Quibids - anyone else use this site?

[Kivam]

So, I recently stumbled across a site called quibids.com, which is a penny auction site (basically, you buy bids from the site at $.60 each and then use those to bid, typically in increments of one or two cents at a time, on various items - anything from gift cards (target, walmart, etc.) To big-ticket items (macbooks, 46 inch TVs)). Does anyone else have any experience with the site?

 

Personally, I only bid on gift cards (since the site let's you apply the value of losing bids to the retail price of the auction, I can only lose the $2 transaction fee if I don't win) and thus far I've come out ahead.

 

Has anyone here actually tried for the bigger items?  Any luck?

[Haxorsist]

I tried a site like that. The site owners were suspected of bidding on the things just as time was about to run out. The bids were free for them and it made people buy more bids. It was all a scam, which is why I generally distrust these kinds of sites now.

[Naeann]

Are you going to win me a giftcard Kivam??? :-*

[Kivam]

Are you going to win me a giftcard Kivam??? :-*

 

I'll see what I can do  ;D

 

BTW, if anyone is interested in signing up for the site, please PM me so I can send you an invite.  That way, I get 25 free bids.

[Naeann]

Just signing up gets you the free bids?  Or purchasing bids of our own?  If it's just signing up then send me an invite just to help you out.. I'll check out the site. (especially if you win me a giftcard)

[Kivam]

Just signing up gets you the free bids?  Or purchasing bids of our own?  If it's just signing up then send me an invite just to help you out.. I'll check out the site. (especially if you win me a giftcard)

 

No, when you purchase your first bidpack.  The minimum purchase is 45 bids (plus 10 free) for $27; if you use them all on bidding on a $50 gift card, you're guaranteed to either make money (by getting the gift card for less than its worth) or only be out the $2.00 processing fee (if you lose the auction and put the $27 in bids towards the price of the gift card).  Two pieces of advice to anyone considering doing this:

 

1) WATCH THE AUCTIONS.  Spend some time seeing how much things go for before you bid.  If the $50 gift cards typically go for $20, don't waste your bids trying to get it for 10 cents.  Wait til the auction hits $15 or so before jumping in.

 

2) DON'T SPREAD YOUR BIDS AROUND.  Keep them on one item until you win it or use them up and can put that money towards buying the item at retail.  Bidding on 5 different things is a good way to lose your bids or spend more money than you wanted to.

[Naeann]

That sounds confusing.. so I buy the 45 bids and use 20 of them for an auction and I lose it.. do I lose those 20 bids?  If so that's a heck of alot more than 2 bucks.

[Kivam]

That sounds confusing.. so I buy the 45 bids and use 20 of them for an auction and I lose it.. do I lose those 20 bids?  If so that's a heck of alot more than 2 bucks.

 

Here's what happens:

 

You buy 20 bids for $12 (lets use round numbers to make it easy).

 

You use 20 of them ($12) bidding on a $25 gift card but don't win the auction.  The bids are gone, but - here's the key - you can apply the $12 value of the bids towards buying the gift card at full price ($25, plus shipping)

 

So you spend an additional $15 - $13 to buy the gift card for the full $25 price, plus $2 shipping.

 

Therefore, you have spent $27 - $12 to buy bids and an additional $15 to buy the card at full price after losing the auction - and would up with a $25 gift card.  Therefore, you lost $2.

 

(of course if you win the auction at, say, $2, and spent the same $12 in bids, then you just got a $25 gift card for $16 - your $12 in bids, the $2 price, and the $2 shipping). 

 

That's why it's important to only bid on items you are OK with buying at their full listed price if you lose the auction.  That way your upside is getting it for cheaper than its worth, and your downside is getting it for what it's worth (in bids plus any additional cash) plus shipping costs.

 

Its why you won't ever find me bidding on a macbook, even though someone wins them at about $600 - a significant discount - most times they're offered.  The odds of me winning it are too low, and I'm not going to spend full price (don't have it available), so if I spend $100 in bids going after it and losing . . . well, then I just lost $100.  But if you stick to items you're willing to buy if you lose, then you'll only ever lose money on shipping costs - nothing else.

 

[ed2funy]

Kivam is using walls of text, and purposely confusing sentences to throw us off his scum trail.

It's as bright as the night sky really.

[glow=red,2,300]Kivam[/glow]

 

Yes, I am a cheap basterd like that.

[mottlee]

i checked it out sounds alright the only problem is i don't live in the US if they every get one for australia i'll definately check it out