Class Action Lawsuit Against Quibids!

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?

Quibids Trap Page: Different Auctions for Different Users

There are allegations that Quibids is using a trap page to direct different users to different auctions. This is alleged to be a Quibids scam and not legit by some. The reply that Quibids customer service agent gave to a user doesn't help matters much either.

So what is a Quibids trap page? Simply put, there are different pages for different users so that there are different auctions for different bidders. I think the way it goes is that Quibids collects the data from different users and classifies them in different categories. The bigger bidders who spend and bid aggressively are grouped together into one category, so that they compete with each other and not smaller bidders. So if you are winning a lot on Quibids, you will find it harder to win in the future.

The Quibids customer support reply says that they have different auctions for different people to maximize their winnings. This is obviously untrue because they want to have the aggressive bidders bid with each other, because otherwise they could win most of the items and leave others unhappy. This would also reduce Quibids' earnings. While I don't think this counts as a Quibids scam, it does seem suspicious. I think they should mention this somewhere on their website, because otherwise it seems misleading.

So how do we know that Quibids is actually using a trap page? Simple - clear your cookies and note all the auctions that are present on the page. Now log in with your account and you will find that there are different auctions present. Not cool. So you might see some auction when you are not logged in and then all of a sudden when you log in, this auction could disappear for you.

Is this a Quibids scam? There seem to be some legal implications but I am not really sure. There is only hype at this stage. I don't think there are any lawsuits filed. You can read the entire discussion on PennyAuctionsWatch article.

You can try this out yourself - clear the cookies and you will see different auctions than when you are logged in. I think Quibids saves cookies to determine how much you win and which auctions to show. Better still, if you have a friend somewhere else, you could compare notes on which Quibids auctions you both see.



So what do you think about this Quibids trap page? Is Quibids scam? Is Quibids legit? The penny auction watch comments seem to suggest otherwise, but certainly you cannot believe all the rant on the internet.

Quibids Review: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

Here is my first part of Quibids review for my readers:

Quibids is a penny auction site, which is unlike other traditional auctions. If you do not know what penny auctions are, you can read about it at Wikipedia. Remember, Quibids is not a traditional auction site.

For those of you who are looking to answer the question of whether Quibids is a scam or not, here is a simple one word answer: No. However, my Quibids review is not about whether it is a scam, which it is not. You can read my post here to see why Quibids is not a scam.

However, if you happen to try the site out without knowing that it is a penny auction site, you might think it is a scam. This is why, don't join Quibids until you are sure you know what you are getting yourself into.

All penny auctions including Quibids contain elements of luck and risk, and can resemble a lottery.

My Quibids review here is about what is good and bad in Quibids, assuming you already understand the risk in Quibids.

The Good:

• Not Scam!: This is the biggest good for Quibids review, simply because most penny auction sites are outright scams. Quibids has a sustainable business model. Quibids uses game theory and elements of psychology and economics and can make for a good business model, which it is. Quibids recently completed the millionth auction on the site. It is quite unlike sites like Swipebids/Swipeauctions that are outright scams.
  

• Real Auctions: Quibids has real auctions, which means the auctions are not all about bids and virtual products. By real auctions in my Quibids review, I mean that what you can win is real and tangible. You can win a Quibids macbook or Quibids iPad or something smaller, like headphones or mouse, but there are physical products that you use. Many penny auction sites only have points and coupons to win, which are seldom tangible. Thus they work akin to a ponzi.
  

• Fast Product Delivery: The product delivery from Quibids is fast. You will get what you win within a week or two. They are prompt with ensuring that the winners get their products well in time.
  

• The 'Buy it Now' Feature: This feature of Quibids is unique and can be highly useful for bidders. If you fail to win a product, you can use the amount towards the bids to purchase it at the market value. This is a good feature that greatly minimizes your losses, especially if you are interested to buy the product you are bidding anyway.

The Bad:
My Quibids review needs to be balanced and neutral, so here are some of the bad things about Quibids that might change with time.

• Weekend competition: The best time to participate in penny auctions is the weekends when people are relatively free. However, it seems that there are just not enough products for the weekend, and so everyone bids on the same few auctions. This causes immense amount of competition, and thus the customers end up losing a lot. Quibids is naturally aware that far more people participate in auctions during the weekends, but I guess they just want to book profits above the user convenience in this case.
  

• Hidden charges: Let me be honest - I hate hidden charges and hidden fees everywhere, not just Quibids. They have a delivery cost that be totally unjustified. For example, they charge $2 for adding bid after you win a bid voucher from Quibids. This is ridiculous as there is nothing physical being transferred. The bids are added immediately to your account, so why the extra fees?
  

• Misleading Information: There are several things in this category. For example, a lot of advertisements seem to be showing very high discounts without telling the users about the risk. This is why so many think Quibids is scam. I don't think withholding information is the right way to go especially at this stage. I'll probably write a whole post on this topic soon.
  

So that was my Quibids review and I hope to hear from you - what you like and what you don't, so I can take those into account for my next review.

Quibids scam or not

Question: Is Quibids a scam?
Verdict: Not scam.

Quibids is a penny auction site, which is quite different from the regular auctions that you are aware of, like traditional auctions or even websites like eBay. Penny auction is a kind of Bidding fee auction, so each bid you place, you need to pay for it.

In spite of what the founder says, there are few parallels between traditional auctions and Quibids. Thus, you should know well the risks of Quibids before venturing to bid on the site. The simple fact is, it is a high-risk-high-return strategy. You might win big time or you might lose a lot of money without anything to show for. There are of course a few Quibids strategies that you can use (read my series on Quibids strategies on this blog) to maximize your returns, but the risk is still there.

That being said, once you understand the risk of Quibids, you will soon find out that Quibids is not a scam. They are here to stay and they have a successful business model. Quibids is not a scam because they will not withhold your winnings or not send you auctions that you have won. They also have plenty of cool features that are not aimed to scam you.

Bottom line: you can trust Quibids, but don't be so sure of your luck!

A number of penny auction sites have recently closed shop. One of the more famous group includes Swipebids/Swipeauctions. This was bad, but it wasn't surprising, considering the way the site was run. It was a totally unsustainable model and there was no way to make sure it was run profitably. I would say it was more like a Ponzi scheme, where all you do all day is to win more bids, which are essentially worthless.

On the other hand, Quibids has real auctions with real products, not just bids. People do win real here. In addition, I am amazed by Quibids in that it was able to come a long way since the first days. They do need to work on many aspects, including some better ways to advertise, but overall, I think Quibids is great and Quibids is not a scam. Quibids is legit company.