Is Beezid a Scam & Why is Lindsay Lohan Promoting it?
Over the last year, advertisements for penny auction sites have blanketed the web. Google, Facebook and Yahoo are overflowing with ads from Quibids, Beezid and others, promising consumers deep discounts on everything from big screen TVs to designer handbags. Penny auction sites are engaged in the dubious business of selling “bids” for auctions in which the site itself is the only consistent winner. At best, penny auctions appear to be a new form of online gambling disguised as “fun bargain hunting”. At worst, some penny auction sites are outright scams.
Beezid.com is a large penny auction site bent on aggressively pursuing new customers. However, in the process Beezid has made some enemies, not the least of which are the members of the SiteJabber community. To date, nearly 100 SiteJabber members have reviewed Beezid, giving the site a dismal 1.5 out of 4.0 stars. Complaints range from unprofessional customer service to non-delivery of winnings to accusations of outright fraud and rigged bidding.
SiteJabber user Alan F. explains: “I have spent many hours watching the bidding on this site. Here is what I learned: the people who spend the most money bidding never win! There is always ‘somebody’ (or something) that swoops in at the end and wins the auction for just a few bids. Also, on several occasions my bid was not accepted even though there was a second or two left on the timer. Funny how it NEVER happens early in the bidding, but ALWAYS happens when CaptainBidMaster comes in at the end and places two or three bids, winning the auction.”
Other reviewers offer insight into the site’s potential profits at the expense of its “customers”. Daniel G. surmises: “We’ve all accepted that business needs its profits. But check this out: A 900.00 laptop was bid up to 55.00. OK so at .70 a bid, increasing the total up .01, that makes for a minimum of 5500 bids….at .70 a bid we are talking a Beezid take of $3850.00!!!!! That’s right, By the way…this item was still in play, it was at 55.00 at 8pm on Sunday. Bad bad bad business model….excellent for gambling addicts.”
Enter Ms. Lohan. Beezid apparently purchased a celebrity endorsement from Hollywood starlet Lindsay Lohan. Even while sitting at home on house arrest after being found guilty on misdemeanor charges of jewelry theft, Lohan reportedly received more than $25,000 (the exact amount has not been disclosed) plus $10,000 worth of credit to be used on the site – all for the 18 second spot. So while consumers are being hurt, Lohan and Beezid’s owners are sitting pretty on top of a mound of other people’s hard-earned cash. Of all the endorsements Lohan could have made, why oh why did she choose Beezid? We can only give Lindsay the benefit of the doubt, and guess that she didn’t do her homework first. So Lindsay, if you’re reading: be sure to check SiteJabber reviews before endorsing an unfamiliar website. It could be a real lemon.
SiteJabber is a consumer protection service which helps people avoid fraudulent websites and find good sites. You can use SiteJabber to review, complain about and report fraud on websites, as well as research unfamiliar sites. SiteJabber is made possible by a grant from the National Science Foundation and was named a Top 100 Website of 2010 by PC magazine.
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Anything that comes out of Lindsay’s mouth is a scam. PERIOD>
All penny auction sites are basically a scam!!. The truth is that your odds of coming out ahead of the game are ten times better(Probably a lot more!) in Vegas than on one of these sites. If you derive entertainment from giving away your hard earned money at the rate of about $0.50-$1.00 per bid, than these sites are custom made for you! However, if the prospect of basically giving away your hard earned money to nameless and faceless scammers is not your idea of fun, then you’ll definitely want to steer clear of any and all “Penny Auction” websites. THINK ABOUT IT, the site takes in $0.50-$1.00 PER BID…. PER BID!!, for each item from thousands and thousands of people all over the world! They could literally PAY YOU to take any item off their hands and they would still make thousands of dollars(or more!) on every single item!! That is true even of so called “honest” penny auction sites, never mind the dishonest ones(like Zeekler and others) that use shills or bots!! P.T. Barnum (From Ringling Bros. Barnum & Baily Circus) said a couple things well over 100+ years ago that really make you think….. The first was; “There’s a sucker born every day”… the second was; “A fool and his money are soon departed”. We may be living in the dawn of the 21st century, but human nature has not changed in thousands and thousands of years, and the common sense wisdom from the 19th century(the 1800′s) that said, “If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is”, is just as true now as it was then.
Times may change, People Don’t.
Do yourself a favor, don’t waste your money on any of these “Penny Auction” websites.
There are a lot of these sites out there. At best they are just an uncontrolled form of gambling. At worst a total scam. I had a small taste of these on a site named Bid Beaver.
All I can say is KEEP AWAY. As far as I am concerned, they are a scam. havibg said that, there may be a genuine one out there. Good luck finding it amongst the scans.
I received an award of 100 bids from some penny auction site so I went to check it out. things looked good on the surface so I just watched the site for a few days (off and on). If I was logged in and not bidding they were constantly sending me private messages that told me how great a deal the site was.
What I found was that the only thing new bidders were winning was “bids” not the merchandise that they would have liked to get. It seemed like the bidders that were winning the big color TVs and computers all came from the same IP also, although they had many different screen names.
I’ve tried a few of these types of sites. Beezid, Quibids and some other site. My disclaimer is that I do like to gamble and, as long as a person has some self control, there’s nothing wrong with gambling a little. Out of the three sites I’ve tried, Beezid was the worst and did feel like a scam right of the bat. So after losing my 60 or 70 bucks I quit and felt ripped off. The next site, I think it was called BidCactus, was almost as bad. So then I tried Quibids. While I didn’t find it as bad as the other sites and I do still use it occasionally, their advertisements are still very misleading. You do have to consider the fact that every bid you make, only raises the cost by one cent but costs you 60 cents whether you win or lose. The only way I’ve found to come out a little ahead on the site is to: don’t bid on the bidvouchers, you do get credit towards the price of stuff for your purchased bids but not for bid vouchers. Only bid on something that the cost of the bids you purchased will cover the price of. This way, if you don’t win, you can still get the item you were bidding on and it will only cost you a few bucks more than usual. Overall I’ve saved about 10 percent on the total of items I’ve won/purchased on the site. However, it is addicting and even ended up spending money on things I wouldn’t have ordinarily purchased and that I didn’t really need. My advice is, if you can afford it, have extra money to throw around, and can stop yourself when you get to your limit then try it. It can be entertaining just like gambling. It is time consuming. Don’t expect to save a huge amount of money because overall you wont. Just like gambling, dont bet what you can’t afford to lose and don’t play if you can’t control yourself. It’s nobody elses fault if you blow all of your money, it is yours.
I reported these people to the FTC and every consumer complaint group I could. IT’S A TOTAL RIPOFF!!!! Doesn’t this come from Canada? STAY FAR AWAY!
Yes, Beezid is a scam. And Lindsay Lohan is promoting it because she is a drunken whore.
I thought there was a catch–I got 25 free bids waited until auction got $5 over last sold amount and bidded by proxy–bids were gone quickly $ item sold for $8 more then I started bidding–you need alot of bids to stay in–as far as Lindsay Lohan I agree I wouldn’t support anything she does since she doesn’t get it–but you don’t have to use volgar language and name calling keep it clean
Lindsey is going to have her probation revolked today 12/12/12
If the site isn’t using a bot to pump bids then it isn’t so much a scam, as it is a gamble. Unfortunately, much like online gambling (aka Poker Stars), I don’t trust any site to be legit with no regulation at all.
HAHAHAHA! Lindsay Lohan is quickly become D-LIST!! I agree with that earlier post- DRUNKEN WHORE!! Beezid is a SCAM SCAM SCAM. I haven’t even tried the site, but I can smell a scam like that a mile away! It’s similar to the Nigerians saying you are entitled to a 3 million dollar money transfer if you send a small $300 processing fee! Why can’t anyone just get their ass out of bed and do an honest day’s work? Oh I forgot, all the jobs pay $10 an hour now. I need to come up with a good scam myself so I can make some money too!
LINDSAY LOHAN IS A STUPID SLUT!
I’m sure Lindsay is just desperate for any chance to get back on t.v. and pocket some cash along the way. I find alot of those “penny auctions” want you to pay large monthly fees to suck some cash out of you and I wouldn’t be suprised if they had “bots” just making all the bids to keep the auction going….
Scam? No. Incredibly stupid? Yes. That’s what penny auctions are, if they didn’t deliver, then they’d be a scam. They just take advantage of unintelligent people who think they are getting a good deal, ‘OMG I CAN WIN A TV FOR 1c?!’ Sure they force you to buy ‘packages’ of auctions, which is incredibly stupid, sure people snipe, but that’s what you get when you think you’re getting a 60′ Plasma LED whatever for less than $3.
Lindsay needs money, and because no one wants to see her naked again, she will promote anything for money.
The only person who can benefit from a penny-auction is the creator/owner of the website. Bottom line.
I recently received a design request from someone looking to build their own penny-auction so they could jump on the bandwagon, I imagine they saw a commercial at 3am and figured “get rich quick scheme – great idea!”. They wanted to alter how the standard penny auction worked and have the cost per-bid come in lower so that they could ultimately walk away with more money in the end being as a ‘sea of people’ (in his head) would come in hoards to the site. Their method of ‘payment’ was a 30% stake in the company. (Of course they deserve 70% for an unoriginal idea)
I don’t think I’ve ever, in my history of design (over 15 years) turned down a client. But at the same time, in that 15 years no one ever came to me with the blueprints with the sole purpose of conning people out of time and money – including me (in the long run).
I think everyone should just stay away from penny auctions all together, it’s cheaper to just save your money to purchase the item you’re going for. Less heartache/frustration in the end.
YEP, total and complete SCAM! Damn, guess no .99 cent iPad for me then! Wahhhhhh