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.

Class Action Lawsuit Against Quibids!

There has been a class action lawsuit against Quibids. It has been a couple of months now, and I must admit I didn't know about this. The person Lawrence A Locke is the plaintiff. The law firm Beckham and Mandel have filed the lawsuit. The news can be found on an article on Businesswire.

I have read the complete lawsuit, and it seems to be aimed more at the penny auction industry and business model in general rather than at Quibids per se. Of course, the person seems unhappy with Quibids but the lawsuit describes the penny auction industry in general. I don't see anything substantive against Quibids as such.

So don't worry about is Quibids legit or is Quibids scam because if it is, at least according to this lawsuit, the entire penny auction industry is.

So what are the points raised here? Here is a very brief summary of the main objections raised -

1. Quibids makes a lot of profit.
He gives the example of the Honda Civic auction. Ironically, I had discussed it in detail in my blog. Was Mr. Locke reading my blog? ;)

2. It is akin to gambling.

3. The Buy It Now prices are inflated.

4. Low and incalculable odds of winning.

5. Quibids doesn't disclose that a majority of people lose money on the site.

6. The initial few bids on high-ticket items are pointless (- a classical mathematical fallacy arising from a lack of understanding of the penny auction model. You need someone to place those bids. If no one places them, the first 1 cent bidder is the winner :) )

You can read the entire class action lawsuit here

It would be great to know your thoughts on this. What do you think about this lawsuit?

Quibids 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!

Quibids Alternative: DealDash

To all my readers, I would like to recommend a new penny auction called DealDash as a good Quibids alternative. They are not really a new penny auction - they are in business for 2 years now. However, they take great pains to keep the site neat and profitable for the bidders. I don't think they have as aggressive a marketing campaign like Quibids or Beezid, so they are not as well known but they are very good.

The thing I like about DealDash is they try their best to give it a very personal touch, even though there are thousands of bidders there. The customer service is very good (as good as Quibids and certainly many times better than Beezid). Their personal care shows across the site, for example, you can see their blog which has videos from their employees explaining offers and features. I have not seen many sites do that, and even less in the penny auction industry.

DealDash is a legit penny auction and is BBB Accredited as well. It is much less competitive than Quibids, which means you will have a superior winning chance here than at Quibids.

But now the most important question: How profitable is DealDash compared to Quibids?

To know this, you will have to take a case study - a sample of products sold at both these sites. I prefer to choose a reasonably priced item, so I picked a 12 MP camera from both these stores, of comparable prices, around $110 retail. So how does DealDash compare to Quibids?

The screenshots of auctions from the last week are shown below. As you can see, DealDash is over 10 times cheaper than Quibids in this auction. This seems to be the general trend and not limited to just this one auction.


So DealDash appears to have a very good choice of items. Of course, Quibids still remains the largest penny auction out there, but if you can find the product you are looking for also on DealDash, you can save much more money than on Quibids. In addition, I encourage you to check out the prices of previously won auctions on DealDash and Quibids and you will see how Quibids is no longer as profitable as it once was.

DealDash is not exactly new in that it is not a few months old. It has established itself well in a niche field of penny auctioners who are looking for some good cheap deals with an honest and accredited penny auction.

I would really like to hear from you how you found DealDash as compared to Quibids.

Disclaimer: DealDash have agreed to sponsor this blog but they have in no way influenced what is written and have not provided me any content, have in no way told me what to write about them and are in no way responsible for the content that I post about them or other sites on this blog. Everything written in this blog is 100% my original thoughts.

Penny Auction Coupons and Promo Codes

I want to introduce my readers to a blog that contains a number of penny auction coupons and promo codes. If you are planning to join any of these sites, it will prove to be highly beneficial. You can find penny auction coupons here.

The blog BidPenny is a wonderful resource and a database for a lot of information on penny auctions. The blog has also taken a lot of pains to create huge database of penny auctions and also their contact information, so you don't need to do a lot of research really. If you are looking to join a penny auction, it is best if you visit this site for information, reviews and coupon codes.

Another good thing is that you get many regular promotions on penny auctions. For example, today's promotion at Bidpenny is about getting free penny auction bids. You can check out the previous promotions as well.

I would suggest visiting this blog if you want to learn not just about Quibids but about penny auctions in general.

Quibids Sweepstakes

Quibids sweepstakes are going to take place from today, Feb 1st to Feb 14th. This is their advertising campaign of "Sharing Love"! Pretty neat I guess.

So what do you have to do? Nothing much really. You just need to enter Quibids Sweepstakes at Facebook and like the page. You will then be entered in the lottery. Every day a winner will get 2 T-shirts and also many electronics including cameras, iPads, iPhones, etc. The grand prize will of course be on the 14th of February.

If you are not yet a member, register with coupon code. If you are already a member, learn how to get Free Quibids Bids.

Finally, don't forget to subscribe to the blog so you know of all the new ways to get great Quibids products, offers, free bids, etc. You will also get information about other penny auctions and their offers, including free bids.

Quibids vs Bidhere - 1

Here, I'll discuss Quibids vs Bidhere, two of the most famous and biggest penny auctions on the internet today. There are several important distinctions here and hopefully you will be in a better position to decide where you want to bid more after reading this post.

Both Quibids and Bidhere are legit penny auctions that are quite big. Being big is good for them because they don't have an incentive to cheat you. There are some smaller penny auctions out there that are not as reliable. However, if there is a younger penny auction and you trust it is legit, you will usually have a higher winning chance there than on either Quibids or Bidhere.
However, the advantage of Quibids and Bidhere is that they are both big and offer a very wide variety of products. You can therefore get many products that you are genuinely interested to buy.

So here is a comparison of Quibids vs Bidhere with respect to the most important features of the two sites -

Win Limits

This is the first important difference between Quibids and Bidhere that you will notice. Quibids has limits on the number of auctions that you can win. On the other hand, Bidhere doesn't really have any limits.

Now I cannot really say which one is good. Really, it depends on the type of bidder. If you are highly experienced and know all the penny auction strategies, you might want to be able to win many more items and would prefer no limits. However, if you are a relative beginner and like to bid and win conservatively, you will see that having limits is very good.

Why? Because it restricts the number of people who are highly aggressive and have huge investments. Remember penny auctions can become statistical games when there are huge investments. The small guy is therefore unable to compete with the big fish.

So what the limits of Quibids? Several. Here are the Quibids limits -

• In a 28 day period, you can win a maximum of 8 products.
  
• In a 24 hour period, you can win a maximum of 3 auctions.
  
• In a 28 day period, you can only win one big-ticket item (price >$999.00)
  
• In a 28 day period, you can only win one same product valued >$285.00
  

So these were the Quibids auction limits. At Bidhere, there are just no limits. This can potentially lead to people abusing the system.

Buy It Now Feature

Quibids is one of the best penny auction sites out there in this regard, and I really like them for this. Their buy it now feature allows you to almost eliminate the risk involved in bidding on penny auctions. This feature allows you to use the money spent towards the bids in purchasing the item at the retail price. The way it eliminates risk is that if you win the auction, you get the good discount but if you lose, you can still buy the item at the retail as if you were just buying from any online retailer. Of course there will always be small price differences, shipping costs, etc.

Bidhere has a different policy in this regard. Only some auctions have the Buy Now feature on this penny auction. Even then, there are limits -

• In a month, you can use the Buy Now feature at Bidhere a maximum of 4 times.
  
• In a month, you cannot purchase the same item more than once using this option.
  

These are quite limiting, considering the fact that Bidhere has no limits on the number of auctions you can be bidding on.

In the next part, I'll discuss Quibids vs Bidhere with respect to the types of auctions, winning chances, special gifts, bonuses and other interesting features. Stay tuned! And subscribe to the blog to keep yourself updated.

Quibids Sharing Love Announcement!

Quibids sent a mail to all their customers, saying Quibids loves its customers! Just when you thought it couldn't really get cheesier.

Well, the announcement is a teaser - they should really reduce these teasers. I suspect it is just to increase the mails they send out, which is not something you want to overdo. This teaser is for some announcement on February 2011. What announcement? Well, that's a secret.

You do need to Fan them on Facebook. This also gives you a chance to win well. Read my post on How to Get 50 Free Quibids Bids if you want to know more about this.

OMGiWON Coupon Code

I had recently written about a new penny auction site, OMGiWON It is a nice alternative to Quibids because it is new and therefore less crowded.

On this site, you get 7 free bids when you register. Now, you can get an additional 5 free bids when you use the OMGiWON coupon code of "wow". This is not available during registration. You can just register and you will get your 7 free bids. Now go to My Account and click on Coupon. Here you will be asked to enter your coupon code. Enter wow and you should have 5 free OMGiWON bids credited to your account.

12 bids at this new site are enough to win some small-ticket items like gift cards. No harm trying because you don't even need to invest any money!

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!