If you want to know about Quibids, please check my Welcome post here. To directly visit Quibids, Click Here. To see a Video explaining QuiBids (the official video), Click Here.
The question I get asked often is "Is QuiBids scam?" and the simple answer for it is ... well ... depends! Yea, I know that's not the simple answer you are looking for, but "it's complicated!" That's why I have decided to write this QuiBids review for the benefit of everyone.
QuiBids is a penny auction, which means it might at once appear to be a scam to some people. For the sake of those who do not know about penny auctions, here is a simple description:
A Penny Auction allows you to buy items apparently at a very cheap rate. The way it works is users place a bid on the item like a traditional auction, but they have to pay for each bid they place. Also, they are not allowed to place any bid they like - they can only place a bid slightly higher than the existing price, usually in steps of 1 or 2 cents. This allows the Penny Auction site like QuiBids to rake in money through the bids, which enables it to sell items for cheap
Your expenditure on the site is the sum of what you pay as the item price you won at the auction at QuiBids and the amount you spend in bidding. Make no mistake, this amount can be extremely high! They charge you $0.60 per bid, and you might have to place hundreds of bids to win an item, so you can never be sure how to even out. I will put up some strategies later on for my readers in any case.
As for whether Quibids is scam, they will not scam you as in if you win, they will certainly get you the product at the right place. However, the penny auction model is not well suited for everyone, so it might apparently appear that it is a scam. If however you consider penny auctions worth your time, here are my thoughts on Quibids Review -
The Advantages
QuiBids has several nice features compared to other Penny Auction sites. Here are a few of them.
- Number of Auctions: This is certainly a big plus here at QuiBids. There are literally hundreds of auctions every day here, as compared to a a few or a maximum of tens of auctions on other sites. This naturally translates into a more enriching experience and you have more choice for what you can buy. You can also choose your own convenient time to visit the site since there is something or the other of interest going on all the time.
- The 'Buy It Now' Option: So here is a wonderful option that QuiBids has for their customers. If you are losing too much in the bidding process, you can have that amount counted towards buying that item at the full retail price. This is a great feature if you are bidding for something that you would even otherwise want to buy. Of course it would end up costlier than the best deals you can find, say, on eBay but at least it reduces your risk. Use this option wisely.
- Customer Service: They are still a new site, so they retain some sense of customer service. You can see their representative answering questions posed at their forums and blogs, which is a good sign. I did contact them on a Saturday and didn't hear back from them for a couple of days. Perhaps they might improve a bit here?
- Honesty: Now this is a tricky part. I cannot be 100% sure about this because I have never been to the company or talked with the CEO or their employees. However, from what I see around at the site and also at the interviews of the CEO, they look like an honest bunch of people. For one, there do not seem to be any automatic bots playing in the bidding process, which can cause significant losses to the honest players. This is a great step for the penny auctions industry.
- Promise for more: The site keeps changing and introducing new features, which keeps the excitement level high - something important for a penny auction site.
The Disadvantages
Nothing is perfect in the world and neither is QuiBids. There are several ways the site can improve and here are a few drawbacks/disadvantages that I see.
- You can lose a LOT of money: Which is another way of saying, you can lose a ton of money for nothing. I have seen people bid unsuccessfully for items costing $15, upward of $50, which is just a sheer waste of money. Be careful and wise while bidding. I'll put up a strategies post soon enough.
- Higher bids: As the site grows in popularity, I have seen more and more people coming here for the same items. There is no proportionate increase in number of items at the bid. This means increased competition among the bidders and a VERY high profit for the site, which of course means a lot of people are going to lose a lot of money here.
- Hidden fees: I am no fan of hidden fees but QuiBids takes it to a new level. You have to pay a varying amount for delivery of the item, which is aboslutely hate, considering the site makes thousands of dollars selling items costing a few hundred bucks. What's worse is the fees keeps varying - I don't suppose a gift card worth $200 takes more for delivery than a gift card worth $15, but QuiBids seems to think otherwise. I HATE this.
- Site Delays: I have not experienced it personally but people do seem to complain about site delays. In a penny auction, each second counts and if you are unable to place your bid at the right time, you can lose significantly. A lot of people seem justifiably pissed-off with this.
- Virtual Bids: This is another aspect I absolutely hate. When I PAY for the bids, they say it is virtual because I used the 'Buy It Now' option and I don't get them counted towards future 'Buy It Now' options. This needs a serious revision if they want to make any logical sense to be around.
- Too many Limits: They prevent you from winning more than 3 auctions a day, more than 8 auctions a month, more than 1 high costing item a month and you cannot win the same item twice in a month. These limits seem too stringent. Penny auctions are also for fun, which means they can relax the limits for some cases at least - perhaps the smaller valued gift cards or the auction for bids packages.
I will be updating this section as I think there are many other advantages and disadvantages here. If you have anything to contribute, please be free to mention them and I'll include those appropriately.
