There has been a class action lawsuit against Quibids. It has been a couple of months now, and I must admit I didn't know about this. The person Lawrence A Locke is the plaintiff. The law firm Beckham and Mandel have filed the lawsuit. The news can be found on an article on Businesswire.
I have read the complete lawsuit, and it seems to be aimed more at the penny auction industry and business model in general rather than at Quibids per se. Of course, the person seems unhappy with Quibids but the lawsuit describes the penny auction industry in general. I don't see anything substantive against Quibids as such.
So don't worry about is Quibids legit or is Quibids scam because if it is, at least according to this lawsuit, the entire penny auction industry is.
So what are the points raised here? Here is a very brief summary of the main objections raised -
1. Quibids makes a lot of profit.
He gives the example of the Honda Civic auction. Ironically, I had discussed it in detail in my blog. Was Mr. Locke reading my blog? ;)
2. It is akin to gambling.
3. The Buy It Now prices are inflated.
4. Low and incalculable odds of winning.
5. Quibids doesn't disclose that a majority of people lose money on the site.
6. The initial few bids on high-ticket items are pointless (- a classical mathematical fallacy arising from a lack of understanding of the penny auction model. You need someone to place those bids. If no one places them, the first 1 cent bidder is the winner :) )
You can read the entire class action lawsuit here
It would be great to know your thoughts on this. What do you think about this lawsuit?
I hope Quibids loses the case and is forced to pay back all the $ they scammed from their marks. What they are doing is unethical and should be illegal.
ReplyDeleteyou played and lost. deal with it
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ReplyDeleteI dont think the company should be penalized for this, people need to do their research and know what they are getting themselves into. When a man walks into a bank and invests $$ into a stock, should the stock broker be arrested if the stock goes down the drain? And no it is not different every american wants a better deal or a chance to make alot of $$ its our creed. Stop harassing the site owners and live your life.
ReplyDeleteI had bitter experience with quibid and i wants to lawsuit against them i need help. pls. help me the way out
ReplyDelete@Jconsales
ReplyDeleteThanks for pointing that out. I agree with you, although we do need better regulation against outright fraudulent claims and such (using bots in penny auctions would be another thing). I tend to share your views about the model as a whole.
@kal
You should write to the people in the lawsuit if you want to get in touch with them.
I think this plays on peoples greed, or atleast the urge for savings.
ReplyDeleteIt isnt illegal, and its a very good business model but entirely unethical. It also reliese on the uneducated, which again, is very unethical.
I dont think they should be closed down as you cant go closing every business down you dont agree with. But i do think they should be obligated to explain the process to eliminate the whole 'preying on the week' model.
It sure does play on people's greed, but I guess a huge part of our economy does. We live in a world of consumerism, so yes, that is not surprising at all. Unethical though is hard to argue for or against. As long as it isn't illegal, it should have the freedom to pursue its business model.
DeleteThese are the majority of our human problems. Allowing something to be perfectly "legal" but perfectly "unethical" at the same time.
ReplyDeleteNormally when a fraud or wrong is confirmed in a business practice, it is after the fact. I'll bet money on this company to fail.
People need to take responsibility for their own actions and quit crying everytime they don't get their way. This guy who filed the lawsuit is a p.o.s. and is whats wrong with the world today. I bet he was one of the kids that got a trophy even though his team came in last place. You played the game and lost now shut up and deal with it. We have all lost money. I hope they give him back his $51 and send him packing. Grow up you big freaking baby.
ReplyDeleteThe problem with quibids is they are auctioning off items that they do not have. That my friends is fraud. Three times I won an auction and the item never shipped so they made me pick another item. You can win an auction and spend a lot of cash to get it, then they tell you you have spent the money on something different ( bait and switch?)
ReplyDeleteAs long as I don't have to pay back the $10,000 or so that I have made off of them !!
ReplyDeleteQuibids auction's are rigged. Their auction pages never fully load. Reason most all buyer I.D.s and bids are Quibids computer generating them. I noticed in their rules it says 12 winning bids per day. But some of their computer generated buyer I.D.s. Win as many as 30 or more auctions a day. You see all these that say they won for penny's. But in fact every bid cost .60 cent + the 1 cent. If someone won a Knife set for $ 2.00. That would be 200 x .61 cent or $ 122.00. That alone is a rip off. I was on Qiubids for 3 days spent over $ 80.00 for a at most worth $ 15.00 Knife. Because you can not beat computer generated buyer I.D.s that bid. Be smart and do not get on Quibids site. I can promise and guarantee from my experience with computers. Quibids is a rip off. It is not legal to cheat or scam the public but they are still getting away with it.
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