• eXcite

Overview

eXcite has a rating of 1.8 stars from 97 reviews, indicating that most customers are generally dissatisfied with their purchases. Reviewers complaining about eXcite most frequently mention ipod touch, bidding war, and good deals problems. eXcite ranks 129th among Penny Auction sites.

What reviewers want you to know

Positive highlights

  • I've spent lots of time and money on it and I've won some great stuff.
  • About the B-School professor who, staged a bidding war over a twenty-dollar bill...

Critical highlights

  • This person probably had like 100 bids which is more than the kindle was worth.
  • BUY BIDS (SPEND $20, $50, $100, $300) JUST TO BID ON AN ITEM.
How would you rate eXcite?
Top Positive Review

“I don't know what the other posts have a problem with”

joe m.
4/28/11

I don't know what the other posts have a problem with. Haggle.com is NOT a scam. If you want to get a good deal Go to Haggle.com. I got an ipad 2 for $20.21. Only cost me 20 bids. And $40 dollars what a steal. This site is the best I've been to EVER!. Long live the Auctions. The only people whom may feel ripped off this the losers who don't know how to bid right. LOL SUCKERS!

Top Critical Review

“This site is a rip off and/or the biggest waist of...”

joseph m.
4/13/10

This site is a rip off and/or the biggest waist of time in your life! I hope as many people as possible report them to the BBC as I am, they are basicly a gambling site. The one person on here you says they have won any thing, has gotten any of the items yet, scam scam scam! Dont do it, waste of money, after checking it out there are a million of these types of sites out there, work the same way, all ripping people off leagaly for now.

Reviews (97)

Rating

Timeframe

Other

Reviews that mention popular keywords

bids (65) item (48) auction (38) time (55) bidding war (5) ipod touch (9) bidders (26) money (46) site works (4) this site (32) 3 hours (3) legit site (3)
Thumbnail of user rodneys1
1 review
1 helpful vote
January 30th, 2010

First of all I won the first item I bid on, that was 01/26/10 still waiting on item to be shipped. I noticed that some of the bidding is computer generated, I watched the lead bidder keep bidding on a item even though they were the high bidder at that time. I keep track of the number bids that he/she used 218 just to raise the price. If you watch the lead bidder, and you bid they out bid you again in less then 1 second that has to be computer generated.

Thumbnail of user leea1
2 reviews
30 helpful votes
November 25th, 2009

I find it hard to believe that people would let a 1499. 00 smarttouch hp computer go for just 46.70 after spending 5 hours waiting to do the bidding. Is that just a come on by the company to make you think there are good deals? And does haggle.com have people sitting at their company jacking up the bids so that dopes like us will by more bids? Ya know you can bid on auctions at ebay for nothing.

Thumbnail of user karens25
1 review
0 helpful votes
Thumbnail of user rs5
1 review
1 helpful vote
February 7th, 2010

This site appears to be legit and has been listed on www.pennystats.com. I think they are run by a larger well known company.

Thumbnail of user tracyb3
2 reviews
2 helpful votes
January 1st, 2010

I was disappointed to see that they ship SOLELY to 50 U.S. States... that finished it for me! I have enjoyed using Bidz.com though, and they DO ship internationally!

Thumbnail of user sherrit
1 review
1 helpful vote
May 20th, 2010

Watch the items for a little while before you bid see whos bidding and how often then you decide how you want to bid, I wouldnt bid on the things that the same people are continuously bidding on

Thumbnail of user mikeh1
1 review
5 helpful votes
December 15th, 2009

I keep seeing people posting tips for haggle.com. Many of them are saying that marathon bidding is the best way to go. I'm not convinced that is entirely true. It seems to me that the best approach is to get a general idea of how much a specific item is generally going for on average. When the auction nears that point and the bidding slows, I would suggest trying to sneak in some last second bids where you think the auction is most likely to end. Let the "marathon bidders" speed up the auction for you and allow you to conserve your bids! Your more likely to win if you do your homework first. If you jump head first into any auction you'll probably end up out of bids and out of money! Worst comes to worst, you wait and lose an item. The best part about haggle.com is that you will most likely have another chance at the same item very soon! Be smart and bid wisely!

Thumbnail of user elizabethb2
1 review
4 helpful votes
December 26th, 2009

First, I know for a fact Haggle.com isn't a scam. That does NOT make it a good idea to blow your money here. It's a Seattle area company and I know a few people who work there. I don't think they have to scam people, because people are signing up to hand money over to them even though they have to know they're not getting the great deal they think they are.

Seriously, they sell "bids" and then make it almost impossible to win anything. How much money in bids will you spend to "win" the chance to buy something at less than retail? I bet if the "winners" added the cost of their bids to the cost of their items, most would see they'd have come out ahead just buying whatever it is in the first place. And for the rest of the people who buy bids and never win? They're out that money.

Just buy the stuff retail. I can't see this site lasting for long, not when it costs so much just for the chance to sit at your computer for hours for the chance to buy something.

Thumbnail of user jh5
1 review
3 helpful votes
December 21st, 2009

So after spending close to $100 on bids, I realized that this site is obviously plagued by either scandal, ripoff artists, or a combination of them. Here's what I see, this site is either using an automated engine to continually drive up the bid count on items, or they truly have people that sit at their computers for days on end dropping hundreds of bids on items they then turn around and sell on eBay or something of the like. You see, I first went to this site with the hopes of replacing something that was stolen from me. It's X-mas time, so money is tight and I really didn't want to pay full price for something I've already paid for, so I thought I'd give it a shot. As so many other people have stated, there are seriously a couple dozen usernames that seem to have limitless bids and time. For giggles, I watched a couple items over and over to see how they worked and noted that the same username was bidding on similar items during about an 18 hour period. Is there really someone sitting there bidding for 18+ hours out of the day? Doubt it, sounds like automation (As I know another reviewer noted). In the end I will probably never use this site again. It's a huge waste of time and money. You may get lucky, but watch the trap. You buy a few bids, bid on an item, then when you run out of bids you pyschologically tell yourself you can't quite now, you'll have wasted that money, so you buy more bids. It's a trap I tell ya!

Thumbnail of user lindaw2
1 review
2 helpful votes
December 22nd, 2009

I have broken just about even. I have won an ipod touch and a wii game. I attempted to watch and learn after my first few bids were ineffectively spent. I noticed the same people winning over and over. I noticed one or two will get into a bidding war and I did this once and lost. As a another person has noted it seems some have limitless bids. I have noticed some of these that win over and over get the "haggle bids" as slightly lower than cost and go on bidding. These people may be ligit. Others bid up to a certain point and leave... and while the item is less than cost... once you add in the cost to buy bids and then the cost of the item... you are lucky to break even. They have come up with some new rules... but what good are rules if they are not enforced? I like others have spent some time watching... Most keep the winning to five a day... can't say about the maximum per month.
Overall, be extremely cautious with this site. I know there is a learning curve-but it can become very expensive, very fast, and frustrating.

Thumbnail of user jackd1
1 review
2 helpful votes
December 11th, 2009

Someone said that they didn't want to give away any winning "secrets", so I'll do it for them. (The post below was taken from another site)

1.) This site requires marathon bidding. This takes constant attention, hours of time, and investment capital. The key to winning is being in the lead and showing total dominance with your bidding style.

2.) Marathon bidding requires investing in hundreds of bids from the start. Buying the lowest amount of bids is not going to get you anywhere as you will quickly run out trying to be the leader. You have to be prepared to bid to the point of always being the leader of the auction. This can end up costing way more than the auctioned item is worth.

3.) Everyone wants to be the leader at all times. I have personally went toe to toe with another auction participant for at least two hours. I simply could not afford to buy anymore bids because doing so would have meant that the auctioned item would end up costing more than it was actually worth. When I backed off, it became apparent that my main opponent quickly ran out of bids as well. From out of nowhere another auction member became the dominant auction leader. This cycle happens over and over and over for hours on end.

4.) If auction participants do not have enough bids to continue being a leader, they often lurk in the shadows and click at the 1 second mark to keep the auction going. This is the pattern I've seen for every single auction I've attended. It is this very aspect of haggle.com that makes it more like playing the slot machines than participating in an actual auction. There are potentially hundreds of people lurking and waiting to click at the last second.

It is my educated opinion that the only way to win an auction is if other bidders think someone else is going to bid at the 1 second mark but doesn't. You learn this after being one of those 1 second bidders for awhile. After you click hoping to be the leader you quickly find out that 4 or 5 others have done the same thing. After awhile you hold off on wasting your bid at the last second under the premise that there will always be someone else that will do it. That is not always the case. Once you understand this concept, you may actually have a chance of winning an auction. It is clear that others get this concept because I've seen them win multiple auctions.

My advice to anyone wanting to test their luck and gamble on auctions with haggle.com is to do the following:

1.) Research the actual price of the product being auctioned. The site seems to list the M. S. R. P, which as we all know is way more expensive that you can usually buy it at a store. Use this to determine whether or not it is feasible to begin bidding on an item. Also note the usual winning bid price on their most popular items. The average ending pricie that I've seen for xbox and ps3 auctions go for is around $80. Laptops and computers are typically ending at the $250 range. Ipod Touch's are typically ending at $80-$150.

2.) Prepare to actually pay the retail price of the item you are hoping to win. That means buying the maximum amount of bids possible. For instance, if if you are planning on try win a $1500 laptop, buy 600 bids for $330. You are going to need them to maintain bid leadership. Consider the average price of a computer being auctioned is $1500. If the ending price is $250 and you have paid even $660 in bids to get it, you only paid $990 for the computer. Not a bad deal if you have the time to spend as were actually planning on buying a computer. Just remember that there will usually always be someone else out there with the same plan.

3.) Write down what time an auction starts before it begins. Once the auction begins, you have no way of actually knowing when it started otherwise. This will allow you to determine how long a lead bidder has been blowing their money once the auction has been operating for awhile. Do the math. If they have been bidding every 15 seconds for an hour in order to remain in the lead, that is 240 bids. A pack of 300 bids is currently $195.00. I watched one bidder spend hundreds of dollars before giving up. Another bidder took the dominant role as leader. They lasted a few hours, which cost them hundreds of dollars. Another took their place and then another. This can last from a few hours to over 10.

I hope my observations and opinions about haggle.com help future participants. I suspect the person that asked this question is actually from Haggle.com. I've seen other loaded questions like this one on Yahoo answers. I encourage anyone else that has actual experience to chime in here.

Thumbnail of user brians3
1 review
1 helpful vote
December 1st, 2009

Spending money on bids and then losing the auction is pretty horrible. I have not tried other sites yet but it looks like BigDeal.com gives you credit for all bids that you used when you don't win the item. http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/11/19/bigdeal-com-reinvents-and-legitimizes-swoopos-controversial-auction-bidding-model/

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