
There is, in no sense of reality, any chance you are going to get to purchase a brand new iPad for 95 percent off the retail price. There is also no chance you’re going to get a MacBook or a new flat screen television for 95 percent off the regular price. Unless you steal it, you’re not getting anything this inexpensive. That’s why most people think that Quibids is a scam. Legally, it’s not a scam, but if you look at it closely, you might disagree.
Why Do People Think it’s a Scam?
The short answer is because people don’t believe they should have to pay to place a bid. Say you use an online auction site such as eBay and you want to bid on an item. If the current bid on the item is $100 and you bid $101, it doesn’t cost you anything but the $101 you bid if you win the auction. Using Quibids, however, is a bit different. The auction prices only go up by one penny at a time, hence the reason is it called a penny auction site.
This might sound good to some, but the truth is that you pay to bid. Each time you bid a penny, it actually costs you $.25, even if you don’t win the bid. Look at it this way; you bid 100 times for an item that only costs you $5 when you win. However, it really cost you $30 because you paid $25 in bidding fees.
Vegas Betting
The other part of this bidding process is the fact that consumers are required to buy a “package” of bids for a set dollar amount. You can’t just purchase a bid when you want to use one. You actually have to purchase a significant number of bids and use them up. By the time you realize you haven’t won anything, you’ve spent $60 and left empty-handed. It’s like sticking quarters in a slot machine in Las Vegas and not winning. That’s why people think it’s a scam.
In reality, the chances of you winning an expensive item that retails for around $1000 regularly are very, very slim. However, you might spend upwards of $50 to $100 trying to win it and still walk away empty-handed. And that is exactly why people feel that Quibids is a scam. All this information is available in the fine print, but most people don’t bother to read it.
(Photo by Allison Joyce/Getty Images)