that they can get high-value items at very low prices. Quibids is a website that exclusively focuses on selling products through the process of bidding. It is actually one of the largest bidding websites that operates in the USA.
Overview
Just like other penny auction sites, you only need a penny to engage in the bidding process at Quibids. The way it works is you can only bid a single penny at any time during the bidding process on a particular item. However, in order to be able to bid, you need to pay 60 cents for each 1 cent bid. You need to purchase the 1 cent bids beforehand in order to participate in the actual bidding procedure.
The Claim
The site promises that it will sell items that are of high value at rather unbelievable prices. It boasts of selling a brand new iPad that’s worth around $500 for only around $20 in one of its bidding auctions. Other items of similar caliber are being sold all the time and the selling prices are always incredibly low too.
The Hype
The advertisements and campaigns rolled out by the Quibids company were met with anticipation and excitement. Buyers would like to get their hands on $20 iPads of course. Surely, the deal seems to be too good to be true. But with all the possible savings that you can get by simply making 1 cent bids, the concept is indeed very appealing.
The Cost
You can purchase 1 cent bids for 60 cents each. Note that typical bidding sites don’t charge anything for you to make a bid. Therefore, if you lose the auction, you will lose some money too. While the person who got the item may seem to have won it, the total cost may not be as low as advertised.
In the case of the $20 iPad, note that the buyer paid 60 cents for every cent that he or she has bid on the item. Although the total expense may be less than $500, the $20 reported is quite misleading. Also, do the math and you will find that Quibids has sold the $500 iPad for more than its actual worth – more than double.
The Commitment
There is no formula to have a winning streak at the Quibids auction site. You are bidding almost blindly as you never know when the actual bidding will stop. The Quibids people control everything and the bidding process can suddenly stop without any warning. So if your strategy is to always bid at the last minute, you may find that the bidding has already closed without warning.
Evaluation
Quibids is a terrible penny auction site. It lures buyers into thinking that they can save money but the actual savings aren’t really that much. Aside from having to spend 60 cents for every 1 cent bid that you place on a particular item, you will also be charged with shipping and handling. The only real winner in this situation is the Quibids site itself.
It has no way of losing money as it can extend the deadline for the bidding procedure as long as they want. There are even reported cases of auctions that reach up to 6 hours.
It’s just terrible that you need to pay for the opportunity to bid on a certain item. You will surely feel bad if you lose the auction and lose some money as well. Unlike reputable auction sites like eBay.com, you don’t deal with any third party figure in the Quibids structure. Quibids is the seller and Quibids is the auctioneer as well. There is no buyer protection in this program.
Does Quibids Really Work?
Quibids work for Quibids as the website is raking in huge profits from this set-up. However, Quibids does NOT work for the buyers. There’s just too much competition and the prices will tend to go up during the actual auction. Moreover, these products have no warranty. So if you end up with a defective item, you will not be given any replacements or refunds.
Our Recommendation
We strongly urge you to stay away from the Quibids site. You will be better off placing your bids at legitimate auction sites like eBay. You can even buy brand new items from sites like Amazon.com where all your purchases are covered by warranty.
I guess when the first thing they say on their tv ads is”THIS IS A FAIR AND HONEST SITE”, it is usually to good to be true.
Ricardo, I agree with your comments! I do a lot of bidding and selling on eBay, but was curious about Quibids. I decided to give it a try, and now I wish I never did!!! Even though I kept calculating in my mind how much my true bids were, I got to the point of just wanting to win ONE thing. I did finally win and I’m embarrassed to say that I paid close to triple the retail amount! I will never go back to the site and I wish I had done my homework before ever checking out the site. I agree that it’s close to being a scam. I hate to think how much money the company has made because of impulse buyers like me!
I heard about Zeek Rewards and Quibids and both of these websites looked like scams from the start. They say that when something is too good to be true, it usually is. When someone advertises a laptop for $3 I get very suspicious. Some things are just not possible in my opinion. In the case of Quibids they were spamming people like crazy and they heavily used pop ups to advertise the service.
Every time a company feels like they have to jump in my face without me willingly deciding to click on their ads or visits their websites it raises a red flag for me.
Unfortunately, I didn’t research the site or read any reviews before I poured a couple hundred into my account on Quibids trying to win. I had very little success (yes, I actually did win a few times, albeit more bids). The concept is easy enough to follow but the allure of easily bidding on mid to big ticket items at a great discount can be a terrible thing financially. I think penny auction sites are just short of being a type of scam. I don’t know anyone who hasn’t lost more than they’ve saved by joining these sites. I’m ashamed to say that I fell for it.
I saw the TV ads for Quibids and decided to try it out. I can certainly say that something is fishy with the site. And, as others have said (and mentioned in the review)you aren’t really paying just one cent to make your bid. I think this site is set up to take your money and an automatic program outbids you at the last moment . I did not win anything there and eventually came to my senses and stopped using the site. There is an auction site called Listia.com that I recommend for those into the auctions. These auctions work with credits and are easy to win if you watch the auction, all without the risk of losing money.
I did the double whammy with the network marketing penny auction site called Zeek Rewards. These sites are all the same & their making a boat load a dough. Didn’t take long to move on from this.
Jared, I didnt see the small letters – Guess I didn’t squint enough! In a moment of weakness – cause I knew better – I joined Quibids about 8 months ago. Over $50 bucks down the drain and all I got was a ton of junk email for my trouble. NEVER AGAIN!
HAHA Phyllis! Why couldn’t I have thought of how to bilk people out of millions of dollars a penny at a time? I will have to look at penny stocks, I have heard of them but never looked into them…. Maybe I should have for a good laugh!
Unfortunately all comments are correct. I have coffee acquaintance that I sit with and a few others in the morning for coffee several days a week and they are some of the richest men in Hollywood Florida. They do stocks of all kinds and they own plenty of real estate and they are all now in their young seventies still swinging. When we asked them about penny stocks and bidding sites; the answer said it all- A chuckle and the response “fools game; I wouldn’t play em but I’d sure love to own a company”
It’s acually pretty funny when you watch thier commercial. They have aguy who has saved over 7000 dollars by using thiery site, but in the bottom of he screen on the right in REALLY small letters it says “RESULTS NOT TYPICAL”
Yeah, bid to lose.
@Josh – i’d like to know who those people are that have done well with Quibids.
I’ve never know anybody to successfully get something off there for a decent price.
I’ve bid on a few things now that have ended up going for crazy prices – i could probably get them the same price if not a bit cheaper from eBay!
Some bidders have done quite well at Quibids. What this post fails to mention is that Quibids offers a Buy-it-Now option, meaning the user can always invest the value of their bids toward purchasing the items at retail price.
Thanks.
Josh