Hey peeps,
forgot to post this in G.D. I can't people fall for things such as "$24 ipad" and luckily enough i havent seen it posted here. What are your opinions on Quibids etc. they're open with their methods of business, yet customers can rack up a 50k+ CC debt?
http://www.smh.com.au/digital-life/digital-life-news/beware-…
even worse, its on tv (as advertisments). Last time i remember was around 9pm or 10pm which i call primetime, not sure if its official. Still, major australian television stations are being paid for these advertisments.
QuiBids.com has now been blocked in my google ads account so they shouldn't appear any more. However,
So do report them so I can keep them blocked.
Thanks!
They are a more clever form of gambling. The odds are always with the company. Penny auction sites and unique bid sites have been banned here for a few years. There were a few articles published around the time we banned it analyzing how many bids were received per auction x the cost of the bid and the money bid was amazing. Must be doing well as I've seen the ad 100 times on tv already.
I'm sure recently here I had seen the 'overstock iPads' adverts here.. How are they different to the penny auctions. It's the main reason I hid the advertising on my profile.
i was wrong, it was overstock 52inch tv's, why are adds like this allowed here? adchoices, the wrong choice.
As above,
So do report them so I can keep them blocked.
I believe these are "NoMoreRack.com" ads (as I've just seen one $43.20 iPad). They are blocked now.
Everyone is out to make a dollar these days. If you are stupid enough to rack up big bills because of this, thn I guess you are a dumb ass. Obviously not directed at the OP. its not the company's fault people can't control their spending, or reading the fine print shown on the tv add. Gambling, be it pokies, poker, tab, quibids, etc… Set yourself a limit, or don't play at all.
BetterBusinessBureau (BBB) rates such sites as one of it's top 10 scams of 2011.
http://www.bbb.org/us/article/bbb-names-top-ten-scams-of-201…
I'm glad you guys brought this up, my mum last week asked me if this quibits thing is worth it because of all the awesome deals the people were getting on the t ads… Needless to say I just rejected the legitimacy of this on the logic that it is too good to be true… (without knowing anything about it..) and I'm happy i now have proof to back it.
Now to tackle the worrying problem that my mum would fall for such a scam.. Ehhh..
i just went on the website to check it out, each bid seems to add time to the countdown clock? Making it basically pointless in bidding until the value reaches past sales figures for that item. definitely not worth wasting time and money on it, ozbargain all the way for great deals :)
In the Whirlpool thread, somebody posted a comment that these sites are a "tax on stupidity"
ROFL
agree to the point that if it can harm the elderly etc. It makes me sad that they could accidentally finish off their superannuation in a few clicks.
I agree with @ozAzn. I think it is right for us to feel sad about it when we see how much damage it can be done to those that are vulnerable. I won't call them "stupid" because everyone is vulnerable to different things - addiction for example. So if you are sad about their situation please make sure you warn them against these scammy schemes.
Again thanks for reporting the ads. There is no general 'penny auction' category that I can block but I can block them on domain by domain basis.
Quibids, what a crock of shit
Sat here on my laptop watching the bids and the time.
Here's the countdown 8 sceonds to go. $1.58 is the bit
7, 6 , 5, 4, 3 another bid Now $1.59 thinking there is only 2 seconds to go
the timer resets itself to 9 seconds to go. "What the"
This went on for about 3 minutes and the final bid went up and up and up, final price was $2.48.
How can they set a timer on each item up for bid when they run overtime by resetting the clock back to 9 sec left
Here is the simple math each bid will cost you $0.60 and the bid will increase by $0.01 with each bid. When the timer gets to the last 10 seconds and counts down it will reset itself until Quibids think they have made enough money for that item then and only then will the timer stop.
Something selling on the site for $2.48 will make $148.80 for Quibids (.6 x 248)
So an iPad selling for $38.55 will generate $2313
an iPad selling at $38 will not generate $2313 for quibids, people can you the bid use on the auction to purchase the product outright at fully retail price(of course the full retail price is over price).
So just effectively sell 4 ipad at $100 more than their normal and sell 1 ipad at $400 underprice,
In the end they end up make about $300 of the 5 ipad sell
They are still making a lot of money but just but not $2313 on just 1 ipad
Your missing the point completely and selling the iPads at an outright price is just another attempt to look legitimate
what exactly is the point?
scam scam scam scam
The timer is a scam, but you cant complain about how much Quibids make on the deal they have costs to put it all together staff, website etc. Its the timer thats the scam.
I dont know about every one but i dont think it is a complete scam.
If any of you ever play fifa ultimate team, you will straight away understand how their auction system work. But you can only increase bid by 1.5cent per bid ad it cost you 60cent per bid. And the clock increase by at least 10 second after the last 20 second to prevent last second bidding like on ebay.
I manage to get an ipod 8gb for $60 (auction end at $20 i spend around 50 bids=round $30 + $10 on quibids retarded tax and postage fee) and i spend a total of around $100 on the website altogether.
So far i am on top.
But they are very clever about their business.
Their auction only go from 10am to around 2am the next day, AEST
There are not a lot of auction on at a time, only one auction end every 5 min in peak time and one every 15-20min during off peak time. They only put item that is worth buying like ipad, gps, tv ect.. on peak time and only have a limit of one or sometime 2 of each item a day.
Their RRP price on a product is always over price, so if you dont win an auction and use the buy now feature you end up paying more than the retail price.
And then they have a bid voucher system that is sort of a scam and you should stay away from it no matter what.
Never bid on bid voucher or any item with gameplay or bonus bids
They also have a ridiculous selling tax fees, and postage and handling fees.
It seem they are own by topbuy.com.au or at least working together.
They dont keep any of the item they have on auction instock but rather order them after someone win an auction or make a purchase. My ipod i won with them came with a receipt from dicksmith charging topbuy for the ipod.
In all honesty i think quibids is only a scam if you dont fully understand what you are in for or understand the way it work. If you get to know how they operate and what your spending carefully, you can really grab yourself a bargain
i believe there are a degree of exageration on the 50k CC…
and they are right, it is a method of legal gambling without the license required and it is a very good business imho, but it is obviously not a honest business model.
i was often wondering why reputable sites would advertise for them, i have seen it on ozbargain ads, but i have a feeling it is controlled by google and not ozbargain