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I was on my computer one evening just checking my facebook when i noticed an advertisement on the side. Truth be known i hate the new facebook setup and really hate all the advertisements on the side. it seems 99% of all these thing are either junk or some kind of scam. But today was different this advertisement caught my attention. Dont even remember exactly what it said, just that is was about an auction site and how someone had bought a really expensive item for a few dollars. Might of just ignored it except for the video link which was a news article telling about the quibids site and how it worked. So I made the click and went to the site to check it out
First impressions
So now here i was looking at the quibids site. I was still very sceptical, just because its on the news doesnt make it legitimate or true. The site seemed very nice and well put together. I started watching the live auctions. My reaction was WOW, it was not possible that these items were going for this price! I became even more sceptical, however the possibility of buying items at these kind of prices was to strong to resist so i decided to investigate.
My Research
I went ahead and started with the site its self. In there 101 section it seemed to explaing everything pretty well. I finally seen the two big catches 1. Each bid will cost you .60, and 2. the auction is not over when the timer reaches zero, in the last 10 or 20 seconds it resets to eithe 10 or 20 seconds if someone bids. So to win the auciton you have to be the current high bid and the timer run out without anyone else bidding.
Next i went to google and started researching quibids there. I found an abundance of reviews and blogs with people claiming quibids is a huge scam. Rumors of bots doing bidding to drive up prices, people with stories about how they logged on and set up an account and lost a bunch of money. My enthusiasm started to wane a little. so i decided to finish my research with checking some of the information against the site itself. In the end I found this to be a legitimate site. However if not approached correctly you could loose a lot of money quickly and come up empty handed. So i can understand harsh feelings from those who approached this site impulsively and foolishly. Armed with the imformation i had found i decided to move forward but first i wanted to figure out how this worked out for the site and just how the could do it.
Crunching the numbers
So here is the short version of how it works. Bids are .60 each and need to be prepurchased. the auctions price starts at zero and either moves up 1,2,5, or 10 cents with each bid. There is a timer. when the timere reaches zero whoever the highest bidder is wins. The catch on the timer is th reset. of either 10, 15, or 20 seconds. if someone makes a bid in these last few seconds the timer resets to that time listed.
Now what about the prices. Well I am looking for a nintendo wii so i started there. in one auction i seen a wii that had went for a whole .68 cents. In another auction however one had went for 44.46. and several others had went for around the 8 to 10 dollar mark. So what does this mean.
Well on the .68 cent auction they are 2 cent bids which is 34 bids(34x.60 = $20.40) so whoever got this wii got a deal because they could of only at most placed half the bids, 10.20 in bids or less if they timed getting in the auction really well. There is $9.50 in shipping. So on this one worst case scenario the winner spent 10.20 in bids, .68 on auction price, and 9.50 in shipping for a grand total of $20.38 Great deal and the site lost tons of money so how can they do it. Well lets look at the other auction. @ 44.46 that is 2223 bids for a total of 1333.80 that quibids made off with in bids. HOLY CRAP. now i see how they make ther money. But not all that money is lost, people participating in auctions that do not win have the opportunity to purchase the item at full price. Which is a little above retail at say walmart. so even on the second scenario a person could of got a good deal if a bunch people participating all duked it out and ran up there bids to full price and just bought the item, and they were in on it towards the end. So i decided while there was some risk i would go ahead and purchase some bids and start with something small.
My first buy
For my first buy i decided to go for a set of titleist pro v1 golf balls retail just over $40. i watched several previous auctions of this item and knew what to expect. so i started watching one in progress, watched the bidders closely, then when i felt time was right i hopped in and started bidding. I made a total of 11 bids, and then with the .48 cent purchase price and shipping it came out to just over 11 dollars! not bad for fourty dollar golf balls. However getting in on more expensive items is another story. i have some items i want to purchase but want to do it right so i came up with some guidlines for myself so i could get the best deal possible.
My quidelines
1. I watch many auctions and check many completed for the item i want to purchase, so i can make informed bids( many items there are trends, but i will leave you to figure that out for yourself
2. I will not enter an auction unless i am planning to already planning to buy the item at full retail(there are no guarantees of a great deal)
3. Based off my trends research i will decide which auction to get into and when to get into it.
4. I will see the auction through no matter what( this means i could pay full price, but i wont have trown my money away).
Conclusions
Quibids is a definate cash cow for the owners of. there are a lot of foolish people on it throwing away their money, then getting upset when it happens. Quibids is not a scam, but should be approached cautiously and systematicaly. With a plan and right attitude you will increase your chances of getting one of these great deals.
