Lisa K.

Let me begin by saying I can only talk about my own personal experience as a user of Quibids for a mere 5 weeks and as the buyer or winner of 8 or 9 items. I am not making any claims (just observations) and have no hard data of any kind. I am a social scientist and I know the difference between empirical evidence and anecdotal evidence. My evidence is anecdotal. I am not pretending to have proof of anything.

There are many positive aspects of Quibids. Here are a few.

1. It can be fun!
2. They have very nice and responsive customer service people, though sometimes they do not answer serious questions completely and directly.
3. The products I bought or won came quickly and were as described.
4. If you are going to buy a product they have at their site anyhow, you might win it for less than the retail value. They have this great option for Buying It Now where you can apply bids you bought (not bids you won) toward the item price.
5. Their site is clean and attractive looking--it's nice to spend time at.
6. They explain the rules of their site and their business model VERY WELL. If you don't read the rules of the site, you will probably have a bad experience. The problem is…even if you DO read the rules of their site and understand them completely, you may still have a bad experience... Hence, this review.

I am writing this review because I feel obligated to share my concerns for others to consider as they make their own minds up about Quibids. I will say it again. You must make your own mind up. Call my review "food for thought."

My concerns:

1. I asked Quibids customer service directly if anyone other than "regular old people who bought bids like me" are placing bids on the auctions. The response was that no Quibids employees are allowed to participate in auctions. I believe this is probably true, because if an employee spilled the beans, the credibility of the site would be hurt. What I will put out there WITH NO EVIDENCE is, some folks' bidding behavior suggests to me that their bids are not costing them what my bids are costing me. It seems as if some people spend more bids than an item is worth (a point I mention again below). Some people bid as if they have nothing to lose—they spend $50, leave for an hour, spend another $50, then leave for another hour, etc. I know people are not always logical, but it is weird (from my view) for so many people to drop money on an auction, walk away/be willing to lose, and to then return and drop more money, walk away/be willing to lose, to then return, etc. If I were to discover that Quibids secretly "gives away" or discounts bids for a handful of individuals who use those bids to keep big ticket auctions from ending at too low a value, would I be surprised? Nope.

2. It is not made clear that the auctions that are listed as recently closed are NOT representative of closed auctions. Quibids only shows a portion of closed auctions. All auctions I participated in for big ticket items closed MUCH higher than the auctions they choose to list as recently closed. In their rules, they tell you to watch auctions for items you are interested in to see where they close. You should definitely do this. You will see the big items usually end MUCH higher than those they list as recently closed. While it is true that they warn you to do your homework, perhaps they should just be honest and list a representative sample of closed items instead of listing the amazing deals?

3. A Quibids reviewer elsewhere commented on the fact that it seemed odd to her that several auctions in which she participated for a long time closed relatively soon after she stopped bidding. This is consistent with my observations. It didn't happen all of the time of course, it just happened too often for my own comfort. Given the number of people who were bidding when I quit, it seemed strange for the auction to close so soon after I stopped placing bids. Maybe it's just a coincidence? You will have to decide for yourself.

4. In participating in a very long auction for an iMac (it began at 3PM one day and closed after 5PM the next day) it seemed as if several bidders had spent much more on bids than the item was worth. I am not saying I am SURE, I am saying this is sure what it seemed like. Some people were using Bid-O-Matic for hours and hours, through the night, and into the next day. Now, at $1700 (the value of the iMac) and at. 60 a bid, the item is actually worth a whopping 2,833 bids. This is a ton of bids. However, it seemed to me that two bidders had to have spent more than this number of bids. They were using Bid-O-Matic nonstop for hours and hours and hours. (The auction was 13 hours long.) I got up to use the loo at 3am and just for kicks I checked the auction. There these bidders were, still using Bid-O-Matic! You can't place more than 25 auto-bids at a time. They had been restarting their auto-bidding for 12 full hours? Again, you make up your own mind. I am NOT saying I am sure. I didn't sit there with my calculator for 13 hours straight tracking their every bid. Maybe I am wrong? I hope I am wrong. I am just putting it out there for consideration.

5. I am suspicious of the fact that five people can be using Bid-O-Matic, spending hundreds of dollars for hours, and then a person can come in at the last minute and buy an iMac for 8 bids. Sure, of course this can happen! Statistically it should happen…. Sometimes. It should occasionally happen. I thought it happened too often.

So, I am going to spend my last 85 bids at Quibids today and then I am going to deactivate my account. I am guessing they have trouble retaining customers as it seems the vast majority of users joined within the last month or two.

I hope your Quibids experience does not leave you with nagging doubts, the way my experience has.

Sorry about grammar and typos. I need to get back to work!