PennyGrab is having a great promotion to celebrate their 1 year in existence! Use the code PENNYDOZER to get 10% off your bid packs, and also participate in games. Yes, exciting games, and win bids in the process! (the site is trying to promote the game angle, so the bids are quite generous. I am not sure how long that is going to last). You should be able to find these under the Games tab.
Friday, July 6, 2012
Sunday, May 20, 2012
Exciting Penny Auction Variations
If you are bored of traditional penny auctions with a timer that increases each time a bid is placed, you should check out other forms of penny auctions. The industry has a come a long way from the traditional model and some of you will find that more fun and better returns.
My favorite is PennyGrab simply because they have a Buy Now and gifts at regular intervals. This means most bidders actually win something, and it is not hard to formulate a good strategy for almost guaranteed wins. The site has grown into a very loyal bidder community who actually help each other out (no power bidding, for example). Another great feature is you can chat with your fellow bidders which is really cool.
Do you know of other exciting penny auctions with different models?
My favorite is PennyGrab simply because they have a Buy Now and gifts at regular intervals. This means most bidders actually win something, and it is not hard to formulate a good strategy for almost guaranteed wins. The site has grown into a very loyal bidder community who actually help each other out (no power bidding, for example). Another great feature is you can chat with your fellow bidders which is really cool.
Do you know of other exciting penny auctions with different models?
Tuesday, May 15, 2012
Nebids Interview with Larry NeJame
This is my nebids interview with the co-founder Larry. nebids is a promising new penny auction which aims to bring a complete marketplace to the penny auction industry - you can both buy and sell items based on the penny auction model. If implemented well, I think the idea has great potential for bidders. The site is yet to go into beta but the founders are excited and you can sign up now for bonus giveaways. Here is the interview:
Sid: nebids is centered around a penny auction marketplace. Tell us a little about how nebids is supposed to work.
Larry: The simple of it is nebids will provide a platform for anyone to buy and sell using the penny auction format; just as eBay allows people to buy and sell using a traditional online auction format. Virtually anyone will be able to shop and sell through nebids and they will be able to sell pretty much anything they want.
Sid: When is nebids going to be live?
Larry: We plan on going live with our Beta Launch around mid to late June. This is barring any unforeseen road blocks. The first version of the site will be launching very shortly after the Beta Launch.
Sid: Why do you think bidders will be attracted to nebids as compared to say bidding on Quibids?
Larry: One of the key things we are offering bidders is lower bid prices. Bid prices will be set at $.50 per bid which is the lowest we’ve ever seen. We also allow bidders to purchase any number of bids they want; we are doing away with bid packs. So if someone wants to buy 83 bids, they can. One last thing that we are going to try to bring to the table is a larger variety of items that shoppers can buy. We hope to provide as many different shopping categories as an eBay or Amazon.
Sid: Do you think you can get enough sellers especially in the initial stages, considering it would be risky for them?
Larry: That of course is one of the major challenges to the launch. We have been working tirelessly to get the word out there about nebids as best we can to create as much buzz as we can about the site. In the past few weeks we have been taking signups and getting feedback through our Facebook page and we have been getting a ton of positive responses and participation so far, so we think there is going to be no shortage of bidder/shopper participation.
It’s our goal to make sure everyone has a pleasant experience on nebids either shopping or selling. So especially in the early stages we are going to try to work very closely with the sellers and give them as many guarantees as possible, to make sure they are making money on their auctions.
Sid: How do you plan to prevent problems with sellers like not shipping items?
Larry: We will have a built in system that requires the sellers to fulfill an auction order once the auction is completed. If they seller does not fulfill the auction order they will be heavily penalized, either by being banned from the site or incurring negative feedback on their account, which will hinder them from selling effectively.
The system will also require the buyer to finalize the auction by paying the ending auction price and shipping. At that point the seller will be responsible for shipping the item/fulfilling the order. Nebids will be the facilitator for this transaction, similar to how Amazon works; it will not be a transaction directly between the buyer and seller. This will ensure that both parties are protected.
If a seller does not ship the item the money paid by the winning bidder will be refunded. Also all bids placed on the auction will be refunded to all participants in that auction. The seller will of course not receive any distribution of money from that sale.
Sid: Will there be any restrictions on what items can be put up for auction?
Larry: For the most part anyone can sell anything. However there are some standard restrictions, such as, no pornographic material or paraphernalia, also things that you might not have the rights to sell.
Sid: Tell us a little about the people behind nebids
Larry: Nebids has 3 founders: Larry, Marcus and Scott. All three of us grew up in Florida and we have worked with each other for a number of years. Larry handles most of business operations of the company and Scott and Marcus handle the technology and development aspects of the company. Each of us have extensive experience with other business ventures in different fields such as, telecommunications, ecommerce websites and software.
Sid: Do you think other penny auctions will copy this model? Are you aware of any other live penny auctions who have implemented such a marketplace?
Larry: It’s certainly possible for other penny auctions to copy this model. Our hope is that people looking to get into the penny auction business choose to sell through nebids as opposed to starting up a website themselves. We think it is a beneficial scenario all around, sellers will not have to worry about the overhead of starting a website and marketing it, they can simply list items and market to nebids built in customer base.
To our understanding there have been some attempts at an eBay –like penny auction before, however they seemed to charge outrageous commissions on the auctions making it virtually impossible for sellers to generate a profit. There are other marketplaces out there, however they do not use a standard penny auction format.
Sid: Is nebids open to international bidders or just US residents?
Larry: To start nebids will only be open to US residents only. The goal is to expand to other regions at a later date, if possible.
Sid: Do you think the penny auction industry in general should be regulated more closely?
Larry: That’s an interesting question. With some of the practices utilized by some penny auction sites that we’ve seen, like shill bidding and not shipping products, the quick reaction to that question is “YES”. However one of the primary goals with the nebids marketplace penny auction format is to eliminate those bad practices that are being demonstrated today, which the marketplace format inherently eliminates or at the very least dramatically reduces. We really think this format is going to be a game changer.
Sid: What kind of auction models do you plan to implement? Just the traditional timer auctions or something more?
Larry: The initial plan is to offer a traditional timer penny auction where a bid increases the auction price by $.01. We feel like this is the simplest and easiest to understand model for both shoppers and sellers. We will constantly be updating the site with new features and options, such as, a buy it now option. However the core model will be a traditional timer based penny auction.
Sid: What do you think is the main reason behind so many seemingly successful penny auctions closing down, like Swoopoo, BidRivals, etc.
Larry: Sometimes companies simply overextend themselves, which is a common reason why established companies go under. From what we’ve seen over the last couple of years there have been a lot of small penny auction startups that have come and gone in almost the blink of an eye. It seems most new penny auction site owners do not realize what it takes to get a successful website off the ground, let alone a penny auction. It requires a lot of work and a lot of capital and resources at the beginning to be successful, which is something most people do not account for.
Check out nebids today.
Sid: nebids is centered around a penny auction marketplace. Tell us a little about how nebids is supposed to work.
Larry: The simple of it is nebids will provide a platform for anyone to buy and sell using the penny auction format; just as eBay allows people to buy and sell using a traditional online auction format. Virtually anyone will be able to shop and sell through nebids and they will be able to sell pretty much anything they want.
Sid: When is nebids going to be live?
Larry: We plan on going live with our Beta Launch around mid to late June. This is barring any unforeseen road blocks. The first version of the site will be launching very shortly after the Beta Launch.
Sid: Why do you think bidders will be attracted to nebids as compared to say bidding on Quibids?
Larry: One of the key things we are offering bidders is lower bid prices. Bid prices will be set at $.50 per bid which is the lowest we’ve ever seen. We also allow bidders to purchase any number of bids they want; we are doing away with bid packs. So if someone wants to buy 83 bids, they can. One last thing that we are going to try to bring to the table is a larger variety of items that shoppers can buy. We hope to provide as many different shopping categories as an eBay or Amazon.
Sid: Do you think you can get enough sellers especially in the initial stages, considering it would be risky for them?
Larry: That of course is one of the major challenges to the launch. We have been working tirelessly to get the word out there about nebids as best we can to create as much buzz as we can about the site. In the past few weeks we have been taking signups and getting feedback through our Facebook page and we have been getting a ton of positive responses and participation so far, so we think there is going to be no shortage of bidder/shopper participation.
It’s our goal to make sure everyone has a pleasant experience on nebids either shopping or selling. So especially in the early stages we are going to try to work very closely with the sellers and give them as many guarantees as possible, to make sure they are making money on their auctions.
Sid: How do you plan to prevent problems with sellers like not shipping items?
Larry: We will have a built in system that requires the sellers to fulfill an auction order once the auction is completed. If they seller does not fulfill the auction order they will be heavily penalized, either by being banned from the site or incurring negative feedback on their account, which will hinder them from selling effectively.
The system will also require the buyer to finalize the auction by paying the ending auction price and shipping. At that point the seller will be responsible for shipping the item/fulfilling the order. Nebids will be the facilitator for this transaction, similar to how Amazon works; it will not be a transaction directly between the buyer and seller. This will ensure that both parties are protected.
If a seller does not ship the item the money paid by the winning bidder will be refunded. Also all bids placed on the auction will be refunded to all participants in that auction. The seller will of course not receive any distribution of money from that sale.
Sid: Will there be any restrictions on what items can be put up for auction?
Larry: For the most part anyone can sell anything. However there are some standard restrictions, such as, no pornographic material or paraphernalia, also things that you might not have the rights to sell.
Sid: Tell us a little about the people behind nebids
Larry: Nebids has 3 founders: Larry, Marcus and Scott. All three of us grew up in Florida and we have worked with each other for a number of years. Larry handles most of business operations of the company and Scott and Marcus handle the technology and development aspects of the company. Each of us have extensive experience with other business ventures in different fields such as, telecommunications, ecommerce websites and software.
Sid: Do you think other penny auctions will copy this model? Are you aware of any other live penny auctions who have implemented such a marketplace?
Larry: It’s certainly possible for other penny auctions to copy this model. Our hope is that people looking to get into the penny auction business choose to sell through nebids as opposed to starting up a website themselves. We think it is a beneficial scenario all around, sellers will not have to worry about the overhead of starting a website and marketing it, they can simply list items and market to nebids built in customer base.
To our understanding there have been some attempts at an eBay –like penny auction before, however they seemed to charge outrageous commissions on the auctions making it virtually impossible for sellers to generate a profit. There are other marketplaces out there, however they do not use a standard penny auction format.
Sid: Is nebids open to international bidders or just US residents?
Larry: To start nebids will only be open to US residents only. The goal is to expand to other regions at a later date, if possible.
Sid: Do you think the penny auction industry in general should be regulated more closely?
Larry: That’s an interesting question. With some of the practices utilized by some penny auction sites that we’ve seen, like shill bidding and not shipping products, the quick reaction to that question is “YES”. However one of the primary goals with the nebids marketplace penny auction format is to eliminate those bad practices that are being demonstrated today, which the marketplace format inherently eliminates or at the very least dramatically reduces. We really think this format is going to be a game changer.
Sid: What kind of auction models do you plan to implement? Just the traditional timer auctions or something more?
Larry: The initial plan is to offer a traditional timer penny auction where a bid increases the auction price by $.01. We feel like this is the simplest and easiest to understand model for both shoppers and sellers. We will constantly be updating the site with new features and options, such as, a buy it now option. However the core model will be a traditional timer based penny auction.
Sid: What do you think is the main reason behind so many seemingly successful penny auctions closing down, like Swoopoo, BidRivals, etc.
Larry: Sometimes companies simply overextend themselves, which is a common reason why established companies go under. From what we’ve seen over the last couple of years there have been a lot of small penny auction startups that have come and gone in almost the blink of an eye. It seems most new penny auction site owners do not realize what it takes to get a successful website off the ground, let alone a penny auction. It requires a lot of work and a lot of capital and resources at the beginning to be successful, which is something most people do not account for.
Check out nebids today.
Friday, May 4, 2012
10% Off Bids: PennyGrab Coupon Code
PennyGrab has a great offer - save 10% off any bid pack you purchase with the code STARWARS. PennyGrab runs one of the most interesting campaigns and it is a pleasure to read the witty emails. So what was it today? May the 4th be With You! That of course is something all the sci-fi star war fans or any geek reading this would immediately appreciate, from the famous 'may the force be with you' statement. And what better time to talk of sci-fi and celebrate the inner geek than a day after the release of the Avengers! (Yes it is awesome and you should see it irrespective of whether you like "that kind" of movies or not)
Redeem STARWARS coupon and get 10% off your bid packs.
Redeem STARWARS coupon and get 10% off your bid packs.
Monday, April 30, 2012
Largest Penny Auction Site
What is the largest penny auction site? A lot of bidders wonder about this. The answer is Quibids. It is actually by far the largest penny auction in the world. It has always been at the forefront of penny auctions, even though initially Quibids did not identify itself as a penny auction.
As an industry veteran, I am impressed by how Quibids survived and thrived as plenty of new penny auctions came and went bust. Even as other penny auctions were dying, Quibids was building a mark for itself. It has a nice, slow and steady progress growth.
What's also impressive is that the growth of new bidders has slowed at almost every site except Quibids. It still attracts a good amount of traffic every single day. You can look at the Alexa rank of Quibids and you will know just how impressive it has been all the while. No other single penny auction even comes close to being the industry heavyweight. I think Quibids does some things just right, e.g. Buy Now on all the auctions from a very long time, so it couldn't be criticized as gambling.
That being said, the obvious drawback is everyone knows about Quibids! This means increased competition because there are not enough products for everyone to bid on. This of course works against bidders. Worse, Quibids separates bidders as new, experienced, etc. and the more winnings you have, the harder your competition gets.
So which penny auctions do you bid on?
As an industry veteran, I am impressed by how Quibids survived and thrived as plenty of new penny auctions came and went bust. Even as other penny auctions were dying, Quibids was building a mark for itself. It has a nice, slow and steady progress growth.
What's also impressive is that the growth of new bidders has slowed at almost every site except Quibids. It still attracts a good amount of traffic every single day. You can look at the Alexa rank of Quibids and you will know just how impressive it has been all the while. No other single penny auction even comes close to being the industry heavyweight. I think Quibids does some things just right, e.g. Buy Now on all the auctions from a very long time, so it couldn't be criticized as gambling.
That being said, the obvious drawback is everyone knows about Quibids! This means increased competition because there are not enough products for everyone to bid on. This of course works against bidders. Worse, Quibids separates bidders as new, experienced, etc. and the more winnings you have, the harder your competition gets.
So which penny auctions do you bid on?
Sunday, April 29, 2012
Thursday, April 26, 2012
BidRivals Closes: BidRivals Scam
BidRivals shut down today. They deleted their Facebook page and all the posts, the site is "temporarily unavailable" and they sent out an email to all the affiliates to "pause" their promotions. This means they are not coming back. They are large enough that I don't think they will come back with some new owners or some other penny auction bailing them out. Too sad.
Whether BidRivals turns scam is something we have to wait and see. Before the site was shut down, there were Facebook complaints from people who never received their winning items. Some additional details are provided here.
BidRivals was one of the largest penny auctions about a couple of years ago, almost rivaling Quibids. And they were definitely more global than Quibids then, covering the whole of Europe. I think they made a mistake too many. I hope the bidders get their winnings and get a refund for the bid packs they purchased from PayPal or their Credit Card. Take action fast if you are one of the affected.
Were you a member of BidRivals? Did you buy bids there? What do you think about this?
Updates: Thanks to Amanda for the link below. According to PennyAuctionWatch, BidRivals is in liquidation. Some bidders might be reminded of the terrible days when Swoopoo, the first penny auction, closed doors in a similar secretive fashion scamming and owing bidders money, won products and trust.
Whether BidRivals turns scam is something we have to wait and see. Before the site was shut down, there were Facebook complaints from people who never received their winning items. Some additional details are provided here.
BidRivals was one of the largest penny auctions about a couple of years ago, almost rivaling Quibids. And they were definitely more global than Quibids then, covering the whole of Europe. I think they made a mistake too many. I hope the bidders get their winnings and get a refund for the bid packs they purchased from PayPal or their Credit Card. Take action fast if you are one of the affected.
Were you a member of BidRivals? Did you buy bids there? What do you think about this?
Updates: Thanks to Amanda for the link below. According to PennyAuctionWatch, BidRivals is in liquidation. Some bidders might be reminded of the terrible days when Swoopoo, the first penny auction, closed doors in a similar secretive fashion scamming and owing bidders money, won products and trust.
Beware a Scam Text Campaign that is NOT from Quibids
Quibids is becoming so popular that scammers are beginning to get excited! I just came to know from the PR manager of Quibids, Jill, that there is a scam text campaign out there apparently offering some $1K in Best Buy gift cards. Obviously this isn't from Quibids. Bidders beware.
It looks like the campaign used a website to confuse users - they use qulblds ... now if that looks similar to quibids, look closely - the i's are l's! So this scam site is quLbLds - not quibids. Be on the lookout.
It is interesting to note that this is without any incentive from Quibids. I have seen some unethical sites that promote penny auctions as "guaranteed wins", "free gift cards" etc. but this is usually to scam people and make money promoting a site. I know BidRivals had a huge problem with this in the past. However, Quibids doesn't really give you money to promote them (well, yea, those 25 free bids aren't really incentive enough to scam). This new scam is just to try to divert users from Quibids and scam them and has nothing to do with Quibids.
I suppose that't the price you pay for popularity. Being a niche like penny auctions doesn't help either I am sure, because consumers sure find a trust deficit, considering how many have turned out scams in the past.
Remember the golden rule - if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. If you ever want to know whether something is genuinely from Quibids, check the URL really well or just enter quibids in your browser window instead of clicking on links. These things can sometimes be hard to find.
Did you get this message too?
Wednesday, April 25, 2012
Quibids Daily Deals: A Step Forward
Quibids daily deals are here! Today, Quibids announced in a blog post that they are starting Quibids daily deals. This is definitely a step in the right direction. I am personally quite excited about this development and what it might mean for the business as a whole. Quibids has never really identified itself as a penny auction and even in a Quibids interview with Jill, she suggested how Quibids is much more than a penny auction.
I think the idea of daily deals is good for Quibids on several counts -
I think the idea of daily deals is good for Quibids on several counts -
- It helps attract a new class of consumers who don't care about penny auctions but like such daily deals that help them save money without any element of chance. May be, they will also give the penny auctions a try.
- It helps Quibids diversify away from the main penny auction model. The industry as a whole is on a decline and I can think of only Quibids which is actually growing currently (not considering the new penny auctions of course, there are several promising penny auctions today but it is hard to predict the future in this industry). By entering the daily deals market, it can keep revenues up.
- Quibids can leverage its power from penny auctions to get great bargains from companies. I don't know if this will become the next Woot - probably not, but if it can offer deals that even a site like Woot cannot, then we will have a real winner. Sites like woot can leverage their huge customer base but a site like Quibids can leverage its already existing auctions, which can be the same product being offered in the daily deals section.
- It brings something new to the site. I don't know of any other penny auction doing this, which isn't too surprising considering Quibids usually leads the way in sustainable innovation in this industry. It keeps the bidders hooked on the site longer.
- It provides something that bidders can share with friends. I think this is actually a very important point from the point of view of Quibids and I am not sure how much of importance they think this commands. The way I see it, there are almost no penny auctions that people would want to share with the entire world, on their Facebook with friends or on Twitter with their followers. The very simple reason for this is that people can lose money on Quibids especially if they are foolish and no one likes promoting a site where a friend can do that. However, the introduction of Daily Deals changes that completely. Now people can genuinely share a deal with friends and introduce them to the website. If the friend pokes around a bit more, they will discover the penny auctions and might join if they want to.
Of course a big factor to remember is that Quibids is the largest penny auction out there it can take chances. I would hate for it to take foolish risks with its money and market share, but things that blend into the overall theme and premise of the site - entertainment shopping - are fine by me. We have to wait and see how successful this section can get. Introducing a more social element might be a good start.
One good way to really take this off the ground is to offer unbelievable discounts that people cannot help but promote. You know, the ridiculously good deals (say a $100 Amazon card for $50, I don't know! But you get the idea). This section has the potential to stand on its own and is definitely promising if done right.
Tuesday, April 24, 2012
Quibids Interview with Jill Farrand
This is my Quibids interview with Jill Farrand, the PR director at Quibids. It is really nice to hear these thoughts from someone inside this successful business. She has some interesting things to share and I hope you enjoy the read. For the rare few who don't already know, Quibids is the largest penny auction in the US and fast expanding into other countries.
Sid: I remember about 18-24 months ago, there were quite a few promising penny auctions, some almost rivaling Quibids. Today, Quibids seems to be head and shoulders above all other penny auctions. What's the secret?
Jill: Currently, QuiBids holds about 80% of the market share in our space. There’s really no secret but that we continue to look for ways to enhance the customer’s entertainment shopping experience. We do this by implementing new site features and updates, i.e. the implementation of Badges and Games last year. There’s much more to come in the following months/years as well!
Sid: Where do you see the future of penny auctions in general, considering consumers were bit by a scam too many in the last few years?
Jill: It’s unfortunate that some “bad apples” fell into the mix in this exciting industry. In early 2011, we positioned QuiBids as an entertainment retail auction site. Our base model derived from the penny auction model but we knew we were going to take it further by the start. In the beginning, we implemented the Buy Now on 100% of our auctions. This assures our customers that no one ever has to walk away empty handed. Further, with implementing gamification into the model, we started to mold our auctions into a hybrid of traditional auctions with those gaming elements. Additional site features like QLive, QBar, user avatars, etc. is what also adds to the entertainment aspect of the model. Mentioned earlier, Badges and Games are a big part of our model that we will also continue to develop. Besides consumers coming to our site to look for a particular deal on a product, we want them to come to our site just when they want to shop in general. And when they arrive at our site, we hope their shopping experience is that much more fun!
Sid: Do you think the FTC should impose any regulations on the penny auction industry?
Jill: No, I do not believe there is a need to since most of the “bad apples” have been shut down and filtered through.
Sid: Any comments on the class action lawsuit against Quibids alleging that it is akin to gambling?
Jill: We feel there is no merit to it and hope for a quick resolution.
Sid: Quibids follows the traditional timer model. I see a few sites in the Entertainment Auctions industry that do away with the timer (reserve price or hidden-bid model being the most popular where the person who uncovers a hidden bid value wins or the lowest unique bid auction model). Do you see any merit to these auction models? Do you think Quibids might introduce any of these in the future?
Jill: I think it’s great to offer different auction formats to keep things new, exciting and fresh. We definitely have some plans for new auction formats in the future. Stay tuned…
Sid: Do you have any statistics as to how many auctions are profitable for Quibids, considering you have a Buy It Now for all auctions?
Jill: We lose on over half of our auctions. Our model definitely keeps us busy and working hard to make it a great experience for our customers.
Sid: What's the average auction count on Quibids?
Jill: We have some 10,000+ auctions a day.
Sid: The bidder community at Quibids still seems rather niche. Do you think it can go really mainstream and become a legitimate shopping option for a majority of consumers?
Jill: We certainly hope so and plan for it to be!
Sid: What's a normal day like at Quibids for you?
Jill: For me (PR), it’s checking up on our daily/monthly promotions, communication with our customers, taking any/all media inquiries, organizing community efforts and sponsorships, solidifying business and community partnerships, working across multiple departments internally, writing editorial content for multiple platforms, reputation management, etc. However, ask another employee and they’ll tell you something completely different! Each day brings something different and makes it a very exciting company to work for!
Sid: How big is the team at Quibids?
Jill: Currently, we’re around 150 employees and going strong.
Sid: I see you recently launched global auctions. Which countries are you looking to expand into?
Jill: Yes, we launched those Tuesday, April 24! Global Auctions are currently available in the United States, Canadian and Australian markets. The United Kingdom should be next on the list to offer Global Auctions. Regarding additional countries we’ll enter later this year, more than likely it’ll be across Europe.
Sid: Any new and exciting features bidders can expect in the coming days after games, a new blog and global auctions?
Jill: Yes, QuiBids Deals! Those are launching (in Beta) this Thursday! We hope our customers will take advantage of these deals. There will be a limited quantity on a select number of items and there will definitely be some great deals to be had!
What are your thoughts on this?
Sid: I remember about 18-24 months ago, there were quite a few promising penny auctions, some almost rivaling Quibids. Today, Quibids seems to be head and shoulders above all other penny auctions. What's the secret?
Jill: Currently, QuiBids holds about 80% of the market share in our space. There’s really no secret but that we continue to look for ways to enhance the customer’s entertainment shopping experience. We do this by implementing new site features and updates, i.e. the implementation of Badges and Games last year. There’s much more to come in the following months/years as well!
Sid: Where do you see the future of penny auctions in general, considering consumers were bit by a scam too many in the last few years?
Jill: It’s unfortunate that some “bad apples” fell into the mix in this exciting industry. In early 2011, we positioned QuiBids as an entertainment retail auction site. Our base model derived from the penny auction model but we knew we were going to take it further by the start. In the beginning, we implemented the Buy Now on 100% of our auctions. This assures our customers that no one ever has to walk away empty handed. Further, with implementing gamification into the model, we started to mold our auctions into a hybrid of traditional auctions with those gaming elements. Additional site features like QLive, QBar, user avatars, etc. is what also adds to the entertainment aspect of the model. Mentioned earlier, Badges and Games are a big part of our model that we will also continue to develop. Besides consumers coming to our site to look for a particular deal on a product, we want them to come to our site just when they want to shop in general. And when they arrive at our site, we hope their shopping experience is that much more fun!
Sid: Do you think the FTC should impose any regulations on the penny auction industry?
Jill: No, I do not believe there is a need to since most of the “bad apples” have been shut down and filtered through.
Sid: Any comments on the class action lawsuit against Quibids alleging that it is akin to gambling?
Jill: We feel there is no merit to it and hope for a quick resolution.
Sid: Quibids follows the traditional timer model. I see a few sites in the Entertainment Auctions industry that do away with the timer (reserve price or hidden-bid model being the most popular where the person who uncovers a hidden bid value wins or the lowest unique bid auction model). Do you see any merit to these auction models? Do you think Quibids might introduce any of these in the future?
Jill: I think it’s great to offer different auction formats to keep things new, exciting and fresh. We definitely have some plans for new auction formats in the future. Stay tuned…
Sid: Do you have any statistics as to how many auctions are profitable for Quibids, considering you have a Buy It Now for all auctions?
Jill: We lose on over half of our auctions. Our model definitely keeps us busy and working hard to make it a great experience for our customers.
Sid: What's the average auction count on Quibids?
Jill: We have some 10,000+ auctions a day.
Sid: The bidder community at Quibids still seems rather niche. Do you think it can go really mainstream and become a legitimate shopping option for a majority of consumers?
Jill: We certainly hope so and plan for it to be!
Sid: What's a normal day like at Quibids for you?
Jill: For me (PR), it’s checking up on our daily/monthly promotions, communication with our customers, taking any/all media inquiries, organizing community efforts and sponsorships, solidifying business and community partnerships, working across multiple departments internally, writing editorial content for multiple platforms, reputation management, etc. However, ask another employee and they’ll tell you something completely different! Each day brings something different and makes it a very exciting company to work for!
Sid: How big is the team at Quibids?
Jill: Currently, we’re around 150 employees and going strong.
Sid: I see you recently launched global auctions. Which countries are you looking to expand into?
Jill: Yes, we launched those Tuesday, April 24! Global Auctions are currently available in the United States, Canadian and Australian markets. The United Kingdom should be next on the list to offer Global Auctions. Regarding additional countries we’ll enter later this year, more than likely it’ll be across Europe.
Sid: Any new and exciting features bidders can expect in the coming days after games, a new blog and global auctions?
Jill: Yes, QuiBids Deals! Those are launching (in Beta) this Thursday! We hope our customers will take advantage of these deals. There will be a limited quantity on a select number of items and there will definitely be some great deals to be had!
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