Anyone bid on Penny Auctions?

[BabyFidgette]

Originally Posted by Nancy1999

Research is always a good thing, even on Ebay, I'm amazed at how many people bidding on an item are willing to pay more than the "buy now" price and most of the time bidding doesn't include shipping so you need to factor that in. Okay, I'll admit I got taken in a couple of times!

Well, that's the thing. People don't do research for a few reasons. 1. They are lazy. 2. They always think eBay will have the lowest price. 3. If a person has a BIN price up and a Joe Shmo comes in with a low ball of $5, the BIN goes away. I always hated that. I almost got taken a few times with buying off eBay first. But, after doing my research (I guess having my Master's degree taught me too much about that!) I noticed that sometimes you can get items cheaper than eBay. For example, last week I wanted this wall cabinet to go over my toilet. Of course, I went to eBay first. Then I found it on Target with free shipping and a coupon code. I wound up saving like $20 than I would have from eBay. We ladies need to shop around.

[BabyFidgette]

Originally Posted by LunasMomma

Sounds like a rip-off to me! Everyone that bids on a certain item loses any money they've bid. One lucky person wins the item for a cheap price, and everyone else gets taken for a ride. So if you bid all the time, you're basically just throwing money away, unless you get very lucky. Add up all the money you've wasted, and you are spending way more for that one item that you won. I'm sure it's fun if you have disposable income, but I for one can't afford to throw money after something that I may not get anyway. At least on Ebay, if you don't win the auction, it costs you nothing!

Do you ever play the lottery?

[BabyFidgette]

Okay, so much misinformation it's time for the expert to do some explaining! So I'm going to explain Quibids: (Shopping Redefined - QuiBids.com) penny auction in a nut shell. There are many other sites like Dealdash and Beezid, but the rules are slightly different. My favorite is Quibids, so that's what I'm going to explain. Overall basic concept.

1. Penny auctions are NOT for everyone. If you don't like to gamble, play the lottery, scratch off tickets, spend a little to get a lot, etc. Walk away and bid on eBay. I'm not trying to scam anyone, just thought I'd let you in on a cool secret!

2. When you are new to Quibids you may sign up for free, BUT you must buy your first bid pack to bid.

3. If you decide you want to sign up and bid, the price to start is $60 for 100 bids. There are no lower "bid packs " as they are called (until you are a member). That means each bid costs 60 cents. (What I mean by this is that after your first purchase of $60, if you want to continue to play, you can buy a lower pack for $27, which is 45 bids. You can not buy one bid at a time.)

4. So how does this bidding thing work? You find a product you'd like to bid on. Focus on ONE item at a time, trust me. You place a bid. One bid is deducted from your account. You always know how many bids you have left and how many bids you've placed in the current auction. Each time a person bids the price (up top in green) goes up one penny, hence the name Penny auction. You don't pay that extra penny every time you bid, you just have your bids that you've already prepaid.

5. How do you win? If you are the highest bidder once the clock hits 0, you are the winner. Please be aware, every time someone places a bid after you, the clock goes up 10 or 15 seconds (depending on how high the auction price is at that time). So, there could be 1 second on the clock, and bam someone outbids you. Unlike eBay, where you would lose to the sniper, Quibids adds 10 (or 15) seconds to the clock giving you another chance. This can go on for minutes or hours depending on how many interested parties there are in an auction. The big ticket items (TVs, iPads, iPods, etc.) are usually the ones that you have to have patience for b/c they can go on for hours and hours.

6. So, you won an auction, now what? I will use a big win~ Plasma TV~as and example first: LG 60" 3D 1080p Plasma HDTV sold for $99.84! - QuiBids.com The winning price was $99.84. If you look under "real bids" I used 83 bids (at 60 cents each) coming to $49.80 (voucher bids are free bids I got for something). Then I had to pay for shipping which was $29.99. My total investment on this $1399 TV was $179.63 I saved $1219.37. Not too shabby I must say.

7. Now for a smaller win. A $50 Outback gift card. $50 Outback Steakhouse Gift Card sold for $3.46! - QuiBids.com The final price was $3.46, I used 37 bids ($22.20), then I paid $1.99 to ship. So I got a $50 Outback gift card for $27.65. I saved $22.35.

8. Okay, so for those of you who are worried about getting your items. I have won over 60 items on Quibids and have gotten every single item.

9. For those who are worried about losing their 60 cents per bid. Here's where it gets AWSOME!!! There is a buy it now on Quibids! What this means is...(and I will stick with the Outback card as an example) if you use enough of your bids to reach the $50 mark (what the card/item is worth), you press buy it now and pay for shipping! Then you lose nothing! Well, not "nothing" $1.99 to ship the card! I use this ALL the time! I wanted to get my dad some Subway gift cards for his birthday. I figured, I might as well try to win them! Well, I won one and used BIN on the other. You just can't go wrong!

10. So my advice, is, don't bid on anything you are NOT willing to pay retail for in the first place (unless you want to take a gamble on a TV like I did hehe). Another example...I was moving and wanted Cuisinart pots and pans. I tried to win them on Quibids, but I did not win. I used my bids up until I hit the retail price, which was $299 (I think), I hit the BIN button, and all the bids I used towards the auction now went to the price of the pots and pans! All I had to do was pay shipping.

11. I bet you didn't know that one of your fellow YTers PMed me (but didn't write here on my post) and asked for the link. This person immediately signed up (got me credits, thanks for that). They won an $84 Cuisinart blender for 1 cent!!!! Yes, 1 penny! They were the only bidder! Then this person went on to bid on a purse and won it for 9 cents! This time s/he bid 4 times, but wound up being the last bidder at 9 cents when the timer hit 0! (I'm not revealing their name b/c they haven't. If they want to, that's their choice.) Needless to say they were pretty excited and I am excited for him/her!

12. I do, recommend, though, that if you decide to join you start out small and bid on gift cards. Most of the gift cards that are up are for newbies and you can win them REALLY cheap! One time I won a Lands End $100 card for 5cents and $100 Outback for 7cents. It's really fun.

[REMOVED REFERRAL LINK]

14. PSS. If you want to see some of my other wins (big or small), here they are:
$25 Subway Gift Card sold for $0.99! - QuiBids.com
Nambe Claire 45-Piece Flatware Set sold for $4.49! - QuiBids.com
Kalorik Salt & Pepper Grinder sold for $1.81! - QuiBids.com
Margaritaville Frozen Concoction Maker sold for $20.79! - QuiBids.com
$50 Cabela's Gift Card sold for $0.76! - QuiBids.com
Dyson DC23 Animal Canister Vacuum sold for $10.55! - QuiBids.com
Flip MinoHD Video Camera - Brushed Metal sold for $0.84! - QuiBids.com
Toshiba 32" 720p LCD HDTV sold for $26.84! - QuiBids.com
Breville Single Cup Coffee Brewer sold for $16.41! - QuiBids.com
Dyson AM01 10" Table Fan sold for $23.30! - QuiBids.com

15. Good luck! And if you decide to join and win. I'd LOVE to know!!!!!

[Roccosmommy]

Originally Posted by Roccosmommy

I did try Quibids once, but was very disappointed in their "penny" auctions, which I think is false advertising. They don't tell you that for every "penny" bid you place, that bid costs 60 cents (so that "$84" iPad winning price actually collected over $5K in bids!). Also, I could never win, even on the small items. They set a time limit, but if a higher bid is placed within so many seconds of the auction's end, the time resets (to a minute or two I think?).

If you have any tips and tricks you'd care to share, I'd love to hear, since I would not mind giving it another shot if I could possibly win something. BTW, CONGRATS on all of your winning - you really cleaned house!

Originally Posted by BabyFidgette

Honey, yes they do. They lay everything out and even give you tips on how to bid so you don't lose your butt. They don't want you to think you were scammed or you won't come back. You are correct in saying that they are making a lot of money. But you need to look at it like the lottery. We are all pooling our money together for one person to win....essentially everyone else's money (or in this case an item). Now, penny auctions are NOT for everyone by any means!!! I just made sure I did my research before I jumped in. You can lose a lot of money if you have compulsive tendencies!

Oh, I do understand that once you get to the website all of the information is laid out. What I meant is that the advertisements don't tell you real bid amounts, but instead refer to it as bidding "just a penny". I did do my research, and took advantage of the free bids they gave me, then did not get any additional, so I personally didn't pay a thing. I guess I'm just not the gamlin' kind of gal.

[LunasMomma]

Originally Posted by BabyFidgette

Do you ever play the lottery?

Nope. It's a tax on stupid people

[BabyFidgette]

Originally Posted by LunasMomma

Nope. It's a tax on stupid people

Well call me stupid!

[Nancy1999]

Originally Posted by LunasMomma

Nope. It's a tax on stupid people

LOL love it! They had to double the prices of tickets here in AZ, I guess too many of the smart people left!

[BabyFidgette]

Originally Posted by Nancy1999

LOL love it! They had to double the prices of tickets here in AZ, I guess too many of the smart people left!

They all ran to Vegas where it's "happen'n"!