Just tried calling them about the wins I haven't received (nothing received except for bid packs since December) and got the after hours message. It is 11:30 AM EST which is well within their business hours too. Wonder how long it will be til they stop selling bids on their site. All I've seen are bids, headphones, restaurant.com cards, etc. I haven't received any if my gift cards or products. Not bidding here anymore.
I have been a BidCactus customer for about two years. The products and the way the site is run has changed substantially to the point where I am considering leaving the site/no longer doing business with this company. The site used to sell gift cards that were a reasonable value/high USEFUL value (gift cards worth $50 - $200 at times for places worth using them at). I used the site for about six months back in 2012 and didn't do half bad. I left the site in December after they started having significant delays in shipping my orders. It used to be back in the beginning you would win auctions and, like clockwork, they would be shipped the following week and it would take no more than two to three weeks to receive your order in most cases. Near the end of 2012 it got to the point where I won gift cards and it would take them two to three MONTHS to make good on my purchases.
After leaving the site, I returned a year later (left in December 2012 and returned almost exactly a year to the date in December 2013). The site has changed SUBSTANTIALLY. The company is selling bids left and right and gift cards worth maybe $10 - $100 TOPS which now come bundled with yet MORE bids. The price for bids has gone down with their "Free to Bid" auctions but now that they are selling nothing but bids the costs for the actual items they do sell have sky rocketed and the savings have gone down substantially.
As it stands right now (January 18,2014) I am still waiting for the delivery of items I won as far back as mid-December which is when I returned to the site (I have not received a single item since the time I returned to their site). This goes for both physical items as well as the e-mail gift cards they are now selling that state they will be delivered in five business days. I have received nothing from them at all and my order statuses for every item states that it is still pending. The only items I HAVE received are... bids from the bid packs I purchased through their free to bid auctions as well as the bids that came bundled with the items I won.
Due to the excessive amount of bids that people have, I have seen many cases where two members go at it for an extended period of time and an item ends for MORE than the item is actually worth. It is mainly a contest of "who's got the most bids" around there lately and I am not pleased. I am starting to wonder if the company is slowly going out of business.
If anyone from BidCactus reads this, please reconsider the way you are conducting business as you are starting to have some VERY unsatisfied customers and are starting to lose some long time loyal customers such as myself. As I previously communicated to your customer service division, STOP SELLING SO MANY BIDS LEFT AND RIGHT AND FOCUS ON SELLING BETTER ITEMS SUCH AS THE ONES YOU USED TO SELL A COUPLE OF YEARS AGO!
Same email to me just now from Lottie Felgenhauer who also goes by *******@hotmail.com. It went like this: Hello, Someone just bought this from me, but it can tell you where I got these from. I just picked up 3 of these from cacretailer.com and I resold them on craigslist for some extra money. The trick is to watch for bidding to slow down and then jump in. That's what I do and I win most of the time. Regards
Same message as everyone else. Sounds like they pay someone to redirect you to their website from craigslist. I answered a craigslist ad for a Samsung Note 2.
I am extremely DISAPPOINTED in myself for not reviewing this site. I had the exact same experience with a seller of a MACBOOK Pro on Craigslist... when I "emailed them" to inquire about the laptop, they wrote back telling me they had sold it to someone already (even though their ad stated "if this ad is still up, it's still available"... This is what they said in their email response to me.
" Hello Someone just bought this from me, but I can tell you where I got it from. I just bought 3 of these from retailcactus.com and I resold them for some extra money. The trick is to watch for bidding to slow down and then jump in. That's what I do and I win most of the time."
Well, I went to the retailcactus.com website which REDIRECTED ME to BIDCACTUS.com, I bought 79$ worth of bids... and jumped in and started to observe what was going on. I also CALLED BIDCACTUS since I was confused about a couple of things (most importantly I wanted to know at what value had I purchased each bid?) I started noticing the exact things that have already been mentioned! Same bidders winning... AND the winning bidders would bid on other products at the beginning of the bid with 60 minutes left? How stupid is that! That raised a red flag. I then bid in succession against other bidders back-to-back-to-back-to-back and it seems as there are several with automated bidding going on. Now I know I've been scammed. I am SO LIVID right now! I went on this site to look for a laptop for my son's birthday at a decent price. I spent part of his birthday gift money (79$) and feel completely "taken".
Here's the good news. I am not going to let anyone false advertise and do something that is seemingly scandalous, considering the number of people who have posted similar experiences. I am going to contact an attorney who handles internet scams with and since I have the person's email address (and it's attached to an IP address) I will pursue finding who's behind that IP address... and go from there.
THIS IS A COMPLETE SCAM and I urge anyone even considering doing this to not "play" this "game". And, by the way - for those of you who claim this is like gambling? Not. I am a gambler who knows what she's getting into - when I win, I WIN. IT IS OUTRAGEOUS that people haven't received their items. I welcome anyone who wants to join me in a major complaint to the FCC for false advertising.
I should have read reviews about this site before buying any bids, but now I want to make sure to warn anybody who even thinks of participating in those "penny auctions".
For the record, I have a very high speed internet with Fios, have had the service for more than 2 years, never had any problems with it "freezing:" on me.
I went and bid on an iphone 5 on Saturday February 16th, 2013. I waited for the last 10 seconds to start bidding. I sat there for 3 hours bidding, NOT using the autobidder, so I was in control of the bid, not some stupid autobidder.
Throughout the whole bid, the screen would freeze on let's say 10 seconds, then the next thing u know, it's 3 seconds. I was determined on getting that phone simce I had already put in around $300, out of the bloom, while the bid was on 28 seconds, in a fraction of a second, it said"going" then "gone".
I contacted customer service, she said:"nop, I checked it and the bid went down all the way to 0 seconds." and then she said: "you must a have had a frozen screen". Listen to that crap! I have a fast internet, a 3 months old Acer laptop, and according to her, my screen must have frozen (which was happening frequently during the bid, around 40 times)
Another thing to mention, the bidder who won the bid had put in what was worth $500! Plus the item's cost which was around $24 PLUS shipping and handling, I mean seriously is it worth it?
I watched bidder on other items, and here's the suspicious part: A BIDDER PLACED 1200 BIDS ON AN ITEM(every bid is 0.75 cents) TO GET AN IPAD 2 VALUED@ $399. Ummmmmmmmmmmmmmm, I mean he's either a very low IQ person, or there's some foul play right there, dahhhhhhhhh!
Anyways, it's a shame companies like BidCactus are licensed, and operating protected by law. Those bluffers are making tons of money out of people, totally protected by law, and in aword, SCREWING people UP!
If you are not totally convinced, be my guest and try it!
Worst site
Knowledge is power.
Run, as fast as you can, and don't look back.
The only valid complaint I have read that I think can be possible is bidding bots, other than that, there are usually 3 types of people that gain or lose in this site. The Website wins 99% of the time, The Winner Wins 98% of the time, the loser losses 100% of the time, now let me explain.
The website has to make money, and it makes money by people like most people here, just plain losing. The website makes money from people using their bids, i figure this is no more than a gambling experience. Not a scam, if it is a scam, it's no more of a scam than a slot machine. Except unlike a slot machine, someone is guaranteed to win.
The Winner, they win by buying the item for a much lesser price than normal. Except for those 2% of people who don't do the math, and over bid on the item, waisting their money.
The loser, this is how the site makes money. People lose, and thats how any gambling experience will work. 1 wins, many loses, and the house makes money. Just because you would lose at Poker every time doesn't mean it is a scam, it means some one ells is better than you, or just got lucky. While the winner gets more money than the walked in with poker, the losers walk out mad.
Does anyone here complaining see what I mean? Like someone previously here stated, this is basically gambling, if your not a gambler, don't play.
If you want to win, use the tips people give, like play when there is low traffic, only bid on begginer bids. Bid smartly, do the math, let people have their bidding wars than bid your own while hopefully the others are weak.
Your not going to go to the casino and spend 100$ with no strategy or limit and expect to come out with more money, unless your a fool.
People get lucky yes, just as i seen on bid cactus someone win a 50$ gift card for 06 cents because me and 4 other people we're expecting someone ells to bid after they placed their bid.
And with strategies, your not going to win all of the time. Your just going to higher your chances.
Like i said before, I don't think this website is a scam (unless they got bidbots) but it's just like gambling, and you will both win and lose like gambling. I know people who never won at slots, i personally only played about 5 times, and I am up 80$ in slots, while many people lost hundreds, and some times thousands to slots.
Doesn't mean it's a scam,
So basically, this website takes 3 things...
1-Strategy
2-Limits
3-Luck
Other than that, If you don't like gambling I suggest you do some thing ells for money, so you can have more extra money for things you want, or play an easier less skill needed game like bingo (which is also fun, but like this website, hundred will lose each round, and only 1 person will win... typically)
If you lost money, than think of it less like a scam, and more like taking you and as many people (what ever adds up to how much you lost) to a horrible movie that you walked out on. So horrible of a movie that you're more mad that you wasted your time than your money and you don't know why producers allow these movies to even be made.
So yeah, have fun and enjoy life, don't gamble anything you may need (including money).
Complete scam, highway robbery, do not bid.
Well I am very sad to say I have the big STUPID stamp on my head over this sight! I am not one who usually does anything like this sight but when I saw it on the news I looked into it. I spent 37.50 for 50 bids. I bid and received nothing... i didnt bid on big things or drop into the bid wars ~ (like it was suggested). I called customer service and they told me I needed to have 100 bids so (stupid stamp here I come!) I paid 75.00 for 100 bids. And wow still NOTHING. So now 112.50 later nothing! I looked into the company and found out they have some lawsuits pending on FRAUD. Their own empoyees are coming forward stating they are using COMPANY BIDDERS TO OUTBID US! Yes I would say that was fraud!
I myself have made a formal complaint to the Federal Trade Commission or FTC and the National Consumers League's Fraud Center. Doing this may not get your money back but it will make people look into the business. With luck the will be shut down or be forced to change there ways! I did file a complaint with the company but they have not responded... big surprise!
Don't be fooled by the BBB. They have only been with the BBB or Better Business Bureau since April 30,2010. They only have 23 complaints on file! IF YOU DONT TELL THEM THEY WONT KNOW! If no one complains to them then they won't have a bad record! Most people get mad write a review but never follow up with the reports! Oh and one more little note about the BBB ~ Bidcactus PAY BBB to stay on that report also!
The reports/complaints are what work! YES its a little work but its worth it to get them to STOP CHEATing us!
BBB's own words!
"BBB Rating for Bidcactus, LLC
Based on BBB files, Bidcactus, LLC has a BBB Rating of A- on a scale from A+ to F.
Reasons for this rating include:
Length of time business has been operating. "
Like I said before IF YOU DONT TELL THEM THEY WONT KNOW... and IF THEY DONT KNOW THEY CANT HELP!
Although I am the stupid one for falling for the FRAUD, ITS STILL WRONG!... and for those who won good for you... you were able to fall through the holes of there FRAUD NET!
YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED! GOOD LUCK!
Helpful sites TO BE HEARD!
*******@bidcactus.com (good luck with this one!)
www.ftc.com
www.fraud.org
And...(straight from the BBB website)
""The BBB that will handle your complaint is:
BBB of Connecticut
(Wallingford, CT)
94 South Turnpike Road
Wallingford, CT *******-4322
Phone: *******700
Fax: *******882
Email: *******@ct.bbb.org
Web: http://www.connecticut.bbb.org
You may wish to copy or print this information for further reference.
All correspondence about your complaint will come from and should be addressed to this BBB."
Hope this helps!