Quibids loves selling Macbooks, HDTVs, iPads, etc. Ever wonder why that is the case? Quibids is the largest penny auction site online and makes tens of thousands of dollars each day. It does have a number of small ticket items like gift cards. However, you can see of late that there are increasingly more and more big-ticket items. Did you ever wonder why?
Well, the simple reason is they bring in more profit even when they sell for a huge discount. The main reason for this anomaly is the Buy It Now feature of Quibids. Quibids provides this option so theoretically no one loses money bidding on the auction as they can use the money spent towards bids in a lost auction in purchasing the item at its full retail price.
This is easy for a $10 gift card - if you spent $6 in bids and didn't win, it makes sense to invest $4 more and get the card. However, if you are bidding on a $1400 macbook and lose bids worth $120, I am sure you won't jump and buy it at its full retail. This is the case with most bidders.
Consider the recent Apple Bundle worth $4000 being auctioned on Quibids. The auction will attract hundreds of bidders. Not even a handful (I doubt if anyone will) will ever buy the whole bundle by paying $4000. This way, all the profits made by Quibids go into its pocket and it doesn't have to worry about cuts in profit through the Buy it Now route.
This is an excellent strategy being employed by Quibids. It can afford to do this because they are really big and they will always get customers bidding on these big-ticket items. Unfortunately not all penny auctions can replicate this model because they are not so big. Simply put, Quibids will only grow bigger and bigger each day.
If you are interested in bidding on the big-ticket items, check out my post on Quibids strategies for winning big ticket items. This will be immensely beneficial to maximize your winning chances. Also, don't forget to subscribe to the blog so you can get regular updates.
Showing posts with label quibids strategies. Show all posts
Showing posts with label quibids strategies. Show all posts
Saturday, February 5, 2011
Friday, February 4, 2011
Quibids Featured Auction of the Week: All Things Apple!
Quibids is increasing the stakes with its Featured Auction of the Week. This week, it is the Apple Macbook Pro bundle, which will include products worth about $4000! The winner takes it all, so keep your fingers crossed!
You can find the auction on Quibids if you want to participate. Also, don't forget to read about the different Quibids strategies before you dive in to win.
You can find the auction on Quibids if you want to participate. Also, don't forget to read about the different Quibids strategies before you dive in to win.
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
Quibids vs Bidhere-2
This is part 2 of my discussion on Quibids vs BidHere. You can read the Part-1 for starters.
If you want to know about the different Quibids strategies, you can read my post on Review of Quibids Strategies that will direct you to the appropriate sections of my blog to win big on Quibids.
So in my first section, I talked about Quibids vs BidHere with respect to win limits and the buy it now feature. Today, I'll cover other sections -
Customer Service
Customer service is very important for any penny auction for a variety of reasons. First, there can always be a problem with the auction, so you need someone to listen to you. You might have problems using or accessing the website. However, the main issue is to deal with shipping and products. Since there are so many auctions present on both these sites, it is natural that there will be some problems.
In this regard, I have to say that Quibids is better hands down. Even within the industry, BidHere is not the best site if you are looking for good customer service. And compared to the penny auction industry in general, Quibids' customer service is really good. You will get prompt replies and if there are problems, they are usually resolved. Quibids also has a good reputation in this regard at the BBB.
Interesting Auctions
I must admit that Quibids is really not the most adventurous penny auction out there, which is a pity. They can get away with special auctions that ultimately don't succeed as expected because they are so big. In this regard, I have to say that BidHere is better and provides more interesting and entertaining auctions. Perhaps one reason is that Quibids has a strict buy it now policy for all auctions while BidHere doesn't.
In any case, Quibids doesn't offer a lot of different entertainment models within the penny auctions. The best you can see are the so called hybrid auctions that have a product coupled with some bids. This doesn't even sound that exciting.
There are many types of auctions at BidHere that you can find here. Some interesting ones are cash back auctions, speed auctions, fixed price auctions, seat auctions, etc.
I think Quibids should try out more things which will attract more customers. Oh and they badly need to increase the number of auctions, keeping in line with the increase in number of users.
Don't forget to follow this blog to get all the latest updates on Quibids, Quibids strategies and exciting offers and keep yourself abreast of all the latest happenings in the world of penny auctions!
If you want to know about the different Quibids strategies, you can read my post on Review of Quibids Strategies that will direct you to the appropriate sections of my blog to win big on Quibids.
So in my first section, I talked about Quibids vs BidHere with respect to win limits and the buy it now feature. Today, I'll cover other sections -
Customer Service
Customer service is very important for any penny auction for a variety of reasons. First, there can always be a problem with the auction, so you need someone to listen to you. You might have problems using or accessing the website. However, the main issue is to deal with shipping and products. Since there are so many auctions present on both these sites, it is natural that there will be some problems.
In this regard, I have to say that Quibids is better hands down. Even within the industry, BidHere is not the best site if you are looking for good customer service. And compared to the penny auction industry in general, Quibids' customer service is really good. You will get prompt replies and if there are problems, they are usually resolved. Quibids also has a good reputation in this regard at the BBB.
Interesting Auctions
I must admit that Quibids is really not the most adventurous penny auction out there, which is a pity. They can get away with special auctions that ultimately don't succeed as expected because they are so big. In this regard, I have to say that BidHere is better and provides more interesting and entertaining auctions. Perhaps one reason is that Quibids has a strict buy it now policy for all auctions while BidHere doesn't.
In any case, Quibids doesn't offer a lot of different entertainment models within the penny auctions. The best you can see are the so called hybrid auctions that have a product coupled with some bids. This doesn't even sound that exciting.
There are many types of auctions at BidHere that you can find here. Some interesting ones are cash back auctions, speed auctions, fixed price auctions, seat auctions, etc.
I think Quibids should try out more things which will attract more customers. Oh and they badly need to increase the number of auctions, keeping in line with the increase in number of users.
Don't forget to follow this blog to get all the latest updates on Quibids, Quibids strategies and exciting offers and keep yourself abreast of all the latest happenings in the world of penny auctions!
Saturday, January 22, 2011
Review of Quibids Strategies
This post gives a review of my Quibids strategies - a short overview of the bidding process and how you can win big on Quibids. Follow the main articles for a complete analysis.
The first post you need to look into is the Best and Worst Times to Bid on Quibids. This is perhaps the most important Quibids strategy simply because the difference can be significant. Very significant actually. The post discusses the times you should avoid and more importantly the times when you have the maximum chance of winning at Quibids.
Then, the overall bidding process can be broken down into essentially two Quibids strategies: The Waiting Game and The Volunteer's Dilemma. These two Quibids strategies are diametrically opposite but towards the same goal. It doesn't make sense to use both of them on the same auction. However, you can use them on different Quibids auctions. The whole trick is to know which auctions are well suited for which Quibids strategy.
The Waiting Game involves saving your bids and bidding at the last moment but it doesn't go well with the overall psychology of bidding at Quibids and indeed any other penny auction. On the other hand, the Volunteer's Dilemma is riskier and aggressive, and it plays very well with the psychology of bidders. However, you might lose more bids. The trick is to know how to reduce this risk.
Next, you need to know about improving your winning chances. The Quibids Bid Voucher Strategy deals with how to use bid vouchers effectively. It is a common misconception that you should go after bid vouchers - you can do just fine or better without them. For one, they are highly competitive. Also, you lose real bids for voucher bids, which increases the risk considerably. So you need to play tactically here.
You will then need to understand how different types of Quibids bidders behave and how to beat them. The aggressive bidders are hard to get rid of, so you need to devise a strategy to beat them. You need a Quibids Strategy Against Aggressive Bidders that doesn't have you spending all the bids that you have.
Another important thing that you should know is the Quibids Strategy of Winning Against Bidomatic. This is important because bidders get uncomfortable when they are pitted against a machine and they give up sooner. However, there is no cause for worry and you can use some strategies mentioned in the main post to beat the Bidomatic.
Finally, with some experience, you will be ready to win the big-ticket items like Macbooks and Plasma TVs. This is a different ball-game altogether though the basics remain the same. As a guide, I have written the Quibids Strategy of Winning Big Ticket Items that will help you in the process.
I hope this review of Quibids Strategies was helpful to you. Be sure to go through the resources here and also share your stories with all of us. Good luck bidding!
The first post you need to look into is the Best and Worst Times to Bid on Quibids. This is perhaps the most important Quibids strategy simply because the difference can be significant. Very significant actually. The post discusses the times you should avoid and more importantly the times when you have the maximum chance of winning at Quibids.
Then, the overall bidding process can be broken down into essentially two Quibids strategies: The Waiting Game and The Volunteer's Dilemma. These two Quibids strategies are diametrically opposite but towards the same goal. It doesn't make sense to use both of them on the same auction. However, you can use them on different Quibids auctions. The whole trick is to know which auctions are well suited for which Quibids strategy.
The Waiting Game involves saving your bids and bidding at the last moment but it doesn't go well with the overall psychology of bidding at Quibids and indeed any other penny auction. On the other hand, the Volunteer's Dilemma is riskier and aggressive, and it plays very well with the psychology of bidders. However, you might lose more bids. The trick is to know how to reduce this risk.
Next, you need to know about improving your winning chances. The Quibids Bid Voucher Strategy deals with how to use bid vouchers effectively. It is a common misconception that you should go after bid vouchers - you can do just fine or better without them. For one, they are highly competitive. Also, you lose real bids for voucher bids, which increases the risk considerably. So you need to play tactically here.
You will then need to understand how different types of Quibids bidders behave and how to beat them. The aggressive bidders are hard to get rid of, so you need to devise a strategy to beat them. You need a Quibids Strategy Against Aggressive Bidders that doesn't have you spending all the bids that you have.
Another important thing that you should know is the Quibids Strategy of Winning Against Bidomatic. This is important because bidders get uncomfortable when they are pitted against a machine and they give up sooner. However, there is no cause for worry and you can use some strategies mentioned in the main post to beat the Bidomatic.
Finally, with some experience, you will be ready to win the big-ticket items like Macbooks and Plasma TVs. This is a different ball-game altogether though the basics remain the same. As a guide, I have written the Quibids Strategy of Winning Big Ticket Items that will help you in the process.
I hope this review of Quibids Strategies was helpful to you. Be sure to go through the resources here and also share your stories with all of us. Good luck bidding!
Beezid Strategy for Winning
Beezid strategy to win is slightly different from Quibids strategy because of the inherent differences between the two. My Quibids strategies can be found on the right hand side of the page. This post deals with Beezid strategy.
Beezid is another famous penny auction like Quibids. I know Quibids is getting overcrowded and therefore people are looking for alternatives to Quibids. Beezid is famous because of its aggressive marketing campaign, but there are many areas in which it falls short. Read my complete analysis of Quibids vs Beezid
Now, as mentioned earlier, Beezid strategy can be quite different from Quibids strategy. Here is how.
At Quibids, you can use aggressive bidding and it greatly helps you win items because there is a Buy It Now option so you know you don't really lose a lot of money even if you lose the auction. This is well explained in my Quibids Strategy Volunteer's Dilemma post. On the contrary, there is no such option at Beezid. Therefore I would not suggest this bidding strategy at Beezid.
So what is the best Beezid strategy? I would say use the Waiting Game strategy for most cases. This will minimize your losses and give you a good chance at winning. However, it is of utmost importance that you do not quit - keep bidding till you are the winner. This is the only real way to win. In all other cases, you simply lose the money.
Also, at Beezid there is no real difference between the real bids and voucher bids. Therefore you should try and win as many Beezid voucher bid packs as possible. You can read about Strategies to Win Voucher bids.
Remember that at Beezid you get 10 free bids when you register (you don't need any Beezid coupon code). You should use these bids wisely. They are valid on all beginner auctions. These auctions are easier to win and it would be great if you can win something big using just the free bids. Since beginners may not really know a lot about Beezid strategies, you have a good chance of winning. So make sure you know all the proper Beezid strategies before you start bidding.
Beezid is another famous penny auction like Quibids. I know Quibids is getting overcrowded and therefore people are looking for alternatives to Quibids. Beezid is famous because of its aggressive marketing campaign, but there are many areas in which it falls short. Read my complete analysis of Quibids vs Beezid
Now, as mentioned earlier, Beezid strategy can be quite different from Quibids strategy. Here is how.
At Quibids, you can use aggressive bidding and it greatly helps you win items because there is a Buy It Now option so you know you don't really lose a lot of money even if you lose the auction. This is well explained in my Quibids Strategy Volunteer's Dilemma post. On the contrary, there is no such option at Beezid. Therefore I would not suggest this bidding strategy at Beezid.
So what is the best Beezid strategy? I would say use the Waiting Game strategy for most cases. This will minimize your losses and give you a good chance at winning. However, it is of utmost importance that you do not quit - keep bidding till you are the winner. This is the only real way to win. In all other cases, you simply lose the money.
Also, at Beezid there is no real difference between the real bids and voucher bids. Therefore you should try and win as many Beezid voucher bid packs as possible. You can read about Strategies to Win Voucher bids.
Remember that at Beezid you get 10 free bids when you register (you don't need any Beezid coupon code). You should use these bids wisely. They are valid on all beginner auctions. These auctions are easier to win and it would be great if you can win something big using just the free bids. Since beginners may not really know a lot about Beezid strategies, you have a good chance of winning. So make sure you know all the proper Beezid strategies before you start bidding.
Monday, January 17, 2011
How Does Quibids Work
This post is for the beginners who want to know how does Quibids work. For the people who are already members of the site and know your way around, you should look for my Quibids strategy series. For starters, you can look at the Best time to bid on Quibids, Quibids strategy of Waiting Game and Volunteer's Dilemma.
So for the newbies again, how does Quibids work? How are they able to give away Macbooks for a hundred bucks? Is Quibids legit? How can anyone offer 90% off?
So let's get the obvious out of the way - Quibids is legit and it is making loads of profit. It is not a charity that gives away brand new items for a few bucks. So how does Quibids work?
Simple - Quibids uses a Bidding fee auction model (link to Wikipedia page) which is usually called the penny auction on the internet.
There are 3 fundamental differences between penny auctions and ordinary auctions. If you understand these, you will know exactly how Quibids works and how they can offer up to 90% discounts and still turn a sizable profit.
Pay Per Bid: Bidding is NOT Free
This is the most fundamental difference between a penny auction like Quibids and a traditional auction site like eBay. Quibids makes it profit from the bids. Whenever anyone places a bid, she is charged $0.60 irrespective of whether it is a winning bid. As you can imagine, this adds up quick.
For example, a typical Macbook auction can attract more than 10,000 bids. This is a very conservative estimate. This translates to $6,000, which is a healthy profit margin for a Macbook selling at $100.
Do you see the point? Quibids doesn't make money from the price of the item they are selling. They can afford to give away the products for free! Their income stream is from the bids.
Simply put, Quibids is a win-lose type of situation. The winner can get a great deal on the purchase but everyone else loses. Contrast this with a traditional auction scenario which is a win-break even situation: If you win, you get a good deal and if you lose, you actually lose nothing. In Quibids, if you lose the auction, you will lose money.
Timer Increments
This can be a confusing aspect to beginners who ask how Quibids work because they do not understand how the timer is increment. In spite of what Quibids claims, the simple reason for this is they want to make more money.
A fixed timer can give rise to the auction strategy of sniping. Everyone will bid at the last moment. This will significantly reduce the total number of bids placed and as stated in the previous point, Quibids makes money off the number of bids placed.
So Quibids simply increments the timer by 10/15/20 seconds each and every time a bid is placed. This is also a reason why you will never know when an auction will end. It will always be 2 seconds away when someone bids and the timer increments. I have seen auctions go up to 12 hours for the big-ticket Quibids items.
Bid Value Incremental
In a traditional auction, you can bid any amount. However, at Quibids, you can only bid so that the price increments by 1 cent (sometimes 2/5/10 cents). Why is that?
As previously stated, the source of revenue for Quibids is not through the selling price of the item but through the bids placed. From their standpoint, they make a maximum profit only when the number of bids placed are high. So their aim as a business is to see to it that people bid a lot on a product.
The simplest way to accomplish this is by lowering a price. When someone sees a Quibids macbook selling for a couple of bucks, he is more tempted to bid than when the same product is bidding at a thousand dollars. Thus to maximize the number of bids placed, Quibids will not allow you to bid any amount but only an amount that increments the cost up 1 cent.
So now you know how Quibids works, you can start off your Quibids journey! Don't forget about Free Quibids Bids that you get on signing up. Also, before you start bidding, go through all the Quibids Strategies tutorial that you will find on this blog. This will greatly improve your chances of success and you can make some really good profits. Good luck!
So for the newbies again, how does Quibids work? How are they able to give away Macbooks for a hundred bucks? Is Quibids legit? How can anyone offer 90% off?
So let's get the obvious out of the way - Quibids is legit and it is making loads of profit. It is not a charity that gives away brand new items for a few bucks. So how does Quibids work?
Simple - Quibids uses a Bidding fee auction model (link to Wikipedia page) which is usually called the penny auction on the internet.There are 3 fundamental differences between penny auctions and ordinary auctions. If you understand these, you will know exactly how Quibids works and how they can offer up to 90% discounts and still turn a sizable profit.
Pay Per Bid: Bidding is NOT Free
This is the most fundamental difference between a penny auction like Quibids and a traditional auction site like eBay. Quibids makes it profit from the bids. Whenever anyone places a bid, she is charged $0.60 irrespective of whether it is a winning bid. As you can imagine, this adds up quick.
For example, a typical Macbook auction can attract more than 10,000 bids. This is a very conservative estimate. This translates to $6,000, which is a healthy profit margin for a Macbook selling at $100.
Do you see the point? Quibids doesn't make money from the price of the item they are selling. They can afford to give away the products for free! Their income stream is from the bids.
Simply put, Quibids is a win-lose type of situation. The winner can get a great deal on the purchase but everyone else loses. Contrast this with a traditional auction scenario which is a win-break even situation: If you win, you get a good deal and if you lose, you actually lose nothing. In Quibids, if you lose the auction, you will lose money.
Timer Increments
This can be a confusing aspect to beginners who ask how Quibids work because they do not understand how the timer is increment. In spite of what Quibids claims, the simple reason for this is they want to make more money.
A fixed timer can give rise to the auction strategy of sniping. Everyone will bid at the last moment. This will significantly reduce the total number of bids placed and as stated in the previous point, Quibids makes money off the number of bids placed.
So Quibids simply increments the timer by 10/15/20 seconds each and every time a bid is placed. This is also a reason why you will never know when an auction will end. It will always be 2 seconds away when someone bids and the timer increments. I have seen auctions go up to 12 hours for the big-ticket Quibids items.
Bid Value Incremental
In a traditional auction, you can bid any amount. However, at Quibids, you can only bid so that the price increments by 1 cent (sometimes 2/5/10 cents). Why is that?
As previously stated, the source of revenue for Quibids is not through the selling price of the item but through the bids placed. From their standpoint, they make a maximum profit only when the number of bids placed are high. So their aim as a business is to see to it that people bid a lot on a product.
The simplest way to accomplish this is by lowering a price. When someone sees a Quibids macbook selling for a couple of bucks, he is more tempted to bid than when the same product is bidding at a thousand dollars. Thus to maximize the number of bids placed, Quibids will not allow you to bid any amount but only an amount that increments the cost up 1 cent.
So now you know how Quibids works, you can start off your Quibids journey! Don't forget about Free Quibids Bids that you get on signing up. Also, before you start bidding, go through all the Quibids Strategies tutorial that you will find on this blog. This will greatly improve your chances of success and you can make some really good profits. Good luck!
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
50 Free Quibids Bids!
If you were following this blog, you would know that Quibids was giving away 10 free Quibids bids every day for their Facebook users. Quibids will ask a question every day and the best answer would win 10 free bids.
Well, Quibids changed this policy - now the prize has increased to 50 free Quibids bids!
This is a great promotion strategy. It looks like Quibids is well positioned to take the social networking boat to success. The future of internet marketing is through social media and Facebook is without doubt the best medium for this. I am sure that Quibids will get a number of users who in turn will promote it to their friends. I find the aggressive marketing campaign for Facebook to be timely and appropriate for the company to grow.
Also, I would like to remind you that you get 10 free Quibids bids on just joining, i.e. becoming a fan of the Quibids page.
As of today, there are 34,569 people who have 'liked' the Quibids page on Facebook. It sure does look popular.
My prediction: The page will reach 50,000 fans by the end of April.
This is a cool opportunity to get some free Quibids bids and win big. Don't forget to check out my Quibids strategies to know how to win on this penny auction.
Well, Quibids changed this policy - now the prize has increased to 50 free Quibids bids!
This is a great promotion strategy. It looks like Quibids is well positioned to take the social networking boat to success. The future of internet marketing is through social media and Facebook is without doubt the best medium for this. I am sure that Quibids will get a number of users who in turn will promote it to their friends. I find the aggressive marketing campaign for Facebook to be timely and appropriate for the company to grow.
Also, I would like to remind you that you get 10 free Quibids bids on just joining, i.e. becoming a fan of the Quibids page.
As of today, there are 34,569 people who have 'liked' the Quibids page on Facebook. It sure does look popular.
My prediction: The page will reach 50,000 fans by the end of April.
This is a cool opportunity to get some free Quibids bids and win big. Don't forget to check out my Quibids strategies to know how to win on this penny auction.
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
Quibids Strategy-7: Winning Against Bid-o-Matic
This Quibids strategy helps you to win against those bidders who use bid-o-matic. It is very natural that you might be intimidated by the automatic bidding tool. It gives the whole "not-human but machine" thing to bid-o-matic. However, you do not really need to fear this automatic bidding tool. Follow the Quibids tips given in this post and you should do just fine.
To beat the Quibids bid-o-matic, you just need to understand the limitations of this tool. Here are the main Quibids strategies that you must use to beat this tool -
To beat the Quibids bid-o-matic, you just need to understand the limitations of this tool. Here are the main Quibids strategies that you must use to beat this tool -- Arbitrary Bid Timing: This is an important characteristic of the Bid-o-matic tool. You will never know when the bid is placed - it is always placed before the timer reaches 0. Therefore it it could be when there are 12 seconds left or 1 second left for the auction to end. This means you can simply use my Quibids Strategy Waiting Game for this purpose.
- Limited Bids: Many times, people forget that you can only place a maximum of 25 bids in the Bid-o-matic tool. You should use this to your advantage. Bidders sometimes just forget this limit and leave their computer, only to lose the auction soon. Patience is therefore the key and one of the most important Quibids strategies that you will really find.
- Use the Round-off Psychology: We have a tendency to prefer whole rounded off numbers when it comes to setting the price limits. There is no mathematical advantage here but that's the way humans work. Thus you will see a number of bid-o-matic bids expiring when the price hits $5, $3.5, etc. Be sure that you bid till you reach this "nice" number and chances are you will win soon after, mainly because of the Volunteer's Dilemma but even otherwise.
Wednesday, January 5, 2011
Quibids vs Beezid
Quibids vs Beezid is a good question that people seem to ask when faced with the prospect of choosing a penny auction site for their needs. There are many similarities and differences between Quibids and Beezid. You need to understand both these penny auctions to know which one seems good for you.
I would like to mention here to Quibids doesn't identify itself as a penny auction. However, it is the same business model and certainly falls within this category. Beezid is quite open about being a penny auction site.
So getting back to Quibids vs Beezid, how do you decide which one to join. And how about both of them? Well, here are some details you might want to know.
Quibids vs Beezid: Quibids Wins
The post discussed about Quibids vs Beezid and which one is better. It is hard to say as peopel are happy and disappointed with both these sites. Personally, I would say Quibids is better than Beezid, but of course you might disagree.
I would like to mention here to Quibids doesn't identify itself as a penny auction. However, it is the same business model and certainly falls within this category. Beezid is quite open about being a penny auction site.
So getting back to Quibids vs Beezid, how do you decide which one to join. And how about both of them? Well, here are some details you might want to know.Quibids vs Beezid: Quibids Wins
- Buy It Now Feature: This is the single most important factor in favor of Quibids. With the Buy it Now feature of Quibids, you can greatly reduce your losses in a penny auction. This is why this feature is a cornerstone of a number of different Quibids strategies. For example, I have discussed the Quibids strategy using Volunteer's Dilemma. This is wonderful and is applicable to any penny auction strategy, including Beezid. However, it works best with Quibids because of the Buy it Now feature.
- Auction Diversity: Beezid does have some good variety of products on its auction site. However, in terms of number and diversity of the products, Quibids wins hands down. Quibids has at least 2-3 times more auction a day than Beezid (I am sure it is much more), so in this round of Quibids vs Beezid, Quibids is the winner!
- Bid Pricing: This is a double edged sword. Quibids has a uniform bid pricing throughout which I personally like. However, some others might prefer cheaper bids if you are buying more number of bids. This is frankly a hard one to judge.
- Customer Service: Quibids seems to be more involved with the customers than Beezid, so I would say in terms of customer service, Quibids vs Beezid is certainly won by Quibids. I know there are quite a few people unhappy with Quibids but you will be surprised to know how many are unhappy with Beezid.
- Free Bids: Quibids does give away some free bids but they are rare. Beezid gives away 10 free bids when you join. These can be used on the special 'Cherry Auctions' on the site. This is quite similar to Quibids beginner auctions, but I think not everyone at Quibids is given the free bids whereas everyone at Beezid gets free bids when they join. I would say Beezid wins here.
- Limits: In this aspect, Quibids vs Beezid might be hard to compare because Quibids has a Buy it Now feature which prevents them from limiting the final cost of auctions. Beezid does have some limits on auctions, so they don't go on forever.
- Cheaper Bulk Bids: As I said, this is a double-edged sword. If you are serious about winning high-end items, this is a good thing. However, if you just want to try out the site first, you end up paying more than you should. Still, it is good for some, so I'll give this round of Quibids vs Beezid to Beezid.
The post discussed about Quibids vs Beezid and which one is better. It is hard to say as peopel are happy and disappointed with both these sites. Personally, I would say Quibids is better than Beezid, but of course you might disagree.
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 -
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.
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!
Subscribe to this blog to get latest Quibids strategies that I will keep posting.
- 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!
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.
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!
Subscribe to this blog to get latest Quibids strategies that I will keep posting.
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
Top 7 Quibids Tips and Tricks
These Quibids tips and tricks will help you make the most of your bidding experience at Quibids.
If you are looking for my Quibids strategies, you should read my previous posts to see the various ways on how to win on Quibids. You can use the Volunteer's Dilemma Quibids Strategy to win smaller items, or the Waiting Game Quibids Strategy to win bigger items. You should also be well aware of the Best and Worst Times to Bid on Quibids which is probably the most important thing to know before you start your Quibids journey. You should know the power of Bid Voucher Quibids Strategy especially for the big-ticket items. You should also be aware of How to Win Against Aggressive Bidders
With this background, let me summarize all the important Quibids tips and tricks you will need on your Quibids journey.
Quibids Tips and Tricks-1: Set Realistic Goals
This might sound like Grandma's advice but I wish to include this first on my list because it is really important and often neglected. Penny auctions like Quibids can suck in a lot of your money if you are not careful. This can be addictive. No, it is not like gambling but the thrill of winning and the rush of adrenaline are all there when the timer approaches zero.
I would therefore advise you to strictly impose limits on your spending. Also, never bid on items that you don't need just because you might get them a little cheaper. This is not the right way to win at Quibids.
Quibids Tips and Tricks-2: Understand the Penny Auction Model
There is no dearth of people complaining how bids cost money and they are non-refundable if you lose. Yes, this sounds unfair but you really did not think that Quibids will give away a Macbook for $100 and pay the rest from their pockets did you?
Yes, the profits are huge. Humongous perhaps, but that's the auction model. If you do not like it, don't bid on Quibids. It is very important that you understand thoroughly how penny auctions work. No amount of Quibids tips and tricks will help you realize this if you fail to understand the model of the auction at Quibids. Here is a very quick summary, which is by no means comprehensive -
The best time to bid on Quibids can help you win auctions much cheaper. However, it is not just the final cost that is different. When you bid on items during the least busy times i.e. least competitive times, you have a very strong chance of winning if you follow my winning Quibids strategies. If there is huge competition, things can get really very difficult.
If you haven't already, read my post on Best and Worst Times on Quibids and note the times when the site is least busy. An important point to remember is that it is not just about the number of people online but also the number of auctions open for bidding. Therefore it can happen that there are an awful lot of people but there are plenty of auctions for them all, so the competition tends to distribute away, especially for smaller items.
Quibids Tips and Tricks-4: Use the Buy It Now Option to Cut Risk
Quibids has the most wonderful option of Buy It Now. Using this, you can use the money that you spent towards an auction to go towards buying it at the retail price if you fail to win the auction. In fact, I think this is the most important of the list of Quibids tips and tricks that you should know and use.
Penny auctions are inherently risky but using this option you can greatly reduce the risk associated with bidding on Quibids. This is why it is all the more important that you want and like to have the item that you want to bid on.
Ask yourself this question: If I don't win the auction, am I willing to pay the market price for this item? If the answer is a big no, avoid bidding on the item. If you lose, you will lose all the bids along the way.
Quibids has a number of different auctions and I am sure you can find auctions that you really want to win.
Quibids Tips and Tricks-5: Bid Vouchers can be Useful
Bid vouchers are a great way to multiply your bids. You have a number of Quibids voucher bid auctions and you can win some of them.
So how are Quibids voucher bids good? If you win a Quibids bid voucher auction, you will be credited with the bids immediately. Suppose you spent 40 bids to win a 100 bid Quibids voucher. Effectively, you have won 60 extra bids at the site!
What if you lose? Don't worry - just use the Buy It Now option and buy the bid voucher right at the site! Read the previous Quibids Tips and Tricks point for this.
Voucher bid auctions are usually competitive. Don't expect them to be easy.
Warning: You should remember that Quibids voucher bids do not count towards the Buy It Now feature. Therefore bid voucher strategy is a double edged sword that you need to decide for yourself whether you want to invest time and money in them or not. If you are strictly bidding on the items that you want, you should try to avoid them. If not, go ahead and win a few.
Quibids Tips and Tricks-6: Get Free Quibids Bids
There are many ways to get a few free Quibids bids. These Quibids tips and tricks on finding free bids can be found on my blog, so be sure to follow this blog to keep yourself updated!
If you are new to Quibids, learn how to get free bids on registration. If you are already a member, there are many other ways in which you can get your free Quibids bids. Try out some tips on getting free Quibids bids. You also get some free Quibids bids on your Birthday.
These free bids help you on your path of winning Quibids auctions and can be very useful. For example, if you are new, there are certain beginner auctions that are only open to beginners. This way you can win auctions easily as there is less competition and newbies seldom know all the Quibids strategies needed for winning.
This is the reason I also encourage my readers to check out other penny auction sites. You get some free bids on registering and if you are lucky, you can win a small gift card using just the free bids.
Quibids Tips and Tricks-7: Big-Ticket Items are Very Different
Quibids has a number of big-ticket items like Quibids Macbook, Quibids iPad, laptops, netbooks, holiday cruises, etc. Therefore it is important that you understand the strategies to win these are very different from the ones you use to win $10 Amazon gift cards. Without appreciating this difference, you might wrongly apply the same Quibids strategy to both of them and end up losing a lot of bids.
My post on Volunteer's Dilemma Quibids strategy should be used for smaller items and occasionally for bigger items when there is reduced competition.
In addition, you should remember that the Bid-O-Matic Tool is a good resource to use in big-ticket auctions that last for a very long time. On the other hand, it is a bad idea to use this tool for smaller items, especially if you are using my Waiting Game Quibids Strategy.
Also, you should try to avoid bidding in the initial stages of a big-ticket auction as there are many naive aggressive bidders. Let them all run out of gas before you swoop in.
Quibids Tips and Tricks-8: Losing is Not an Option
If you follow this maxim, you will not lose money at Quibids. No, this is not some New Age maxim I am throwing at you. Instead, if you firmly decide that you will bid till the end i.e. till you win, you can be the winner. You will be surprised by the number of bidders who do not persist enough.
Remember to use this particular Quibids strategy only when you are sure to use the Buy It Now option of Quibids. Without this, it is best to know when to quit.
You can also get aggressive to scare away the small time Quibids bidders so you can emerge the winner. This works very well when there are very few professional Quibids bidders.
In summary, I have given my list of Top 7 Quibids Tips and Tricks. If you have something to add, be sure to add a comment. Winning on Quibids is an art and you should learn before you can apply this art. I hope this blog post was useful to achieve this goal.
If you are looking for my Quibids strategies, you should read my previous posts to see the various ways on how to win on Quibids. You can use the Volunteer's Dilemma Quibids Strategy to win smaller items, or the Waiting Game Quibids Strategy to win bigger items. You should also be well aware of the Best and Worst Times to Bid on Quibids which is probably the most important thing to know before you start your Quibids journey. You should know the power of Bid Voucher Quibids Strategy especially for the big-ticket items. You should also be aware of How to Win Against Aggressive Bidders
With this background, let me summarize all the important Quibids tips and tricks you will need on your Quibids journey.
Quibids Tips and Tricks-1: Set Realistic Goals
This might sound like Grandma's advice but I wish to include this first on my list because it is really important and often neglected. Penny auctions like Quibids can suck in a lot of your money if you are not careful. This can be addictive. No, it is not like gambling but the thrill of winning and the rush of adrenaline are all there when the timer approaches zero.
I would therefore advise you to strictly impose limits on your spending. Also, never bid on items that you don't need just because you might get them a little cheaper. This is not the right way to win at Quibids.
Quibids Tips and Tricks-2: Understand the Penny Auction Model
There is no dearth of people complaining how bids cost money and they are non-refundable if you lose. Yes, this sounds unfair but you really did not think that Quibids will give away a Macbook for $100 and pay the rest from their pockets did you?
Yes, the profits are huge. Humongous perhaps, but that's the auction model. If you do not like it, don't bid on Quibids. It is very important that you understand thoroughly how penny auctions work. No amount of Quibids tips and tricks will help you realize this if you fail to understand the model of the auction at Quibids. Here is a very quick summary, which is by no means comprehensive -
- Timer increases each time a bid is placed. It is not exactly a countdown in the traditional sense like eBay.
- Bids cost $0.60 per bid. You can check out my previous posts on how to get some free Quibids bids but these are still limited. You need to pay for the bids you place.
- Bids once placed cannot be redeemed for money. If you purchase more bids and don't use it, you can always get a refund but not if you use them.
- Yes, items do sell for 90-95% discounts but you need to pay through the bids used. The cost to you is not so much through the price of the item but through the bids that you place.
- There is exactly one winner and everyone else loses money on an auction in the form of lost bids. Fair? I don't know!
The best time to bid on Quibids can help you win auctions much cheaper. However, it is not just the final cost that is different. When you bid on items during the least busy times i.e. least competitive times, you have a very strong chance of winning if you follow my winning Quibids strategies. If there is huge competition, things can get really very difficult.
If you haven't already, read my post on Best and Worst Times on Quibids and note the times when the site is least busy. An important point to remember is that it is not just about the number of people online but also the number of auctions open for bidding. Therefore it can happen that there are an awful lot of people but there are plenty of auctions for them all, so the competition tends to distribute away, especially for smaller items.
Quibids Tips and Tricks-4: Use the Buy It Now Option to Cut Risk
Quibids has the most wonderful option of Buy It Now. Using this, you can use the money that you spent towards an auction to go towards buying it at the retail price if you fail to win the auction. In fact, I think this is the most important of the list of Quibids tips and tricks that you should know and use.
Penny auctions are inherently risky but using this option you can greatly reduce the risk associated with bidding on Quibids. This is why it is all the more important that you want and like to have the item that you want to bid on.
Ask yourself this question: If I don't win the auction, am I willing to pay the market price for this item? If the answer is a big no, avoid bidding on the item. If you lose, you will lose all the bids along the way.
Quibids has a number of different auctions and I am sure you can find auctions that you really want to win.
Quibids Tips and Tricks-5: Bid Vouchers can be Useful
Bid vouchers are a great way to multiply your bids. You have a number of Quibids voucher bid auctions and you can win some of them.
So how are Quibids voucher bids good? If you win a Quibids bid voucher auction, you will be credited with the bids immediately. Suppose you spent 40 bids to win a 100 bid Quibids voucher. Effectively, you have won 60 extra bids at the site!
What if you lose? Don't worry - just use the Buy It Now option and buy the bid voucher right at the site! Read the previous Quibids Tips and Tricks point for this.
Voucher bid auctions are usually competitive. Don't expect them to be easy.
Warning: You should remember that Quibids voucher bids do not count towards the Buy It Now feature. Therefore bid voucher strategy is a double edged sword that you need to decide for yourself whether you want to invest time and money in them or not. If you are strictly bidding on the items that you want, you should try to avoid them. If not, go ahead and win a few.
Quibids Tips and Tricks-6: Get Free Quibids Bids
There are many ways to get a few free Quibids bids. These Quibids tips and tricks on finding free bids can be found on my blog, so be sure to follow this blog to keep yourself updated!
If you are new to Quibids, learn how to get free bids on registration. If you are already a member, there are many other ways in which you can get your free Quibids bids. Try out some tips on getting free Quibids bids. You also get some free Quibids bids on your Birthday.
These free bids help you on your path of winning Quibids auctions and can be very useful. For example, if you are new, there are certain beginner auctions that are only open to beginners. This way you can win auctions easily as there is less competition and newbies seldom know all the Quibids strategies needed for winning.
This is the reason I also encourage my readers to check out other penny auction sites. You get some free bids on registering and if you are lucky, you can win a small gift card using just the free bids.
Quibids Tips and Tricks-7: Big-Ticket Items are Very Different
Quibids has a number of big-ticket items like Quibids Macbook, Quibids iPad, laptops, netbooks, holiday cruises, etc. Therefore it is important that you understand the strategies to win these are very different from the ones you use to win $10 Amazon gift cards. Without appreciating this difference, you might wrongly apply the same Quibids strategy to both of them and end up losing a lot of bids.
My post on Volunteer's Dilemma Quibids strategy should be used for smaller items and occasionally for bigger items when there is reduced competition.
In addition, you should remember that the Bid-O-Matic Tool is a good resource to use in big-ticket auctions that last for a very long time. On the other hand, it is a bad idea to use this tool for smaller items, especially if you are using my Waiting Game Quibids Strategy.
Also, you should try to avoid bidding in the initial stages of a big-ticket auction as there are many naive aggressive bidders. Let them all run out of gas before you swoop in.
Quibids Tips and Tricks-8: Losing is Not an Option
If you follow this maxim, you will not lose money at Quibids. No, this is not some New Age maxim I am throwing at you. Instead, if you firmly decide that you will bid till the end i.e. till you win, you can be the winner. You will be surprised by the number of bidders who do not persist enough.
Remember to use this particular Quibids strategy only when you are sure to use the Buy It Now option of Quibids. Without this, it is best to know when to quit.
You can also get aggressive to scare away the small time Quibids bidders so you can emerge the winner. This works very well when there are very few professional Quibids bidders.
In summary, I have given my list of Top 7 Quibids Tips and Tricks. If you have something to add, be sure to add a comment. Winning on Quibids is an art and you should learn before you can apply this art. I hope this blog post was useful to achieve this goal.
Sunday, January 2, 2011
Quibids Strategy 5: How to Win Against Aggressive Quibids Bidders
This is a part on Quibids Strategies. You should also check out my posts on Quibids Strategy: Best Times to Win, Quibids Strategy using Volunteer's Dilemma, Quibids Strategy Waiting Game and Quibids Strategy Using Bid Vouchers.
In this post, I am discussing my Quibids Strategy to win against aggressive bidders.
An Aggressive Bidder is defined as someone who doesn't wait for the clock to run down before he places a bid but instead places his/her bid immediately after another person places a bid.
If you regularly bid at Quibids or any other penny auction, I am sure you would have come across aggressive bidders and wondered what Quibids strategy will beat them. There are many strategies that aggressive bidders are using to prevent you from winning. For starters, they are playing on the psychology of a Quibids bidder. This is because no one likes to be outbid the next moment.
Consider this: You like an item and place a bid. As soon as you place the bid, someone outbids you. Now you place your bid again and within a second, you are again outbid by the same person. This is a natural cause of frustration and after a few bids, the person usually just gives up. This is not the right Quibids strategy.
However, you do not have to be afraid of aggressive bidders. You simply need to understand their psychology and their situation to really beat them. Remember that when bidders get aggressive, they have fewer number of bids left as they need to outbid every person. This is important to remember because when you spend 1 bid, the aggressive bidder might need to spend 5. This is because you are not the only other bidder - there are other bidders too. The aggressive bidder needs to spend bids to outbid every single bidder and thus loses bids.
Aggressive bidders can have a trick or two down their sleeves, though. You need to be aware of the Quibids strategies that they can use. For example, when there is an aggressive bidder and many other meeker bidders, they each rely on the other to place their bid, thinking they are protecting their bids. The aggressive bidder wants exactly this. It causes a situation that is described in Game Theory as Volunteer's Dilemma. Don't get caught in this trap!
So here is what you need to remember: to beat an aggressive bidder, you need to keep bidding. Never give up. If you give up, you are not just losing the auction to the aggressive bidder but you are also losing the amount that you spent towards your bids. Against an aggressive bidder, you can play the Waiting Game Quibids Strategy.
An aggressive Quibids bidding strategy is not very sustainable and the aggressive bidder will sooner or later run out of steam. You are not the only bidder but don't let the decision of others impact your own strategy. You can certainly beat aggressive bidders using my Quibids strategies described on this blog. Just remember never to get intimidated.
In this post, I am discussing my Quibids Strategy to win against aggressive bidders.
An Aggressive Bidder is defined as someone who doesn't wait for the clock to run down before he places a bid but instead places his/her bid immediately after another person places a bid.
If you regularly bid at Quibids or any other penny auction, I am sure you would have come across aggressive bidders and wondered what Quibids strategy will beat them. There are many strategies that aggressive bidders are using to prevent you from winning. For starters, they are playing on the psychology of a Quibids bidder. This is because no one likes to be outbid the next moment.
Consider this: You like an item and place a bid. As soon as you place the bid, someone outbids you. Now you place your bid again and within a second, you are again outbid by the same person. This is a natural cause of frustration and after a few bids, the person usually just gives up. This is not the right Quibids strategy.
However, you do not have to be afraid of aggressive bidders. You simply need to understand their psychology and their situation to really beat them. Remember that when bidders get aggressive, they have fewer number of bids left as they need to outbid every person. This is important to remember because when you spend 1 bid, the aggressive bidder might need to spend 5. This is because you are not the only other bidder - there are other bidders too. The aggressive bidder needs to spend bids to outbid every single bidder and thus loses bids.
Aggressive bidders can have a trick or two down their sleeves, though. You need to be aware of the Quibids strategies that they can use. For example, when there is an aggressive bidder and many other meeker bidders, they each rely on the other to place their bid, thinking they are protecting their bids. The aggressive bidder wants exactly this. It causes a situation that is described in Game Theory as Volunteer's Dilemma. Don't get caught in this trap!
So here is what you need to remember: to beat an aggressive bidder, you need to keep bidding. Never give up. If you give up, you are not just losing the auction to the aggressive bidder but you are also losing the amount that you spent towards your bids. Against an aggressive bidder, you can play the Waiting Game Quibids Strategy.
An aggressive Quibids bidding strategy is not very sustainable and the aggressive bidder will sooner or later run out of steam. You are not the only bidder but don't let the decision of others impact your own strategy. You can certainly beat aggressive bidders using my Quibids strategies described on this blog. Just remember never to get intimidated.
Thursday, December 23, 2010
Quibids Featured Auctions
Quibids is rolling out new features and new auctions once again. This time, they are coming up with Quibids Featured Auctions. This is a weekly featured auction that will be a big-ticket item. For this week, Quibids has announced Samsung Ultimate 3D Bundle as their featured auction.
One good thing - Quibids is not holding this featured auction on a weekday. This is good for bidders because weekdays can be really busy at Quibids with lots of bidders and thus a reduced possibility of winning. Instead, they are putting up the Quibids featured auction on Thursdays. There will be a new auction every Thursday, so be sure to check this out.
If you are looking for Quibids strategies and how to win these big-ticket items, be sure to check out my posts on Quibids strategies here, here and here.
Good luck bidding people! And hopefully you can all win something good for Christmas.
One good thing - Quibids is not holding this featured auction on a weekday. This is good for bidders because weekdays can be really busy at Quibids with lots of bidders and thus a reduced possibility of winning. Instead, they are putting up the Quibids featured auction on Thursdays. There will be a new auction every Thursday, so be sure to check this out.
If you are looking for Quibids strategies and how to win these big-ticket items, be sure to check out my posts on Quibids strategies here, here and here.
Good luck bidding people! And hopefully you can all win something good for Christmas.
Saturday, December 4, 2010
Quibids Strategy - 4: Using Quibids Bid Vouchers
This is part 4 of my series on Quibids Strategies. You might also want to read Part-1, Part-2 and Part-3.
So this part of Quibids strategy is for a specific case: If you want to win the item but don't want to purchase it at the market price.
There are many Quibids bidders out there who do this - they don't want to use the 'Buy it Now' option. Please do note that this is an awesome feature of Quibids that you should definitely check out and use as often as you can. However, you might be there on Quibids just for fun and would want to win the auction without actually 'needing' the item. Thus you would not want to buy the Quibids Macbook for thousand bucks, but you might still want to bid and try to win this item.
If there is a such a specific item, then you should use this strategy of using bids to purchase bid vouchers. The trade off is that Voucher bids do not count towards 'Buy it Now' bids. However, since you are not that specific about this, you might as well try to optimize your overall bids as opposed to using only paid bids.
For this Quibids strategy to work, you need to know what kind of bid vouchers work best. Quibids currently offers bid vouchers of 15, 25, 50, 100 and 250 bids.
Aim: To win an X bid voucher for less than X bids.
This is not hard to understand: suppose you can win a 250 bid voucher by spending 100 bids. In effect, you are getting 150 bids extra. The price of course is that you used up 100 paid bids and got 250 voucher bids, so be aware of this trade-off at all times.
What bid vouchers work best? In my experience, it is very hard to win 15 bid vouchers for less than 15 bids. However, it is relatively simple to win 50,100 bid vouchers within 50,100 bids by using my Volunteer's Dilemma strategy. Thus, the best bid vouchers are 50 and 100 bid ones. The 250 bid voucher can get quite competitive. You can use my Waiting Game Strategy for this particular bid voucher.
The additional costs involved in the voucher bids is to take the final price into consideration and also the shipping and handling charges. For example, if the final price + shipping/handling comes to $3, you need to account that as 5 bids lost.
Thus if you decide to bid and win an item without any regard to Buy it Now feature, then you should definitely employ this Quibids strategy. This strategy will help you to get the maximum out of your Quibids experience. This is in effect a way to get free bids at Quibids, but it is not really free - you have to work to win the bid vouchers.
Note: Bid vouchers are relatively safe, because if you don't win it, you can always use the Buy it Now for the bid voucher! So suppose you are bidding on a 100 bid voucher and you place 100 bids but don't win it. Nothing to worry - by paying the service charge of $2, you can buy it just like you would purchase normal bids! This is the good thing with Quibids vouchers.
So this part of Quibids strategy is for a specific case: If you want to win the item but don't want to purchase it at the market price.
There are many Quibids bidders out there who do this - they don't want to use the 'Buy it Now' option. Please do note that this is an awesome feature of Quibids that you should definitely check out and use as often as you can. However, you might be there on Quibids just for fun and would want to win the auction without actually 'needing' the item. Thus you would not want to buy the Quibids Macbook for thousand bucks, but you might still want to bid and try to win this item.
If there is a such a specific item, then you should use this strategy of using bids to purchase bid vouchers. The trade off is that Voucher bids do not count towards 'Buy it Now' bids. However, since you are not that specific about this, you might as well try to optimize your overall bids as opposed to using only paid bids.
For this Quibids strategy to work, you need to know what kind of bid vouchers work best. Quibids currently offers bid vouchers of 15, 25, 50, 100 and 250 bids.
Aim: To win an X bid voucher for less than X bids.
This is not hard to understand: suppose you can win a 250 bid voucher by spending 100 bids. In effect, you are getting 150 bids extra. The price of course is that you used up 100 paid bids and got 250 voucher bids, so be aware of this trade-off at all times.
What bid vouchers work best? In my experience, it is very hard to win 15 bid vouchers for less than 15 bids. However, it is relatively simple to win 50,100 bid vouchers within 50,100 bids by using my Volunteer's Dilemma strategy. Thus, the best bid vouchers are 50 and 100 bid ones. The 250 bid voucher can get quite competitive. You can use my Waiting Game Strategy for this particular bid voucher.
The additional costs involved in the voucher bids is to take the final price into consideration and also the shipping and handling charges. For example, if the final price + shipping/handling comes to $3, you need to account that as 5 bids lost.
Thus if you decide to bid and win an item without any regard to Buy it Now feature, then you should definitely employ this Quibids strategy. This strategy will help you to get the maximum out of your Quibids experience. This is in effect a way to get free bids at Quibids, but it is not really free - you have to work to win the bid vouchers.
Note: Bid vouchers are relatively safe, because if you don't win it, you can always use the Buy it Now for the bid voucher! So suppose you are bidding on a 100 bid voucher and you place 100 bids but don't win it. Nothing to worry - by paying the service charge of $2, you can buy it just like you would purchase normal bids! This is the good thing with Quibids vouchers.
Saturday, November 27, 2010
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.
Wednesday, November 24, 2010
Quibids Auction - Millionth Auction Winner tease
So Quibids is back to teasing all the users. They send out a newsletter, not with the name of the winner, but with an announcement of an announcement 2 weeks from now! Apparently Quibids will announce the winner in a couple of weeks.
For those who do not know, Quibids is celebrating the million auctions since the site started. Quibids is giving away $10,000 in cash to the millionth auction winner, the auction remaining anonymous and for the moment, the winner too.
This is a great achievement in my opinion, at a time when other Penny Auction sites like Swipebids and Swipeauctions turn into outright scams and few others like Swoopoo are just unable to compete with very limited products. Quibids has emerged a clear winner in the battle of the best Penny Auctions on the internet, and its prospects only seem to be getting brighter.
If you are looking to win at Quibids, you can read through my posts on Quibids strategies. I have a 3 part series so far, but will include other strategies as well.
For those who do not know, Quibids is celebrating the million auctions since the site started. Quibids is giving away $10,000 in cash to the millionth auction winner, the auction remaining anonymous and for the moment, the winner too.
This is a great achievement in my opinion, at a time when other Penny Auction sites like Swipebids and Swipeauctions turn into outright scams and few others like Swoopoo are just unable to compete with very limited products. Quibids has emerged a clear winner in the battle of the best Penny Auctions on the internet, and its prospects only seem to be getting brighter.
If you are looking to win at Quibids, you can read through my posts on Quibids strategies. I have a 3 part series so far, but will include other strategies as well.
Friday, November 12, 2010
Quibids Strategy 3: The Waiting Game (exposing some Quibids Myths)
This is Part 3 of the series on Quibids strategies that I want to publish. These strategies are not conjured up from thin air. They are written from personal experience, but more importantly, personal research. Most penny auction strategies, like Quibids strategies, are to do with Game theory and probability.
You can also find Part - 1 and Part - 2, which deal with different strategies.
Theoretical Efficiency Vs. Practical efficiency:
To understand Quibids and indeed any other Penny Auctions, you should first understand that the theoretical best Quibids strategy need not be the best practical strategy.
To illustrate, consider a typical Quibids macbook auction, as shown below:
The cost of the Macbook, finally, was $426.65. This was a 1 cent Quibids auction (see the top left hand side of the image). This means each bid incremented the cost of the macbook by 1 cent. Thus, in all, there were 42,665 bids placed. That's quite a lot of bids!
Now, consider the time it takes for placing these many bids. This is a really hard question to answer, as anyone who has followed the Quibids auctions knows. There could be 2 people bidding in tandem, in which case things can move quickly but usually people only place their bids when there are less than 5 seconds left.
As an average case, I am assuming it takes 2.5 seconds between bids (I think it is a good number for an average in this case. Other smaller auctions usually have larger average time between bids).
So the time required to complete the auction is 42,665 * 2.5 seconds = 106,662.5 seconds. This comes out to 29.6 hours. That is a huge time interval of over 1 day!
Now, let me ask you - how many people can sit non-stop in front of their computer looking at the auction process for nearly 30 hours to choose their best strategy? Not many.
This is why the theoretical best Quibids strategies will differ so much from the practical best Quibids strategies.
Best Theoretical Quibids Strategy:
Here is the best theoretical Quibids strategy: Wait for the last moment to place your bid. This means, bid on the Quibids auction when the timer is 1 second.
This seems simple enough and most people intuitively do use this for their bidding - let the people fight it out and I'll come in when the time is right.
This is a simple strategy and people are easily deceived by its applications. Let me expose the myth that this is THE strategy to apply to penny auctions. In fact, all the videos on Youtube that claim to show 100% Quibids strategy wins simply use this basic technique, which turns out, isn't the best practical strategy after all for all Quibids auctions.
The problem is, this isn't always the best practical strategy. For example, in the above Macbook auction, can you sit for 30 hours non-stop in front of your computer to see when the timer reaches 1 second? Well, I don't think so.
When to use this Quibids Strategy:
The waiting game strategy should ONLY be used for small Quibids auctions. By small, I mean auctions that usually have less than 200 bids placed on them. In such cases, you can win Quibids auctions by using this Quibids strategy of waiting till the timer goes to 1 second and bidding.
Word of Caution:
When you are using this waiting game Quibids strategy, it is very important that you never quit! This holds even if there is an aggressive bidder, using a strategy I described here (who uses the volunteer's dilemma problem).
The reason for this is simple: If you quit, you will be left with nothing at all. This doesn't hold for all strategies, but in this instance, you must not quit.
Why People Fail?
This particular Quibids strategy seems intuitive - you wait till the last moment to bid, thus saving your bids and ensuring they are not wasted when someone else is placing his bid before yours.
So why do people fail? Simple - they quit!
When someone is bidding aggressively, they will quit. The problem with this strategy is that it appears to reduce risk, while the truth is it can practically be a very high risk Quibids strategy. The reason for this is what people practically do - they get intimidated by aggressive bidders and never win. They lose a few bids in hundreds of auctions and thus they end up with nothing to show for their efforts and bids.
Therefore, this seemingly simple Quibids strategy can backfire and you need to ensure you know exactly why, when and how to use it. Do not try this on big auctions like Holiday trips, cars and macbooks.
What Auctions Can I win this way?
Try out the smaller bids: 15,25 bid auctions are ideal for this. Also, anything with a price of less than $30 can be a good start. Once you know how never to quit and understand how Quibids auctions work, you can proceed to slightly bigger auctions (but never on the heavyweights!)
Good luck Quibids bidding!
You can also find Part - 1 and Part - 2, which deal with different strategies.
Theoretical Efficiency Vs. Practical efficiency:
To understand Quibids and indeed any other Penny Auctions, you should first understand that the theoretical best Quibids strategy need not be the best practical strategy.
To illustrate, consider a typical Quibids macbook auction, as shown below:
The cost of the Macbook, finally, was $426.65. This was a 1 cent Quibids auction (see the top left hand side of the image). This means each bid incremented the cost of the macbook by 1 cent. Thus, in all, there were 42,665 bids placed. That's quite a lot of bids!Now, consider the time it takes for placing these many bids. This is a really hard question to answer, as anyone who has followed the Quibids auctions knows. There could be 2 people bidding in tandem, in which case things can move quickly but usually people only place their bids when there are less than 5 seconds left.
As an average case, I am assuming it takes 2.5 seconds between bids (I think it is a good number for an average in this case. Other smaller auctions usually have larger average time between bids).
So the time required to complete the auction is 42,665 * 2.5 seconds = 106,662.5 seconds. This comes out to 29.6 hours. That is a huge time interval of over 1 day!
Now, let me ask you - how many people can sit non-stop in front of their computer looking at the auction process for nearly 30 hours to choose their best strategy? Not many.
This is why the theoretical best Quibids strategies will differ so much from the practical best Quibids strategies.
Best Theoretical Quibids Strategy:
Here is the best theoretical Quibids strategy: Wait for the last moment to place your bid. This means, bid on the Quibids auction when the timer is 1 second.
This seems simple enough and most people intuitively do use this for their bidding - let the people fight it out and I'll come in when the time is right.
This is a simple strategy and people are easily deceived by its applications. Let me expose the myth that this is THE strategy to apply to penny auctions. In fact, all the videos on Youtube that claim to show 100% Quibids strategy wins simply use this basic technique, which turns out, isn't the best practical strategy after all for all Quibids auctions.
The problem is, this isn't always the best practical strategy. For example, in the above Macbook auction, can you sit for 30 hours non-stop in front of your computer to see when the timer reaches 1 second? Well, I don't think so.
When to use this Quibids Strategy:
The waiting game strategy should ONLY be used for small Quibids auctions. By small, I mean auctions that usually have less than 200 bids placed on them. In such cases, you can win Quibids auctions by using this Quibids strategy of waiting till the timer goes to 1 second and bidding.
Word of Caution:
When you are using this waiting game Quibids strategy, it is very important that you never quit! This holds even if there is an aggressive bidder, using a strategy I described here (who uses the volunteer's dilemma problem).
The reason for this is simple: If you quit, you will be left with nothing at all. This doesn't hold for all strategies, but in this instance, you must not quit.
Why People Fail?
This particular Quibids strategy seems intuitive - you wait till the last moment to bid, thus saving your bids and ensuring they are not wasted when someone else is placing his bid before yours.
So why do people fail? Simple - they quit!
When someone is bidding aggressively, they will quit. The problem with this strategy is that it appears to reduce risk, while the truth is it can practically be a very high risk Quibids strategy. The reason for this is what people practically do - they get intimidated by aggressive bidders and never win. They lose a few bids in hundreds of auctions and thus they end up with nothing to show for their efforts and bids.
Therefore, this seemingly simple Quibids strategy can backfire and you need to ensure you know exactly why, when and how to use it. Do not try this on big auctions like Holiday trips, cars and macbooks.
What Auctions Can I win this way?
Try out the smaller bids: 15,25 bid auctions are ideal for this. Also, anything with a price of less than $30 can be a good start. Once you know how never to quit and understand how Quibids auctions work, you can proceed to slightly bigger auctions (but never on the heavyweights!)
Good luck Quibids bidding!
Quibids Badges: New incentives for the Website
It has been a while I have written about Quibids, and in the meantime, there have been a number of improvements. You can read about Quibids strategies in my previous blog posts if you are serious about winning at Quibids.
In this post, I want to cover how you can win a little more with Quibids and effectively improve your winning chances.
Quibids has just announced special 'badges' for the members. There seems to be a badge for everything. The good thing is, you get free bids with your badges (I am no fan of virtual badges as such anyway).
In order to get your badges, you will need to claim the badges by logging into your account. The bids are not added by default - you need to claim them.
How to claim your badges?
You will need to log into your Quibids account. There is a new tab titled Achievements. You will see a list of badges that you are 'eligible' for. I don't see any reason why you should not accept a badge - after all, all badges come with free bids. You just click on 'claim' to claim your badge and also your free bids, which are then added to your account.
What kind of Bids are added?
Unfortunately, you will again see virtual bids and not purchased bids added to your account. I am not a big fan of Virtual bids and that is one thing I would like to see disappear from the website. I would consider both virtual and purchased bids should be at par. But well, different people have different opinions about it.
I suspect one reason for still persisting with virtual bids is that Quibids allows you to reverse your purchase and get back cash for the bids that you purchased. It would not be fair to allow monetization of virtual bids. However, I would still like to see virtual bids being counted towards the price of an auction if you don't win.
Here is a screenshot of some of the badges that I have won. You can also see how many free bids are given with each badge in the picture.
It would be great if my readers can share their own badges and their stories. Do you like the concept of badges?
In this post, I want to cover how you can win a little more with Quibids and effectively improve your winning chances.
Quibids has just announced special 'badges' for the members. There seems to be a badge for everything. The good thing is, you get free bids with your badges (I am no fan of virtual badges as such anyway).
In order to get your badges, you will need to claim the badges by logging into your account. The bids are not added by default - you need to claim them.
How to claim your badges?
You will need to log into your Quibids account. There is a new tab titled Achievements. You will see a list of badges that you are 'eligible' for. I don't see any reason why you should not accept a badge - after all, all badges come with free bids. You just click on 'claim' to claim your badge and also your free bids, which are then added to your account.
What kind of Bids are added?
Unfortunately, you will again see virtual bids and not purchased bids added to your account. I am not a big fan of Virtual bids and that is one thing I would like to see disappear from the website. I would consider both virtual and purchased bids should be at par. But well, different people have different opinions about it.
I suspect one reason for still persisting with virtual bids is that Quibids allows you to reverse your purchase and get back cash for the bids that you purchased. It would not be fair to allow monetization of virtual bids. However, I would still like to see virtual bids being counted towards the price of an auction if you don't win.
Here is a screenshot of some of the badges that I have won. You can also see how many free bids are given with each badge in the picture.
It would be great if my readers can share their own badges and their stories. Do you like the concept of badges?
Sunday, August 1, 2010
Quibids Strategy - 2: Best Time for Bidding at Quibids
This QuiBids strategy is as much valid in 2013 as it was in 2010 when it was originally written. Like with any other penny auction, low competition is the key to winning at QuiBids, and if you know the best time to bid on QuiBids, then you know the least competitive times to bid at.
QuiBids is a penny auction site that helps customers shop for items in a penny auction model. Thus, by its very nature, the ease of winning and the cost of items depends on how many people are online at a given point of time and how many auctions are simultaneously going on. Using the right Quibids strategies, you can win some items for really less, like QuiBids Macbook for less than $100. This is not a QuiBids scam, though QuiBids does rig the model in its own favor (who wouldn't?)
Since the guys at QuiBids are smart people and they have access to tons of user data relating to times, they try to ensure that the bidding process is uniform throughout the day. This means by bidding at one point of time, you should ideally get no advantage when compared to bidding at another point of time. Another way QuiBids tries to make auctions more 'fair' is by restricting some auctions only to certain users, depending on criteria that are not public. This has caused some outcry in the past, but those are the rules of the game.
However, as I would have suspected, the QuiBids guys are not that smart after all :) No, the process is not as smooth as it ideally should be. QuiBids strategy of trying to have an average of similar users/items for bidding doesn't seem to work practically.
Here is a list of times that you should bid during and some times that you should avoid bidding. This is from my own personal experience as I follow QuiBids auctions very closely and see how they work. If you think these aren't accurate or you have a different experience with your own QuiBids strategy, please let me know in the comments below.
Do note that this QuiBids strategy for bidding is not universal and you are NOT guaranteed to win auctions. Penny auctions depend on a million factors that are beyond your control. Worse, it depends on the behavior of other users, which is totally unpredictable. Therefore it is impossible to have a QuiBids strategy that will always work, and anyone who claims the contrary is simply a sham. There are no 100% guaranteed wins at QuiBids or any other penny auction really.
Here are some tips that will help you get the right QuiBids strategies with respect to the bidding times.
Best Times:
It is important to avoid these times as there are just too many people who are bidding on a given auction.
This is a recent addition to this blog post to demonstrate exactly what I am trying to tell in this blog post.
Cheap Plasma TV for $4.10, bidding on a Wednesday during 2-5pm EST
Costly Plasma TV for $170.36 bidding on a Saturday night:
So now you know how important it is to bid at the best time in QuiBids. The competition on a Saturday night is going to be huge. Don't just look at the final price. Think of how many people had lost hundreds of dollars on this day trying to win this item. I am sure you can understand how relevant this QuiBids strategy is in order to help you win.
Let me know how your QuiBids experience goes after following these QuiBids strategies.
Also see QuiBids Strategy-1: Volunteer's Dilemma
QuiBids is a penny auction site that helps customers shop for items in a penny auction model. Thus, by its very nature, the ease of winning and the cost of items depends on how many people are online at a given point of time and how many auctions are simultaneously going on. Using the right Quibids strategies, you can win some items for really less, like QuiBids Macbook for less than $100. This is not a QuiBids scam, though QuiBids does rig the model in its own favor (who wouldn't?)
Since the guys at QuiBids are smart people and they have access to tons of user data relating to times, they try to ensure that the bidding process is uniform throughout the day. This means by bidding at one point of time, you should ideally get no advantage when compared to bidding at another point of time. Another way QuiBids tries to make auctions more 'fair' is by restricting some auctions only to certain users, depending on criteria that are not public. This has caused some outcry in the past, but those are the rules of the game.
However, as I would have suspected, the QuiBids guys are not that smart after all :) No, the process is not as smooth as it ideally should be. QuiBids strategy of trying to have an average of similar users/items for bidding doesn't seem to work practically.
Here is a list of times that you should bid during and some times that you should avoid bidding. This is from my own personal experience as I follow QuiBids auctions very closely and see how they work. If you think these aren't accurate or you have a different experience with your own QuiBids strategy, please let me know in the comments below.
Do note that this QuiBids strategy for bidding is not universal and you are NOT guaranteed to win auctions. Penny auctions depend on a million factors that are beyond your control. Worse, it depends on the behavior of other users, which is totally unpredictable. Therefore it is impossible to have a QuiBids strategy that will always work, and anyone who claims the contrary is simply a sham. There are no 100% guaranteed wins at QuiBids or any other penny auction really.
Here are some tips that will help you get the right QuiBids strategies with respect to the bidding times.
Best Times:
- Days: The best days to bid are Wednesday, Tuesday and Thursday, in that order. Some of the cheapest Quibids auctions have been won on Wednesday, somehow. There could be many reason for this. People are generally occupied with more important things during the weekdays.
- Times: The best time to bid in Quibids is around 2pm-5pm, EST. If you live in different time zones, convert it accordingly. This time there are few people bidding and lots of Quibids auctions to bid on. The ratio of users/live auctions is usually highest during this period, which is what determines the best time as Quibids strategy.
It is important to avoid these times as there are just too many people who are bidding on a given auction.
- Days: Weekends are the worst. Try to avoid them. There are just too many people who are free on the weekends and have nothing better to do than sit in front of their computers. You can see this yourself. Sunday evenings are perhaps the worst time for Quibids auctions from the user's perspective.
- Times: The worst time to bid on Quibids is somewhere around the night. In EST, this comes to about 10pm - 2am. This time has too few auctions and too many users. Try to avoid these times.
This is a recent addition to this blog post to demonstrate exactly what I am trying to tell in this blog post.
Cheap Plasma TV for $4.10, bidding on a Wednesday during 2-5pm EST
Costly Plasma TV for $170.36 bidding on a Saturday night:
So now you know how important it is to bid at the best time in QuiBids. The competition on a Saturday night is going to be huge. Don't just look at the final price. Think of how many people had lost hundreds of dollars on this day trying to win this item. I am sure you can understand how relevant this QuiBids strategy is in order to help you win.
Let me know how your QuiBids experience goes after following these QuiBids strategies.
Also see QuiBids Strategy-1: Volunteer's Dilemma
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
Quibids Strategy - 1: The Volunteer's Dilemma
Quibids strategy is nothing straightforward or simple because the strategy is also dependent on the actions of other people. In other words, there cannot be the 'best' Quibids strategy because the best will depend on the other people. Therefore there is no golden bullet that will ensure you get your Quibids Macbook for $50!
However, there are certain instances and patterns that you can catch, and these will give you a good head start. The main point to note is, the Quibids strategies that I discuss here are probabilistic, which means you are NOT guaranteed to win. However, I will try to demonstrate my strategies with examples.
I plan to make a series of different Quibids strategies to help my readers, depending on the response. I hope something will be useful to you as well.
Understanding the Volunteers dilemma as relevant to Quibids strategy
So the first strategy I discuss is to do with the famous Volunteer's Dilemma of Game Theory. Let me first present the explanation of this as relevant to Quibids. If you want to know more about these concepts, please follow the above links to Wikipedia.
In Quibids strategy, a volunteer's dilemma occurs when two or more competing players are bidding for an auction and then there is another person who steps in. Seems simple enough? Well not really. Read on!
Let us consider a simple case first - say players A and B are competing for the prized Quibids macbook. Both their strategies are simple - bid at the last moment before the timer runs out. Each one follows this strategy, so that when the timer is about to go 0:0:0, they hit the bid button so they are the current winners. This is a fairly obvious Quibids strategy but not of great interest here but may be I'll discuss this in more detail some other time.
Now suppose a third person C comes in and bids. What should you do? Who among you, A and B, is supposed to bid? Let us see the thought process. A says, "If I bid now, B will anyway bid again after me, so I don't want to waste my bid. Let B bid and then I'll bid after him." Seems logical right? Well the problem is, B is thinking the exact same thing! This creates huge problems for both because each one wants to save their bid and in the result, neither of them bids and C becomes the winner!!
Does it sound too far fetched? No, it is not! Volunteer's Dilemma is a common occurrence on Quibids and if you want to know about Quibids strategy, this is a very strong one. One immediate advantage to you, as C, is that with only a few bids you can win a great deal. Therefore if you are lucky, you can get your Quibids macbook too, as is demonstrated in my real example below.
Example
Ok, so let me convince you this great Quibids strategy that I discussed actually works. Here is a real example from Quibids on an auction that I was following but not participating in. Here is a screen-shot of the example. Remember it is taken from a real Quibids auction.
See the screenshot? A Quibids Macbook for $30! Seems too good to be true, right? Well, even the winner would not have known that his Quibids strategy for this win was actually the volunteer's dilemma that I discussed here. Let us understand in more detail.
The main players in this auction here - rhazdra, Ithackery, and billcristina. The others were secondary players. Now they were battling out the auction among themselves when all of a sudden some new player Lalig comes along. What do they do? Each one thinks about saving a bid and assuming some other person from the remaining 2 will bid, and neither does. The new player walks away with a brand new Quibids macbook for $30!
I hope my example has shown you how powerful my volunteers dilemma Quibids strategy is.
The Quibids strategy: Step by Step
Here is a step by step guide to help you maximize your earnings on Quibids. I am sure it will be of great help if you are looking to win Quibids auctions or a steal.
Let me know your success with this Quibids strategy and leave your comments.
However, there are certain instances and patterns that you can catch, and these will give you a good head start. The main point to note is, the Quibids strategies that I discuss here are probabilistic, which means you are NOT guaranteed to win. However, I will try to demonstrate my strategies with examples.
I plan to make a series of different Quibids strategies to help my readers, depending on the response. I hope something will be useful to you as well.
Understanding the Volunteers dilemma as relevant to Quibids strategy
So the first strategy I discuss is to do with the famous Volunteer's Dilemma of Game Theory. Let me first present the explanation of this as relevant to Quibids. If you want to know more about these concepts, please follow the above links to Wikipedia.
In Quibids strategy, a volunteer's dilemma occurs when two or more competing players are bidding for an auction and then there is another person who steps in. Seems simple enough? Well not really. Read on!
Let us consider a simple case first - say players A and B are competing for the prized Quibids macbook. Both their strategies are simple - bid at the last moment before the timer runs out. Each one follows this strategy, so that when the timer is about to go 0:0:0, they hit the bid button so they are the current winners. This is a fairly obvious Quibids strategy but not of great interest here but may be I'll discuss this in more detail some other time.
Now suppose a third person C comes in and bids. What should you do? Who among you, A and B, is supposed to bid? Let us see the thought process. A says, "If I bid now, B will anyway bid again after me, so I don't want to waste my bid. Let B bid and then I'll bid after him." Seems logical right? Well the problem is, B is thinking the exact same thing! This creates huge problems for both because each one wants to save their bid and in the result, neither of them bids and C becomes the winner!!
Does it sound too far fetched? No, it is not! Volunteer's Dilemma is a common occurrence on Quibids and if you want to know about Quibids strategy, this is a very strong one. One immediate advantage to you, as C, is that with only a few bids you can win a great deal. Therefore if you are lucky, you can get your Quibids macbook too, as is demonstrated in my real example below.
Example
Ok, so let me convince you this great Quibids strategy that I discussed actually works. Here is a real example from Quibids on an auction that I was following but not participating in. Here is a screen-shot of the example. Remember it is taken from a real Quibids auction.
See the screenshot? A Quibids Macbook for $30! Seems too good to be true, right? Well, even the winner would not have known that his Quibids strategy for this win was actually the volunteer's dilemma that I discussed here. Let us understand in more detail.
The main players in this auction here - rhazdra, Ithackery, and billcristina. The others were secondary players. Now they were battling out the auction among themselves when all of a sudden some new player Lalig comes along. What do they do? Each one thinks about saving a bid and assuming some other person from the remaining 2 will bid, and neither does. The new player walks away with a brand new Quibids macbook for $30!
I hope my example has shown you how powerful my volunteers dilemma Quibids strategy is.
The Quibids strategy: Step by Step
Here is a step by step guide to help you maximize your earnings on Quibids. I am sure it will be of great help if you are looking to win Quibids auctions or a steal.
- Choosing the auction: This current Quibids strategy that I discussed works best for smaller auctions, so reserve the other strategies for your Quibids macbook. Instead, try these out for smaller items like cameras or earphones or anything within $150 ideally.
- Following the auction: The volunteer's dilemma Quibids strategy should not be applied immediately as the auction begins. Instead, it works best when an auction is in progress and you should wait for the right moment. Sometimes it never comes, but don't worry - you have to move on to another auction. This is better than losing a lot of money, right.
- Understand the auction: As you follow the auction, look for a situation wherein two or more players are battling it out by staying till the last minute. This is important to note because otherwise the players will know that they are locked in the volunteers dilemma and therefore bid accordingly. The trick is they should both be confused - should I or should I not bid.
- Repeat if needed: The volunteer's dilemma Quibids strategy that I discussed is no foolproof method and you might have to wait and repeat. However, if you are looking for the really cheap goods you can get through Quibids, then you wouldn't mind waiting would you?
Let me know your success with this Quibids strategy and leave your comments.
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