Is QuiBids A Scam? Learn about how QuiBids Works Here!

So you have recently discovered the promising and exciting world too-good-to-be-true penny auctions. The one you seem to be interested in is QuiBids. In this article I will dive into the inner workings of QuiBids so you know what you are getting into and you will be able to make an educated decision on your own.

So How Does QuiBids Work?

QuiBids is a penny auction website which charges you to bid on items at a per-bid fee. The standard rate for bids is 60 cents per bid. Your initial sign up with Quibids will charge you $48 for 80 bids (more on this charge below as it can confuse some people). Once you have a membership, you can also bid on “bid packs” or “bid vouchers” as QuiBids likes to call them. Winning bid packs or bid vouchers is like winning more bids. For example, if you spend 50 bids on a bid pack, and win 200 bids, you are making progress.

In this example, I am going to use an average net cost of 25 Cents per bid. If you view my “How Do Penny Auctions Work?” page, I will show you how I calculated my 25 cents per bid figure, which I am going to use to evaluate costs of bidding in Quibids.

Things To Watch Out For

Quibids claims on their first page that they have “Free Registration”. This registration does not allow you to bid or login. You have simply agreed to the terms and conditions and also given them your email address so they may be able to email you in the future. When you Hit page 2 of this QuiBids “registration process”, keep your eyes peeled for what comes next.

This is what you need to look out for, and this is common across many penny auction websites. This is where they ask you for your credit card number and instantly charge some money. QuiBids is actually more clear about this than many other websites, however its still something to look for. Ideally, they should have their final price within 100 pixels of the submit order button (an FTC guideline), however most Penny Auction websites hide it even more than this. The fact that they call step 1 a FREE REGISTRATION is a bit misleading and a lot of people wont notice this until it’s too late.

QuiBids actually does force you to accept their terms and conditions, which they make easily accessible. You REALLY should read these things so that you know what you are getting yourself into. Websites can disclaim anything they want in these things. When you actually have to check a checkbox, you really have no case when you try to dispute that you “didn’t know” you would be charged for something, etc… Buyer beware, you are entering into a contractual agreement that you have indeed read the terms and conditions. If you try to dispute something in the future, Quibids will obviously say “you agreed to that in our terms and conditions”.

All in all, QuiBids does a pretty good job of keeping the user informed of the charges they will receive, and they are mostly clear during the registration process, however they should not attempt to say that registration is free, and the final price really should be closer to the submit order button.

But are these QuiBids Penny Auctions Really A Good Deal?

To learn more about this, make sure you read my article on how penny auctions work. It looks good from the outside, but in that article I really break things down and explain all of they ways you are going to incur charges on these websites. This isn’t eBay, your money will be slowly sucked away quicker than you realize!

Quibids does not sell surplus or overstock items. This notion is just plain ridicules. The amount of money Quibids and other penny auction websites earn from people buying up bids pays for the items easily. Remember that each bid drives the cost of the item up one penny. So if something like an iPad2 (Which normally sells for around $500) is sold on quibids for $25.00, it means approximately 2500 bids have been placed on the item. At 25 cents per bid that means bidders spend $625.00 just bidding on the item which has easily payed for the ipad. Remember, only one person wins these items. You could spend $100 on bids yourself and still loose to someone who stays up later than you did that night, or worse, someone in an earlier timezone.

While it is 2:00am in New York and you are tired and bidding and about to fall asleep, its only 11:00pm at night in California. That person in California has a 3 hour tiredness advantage on you and will likely have no problem waiting you out.