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Wednesday, January 5, 2011

Quibids Strategy-6: How to Win Big Ticket Quibids Auctions

A Quibids strategy for winning big-ticket items can be quite different from the ones that you might use for a $10 Walmart card. This post will help you to win big-ticket items like Quibids Macbook or Quibids iPad. In fact, there are not the only big ticket items. A non-exhaustive list of these auctions include -
  • Quibids Macbook
  • Quibids iPad
  • Variety of Plasma TVs
  • Variety of high quality cameras
  • A number of Netbooks and other Laptops
  • Occasional Quibids treats like Honda Civic car and a Caribbean Cruise!
As a general rule, anything that costs more money is a big-ticket item and naturally has more competition.

Not all Quibids strategies are applicable to these items. For example, you cannot use the Volunteer's Dilemma Quibids Strategy throughout the bidding process because there are too many bidders around and the chances of this game-theory like classic dilemma situation is rare. However, it can be used in certain phases.

So here are the list of tips to win Quibids Macbook or other big-ticket items:

Quibids Tip-1: Timing is the Key to Winning

First, you should read my post on Best and Worst Times to Bid on Quibids, which is a post on Quibids strategy that discusses the least and most competitive times at Quibids. If you want to win a big-ticket item like Quibids Macbook, it is very important that you bid during the least busy times. I cannot over-emphasize the importance of this. If you bid at the wrong times, your probability of winning can drastically decrease.

I want to demonstrate this with an example. Here are two auctions of the same product. One of them is during a good time and another during a bad time. This is exactly as is mentioned in my post. Can you see the difference?

Cheap Plasma TV for $4.10, bidding during the best time mentioned in my post:


Costly Plasma TV for $170.36 during the worst time mentioned in my post.


You should now be convinced how important bidding at the right time is to win on Quibids.

Quibids Tip-2: Decide if You can Pay the Full Price to Cut risk

Why are you at Quibids bidding for this item? Sure, you would like to get some cheap items but are you ready to pay the full market price. I know most bidders don't. However, your winning Quibids strategy depends on this decision, so you need to make a choice right now.

  • I can never pay the retail price: In this case, you should invest in bid vouchers. Read my post on How to Win Quibids Bid Vouchers to learn about this. Remember that there is no universal Quibids strategy that will ensure you will win. There is risk involved in Quibids and indeed any other penny auction. You can lose all the money that you invested in and for a big-ticket item this can be quite high. You should be willing to take on this risk if you want to follow this path.
  • I can pay the full retail price if it comes to that: Good! You are using Quibids to see if you can get a great deal but if not you are still ready to pay the full retail price and get the product. In this case, you should NOT use your real bids and bid on voucher bids. This is because voucher bids do not count towards your Buy It Now feature. If you lose the auction, you do not really lose any money because all the 'lost' money can be used towards buying the product at the retail price.
Quibids strategies are all about probabilities. Without a doubt, there is luck involved. You will find a number of Quibids tips and strategies throughout my blog but all they can do is improve your probability of a win - they cannot guarantee a win.

Remember that when you lose an auction, you lose money. This is not eBay. If you are seriously trying for a big-ticket item, you will need a lot of bids. If you lose, all this money is lost. Be aware of the risk before you venture out.

Quibids Tip-3: Use the Waiting Game

For big-ticket items, you should use my Quibids strategy on Waiting Game. This will help you to use minimal amount of bids. However, remember that while this is a theoretical best strategy to use, there are many practical constraints. This works very against the psychology of a bidder. No one likes to sit for hours in front of a computer and track every second and every bid.

If you belong to the category that can afford to pay the full retail price, you should also use the Volunteer's Dilemma Quibids strategy during the bidding process. This should never be used on a continuous basis. Rather, you should use it when there are no aggressive bidders around.

This is a high-risk high-return strategy. If you are able to create a classic game-theory dilemma situation, you can end the auction then and there and win the item. If not, you will end up losing more bids than usual. It can work well if you study the nature of bidding of your fellow bidders. If they appear meek and less aggressive, there is a higher probability that you win using this strategy.

Quibids Tip-4: Use the Bid-o-Matic Option

This is an important Quibids strategy from a practical point of view. We are all humans, after all, and we cannot sit for hours together in front of the computer without missing a single bidding chance that occurs once every few seconds. We need some rest and time off.

It is very risky to just stop bidding during a time window. This is because someone else might win the auction in this time and if he does, you will lose all the money you invested up to that point in the form of bids. This can be a very nasty situation.

Therefore, just use the Bid-o-Matic option which will allow you to place bids automatically without the need to be present in front of your computer.

However, remember the limitations of this method. For example, the maximum number of bids that can be placed through this is 25. You should read up about Bid-o-Matic first before you start bidding. The information can be found at the Quibids Help Section.

Quibids Tip-5: Avoid Bidding at the Start

This is a great Quibids strategy that a lot of bidders neglect. Big-ticket items can be highly competitive at Quibids and there are hundreds of bidders trying to win it. It is highly unlikely that you will win the auction for a few cents or even just a few dollars.

Therefore, it is best that you do not bid during the starting part of the auction. It is highly unlikely that you will be missing something. If in the rare case the auction ends during this time, try it the next day again. But following this Quibids strategy can save you hundreds of dollars.

One estimate is to use the 'Recently Sold for' amount for this product. Of late (last few months) Quibids has been using the lowest amount for this number that has occurred in the last few weeks. Therefore, totally avoid bidding till the price reaches this value.

Even after reaching this value, it is highly unlikely that it will end soon. You can wait longer. It is really hard to say how long - impossible in fact. Take a calculated risk in this aspect. However, remember that once you start bidding, you cannot give up half-way because if you do, you will lose all the money invested.

Quibids Tip-6: Be Prepared for a Long Haul

When you want to win a big-ticket item like a Quibids Macbook, you need to be prepared for a really long haul. No one can predict how long the auction can go. In the pictures shown above, the difference in time between the two auctions was several hours. You cannot really predict the time-frame.

Sometimes, items go late into the night and continue even up to the next day morning. We are talking here in the order of 6,8,10 hours at times. I know this can be really long but that's the price you got to pay.

Being prepared for this is important, not just psychologically but also physically. Have something to eat and munch on during the auction. While eating, use the Bid-o-Matic as described in the previous Quibids strategy. However, don't doze off to sleep before the auction ends!

Quibids Tip-7: Never Say Die

So finally, the last in the list of to win Quibids macbook and other big-ticket items! This is very important because a lot of people just don't realize it. If you are not going to be prepared to buy the product at the retail price, you might just lose a lot of money trying. This is the risk that you should be prepared to take.

If you quit halfway, you lose the product and also all the bids that you placed till that point. This can mean a lot of hundreds of dollars. Therefore the best strategy is to stick through with bidding and trying to win.

Also, at each stage reconsider your decision of whether to use the Buy It Now feature. For example, if you have spent $1000 on bids on a Quibids Macbook, it is much better that you put in a few hundred more dollars and buy the product than lose all the $1000.

I hope these Quibids strategies help you win big on Quibids. Good luck!
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8 comments:

  1. hi there great post but I have also noticed something but don't want to say it here until I know I am right. How can I contact you via email?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks. I am glad you liked my post.
    You can email me at quibidsblog@gmail.com I will be happy to receive your email. If it helps, I'll include it on my blog, with due reference of course :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. So how many bids do you recommend accumulating before bidding on a large item? 300 bids? 1000 bids? Just curious.

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  4. Do you know how often a macbook would go up for auction?

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  5. When reading this post it reminded me of something I read the other month in a landrover Website, would there be any chance I could have the authors email address, Well Written blog thanks for the information.

    http://ipadsbid.com/

    ReplyDelete
  6. I adored your tips. Really , people have to be ready to " buy it now" and count on some luck. I already won a samsung galaxy 2 and a toaster and i saved some hundred bucks. People have to aim on one product at a time , and not keep chasing different items. You have to create also a group of friends and bid together and then share the profits.

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  7. Excellent post. Really a good to know this great tips because i am big fan of Quibids auctions and i always eager to win it. Above tips can be very helpful to me for winning quibids auctions.

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  8. https://www.bidpanther.com/how_to_win_at_quibids/

    ReplyDelete