We recently interviewed CEO Matt Beckham of US based penny auction QuiBids.com. Mr. Beckham tells us that QuiBids.com is the largest US penny auction in terms of auctions per day (about 200). Over the last three days, since January 21st, 2010, there have been 485 ended auctions. Possibly more ended auctions than any other penny auction site?
A few PAW forum members have received items with QuiBids.com, read comment from users in our forum, but don’t forget to tell us about your experiences with Quibids.
With all the penny auction websites out there these days, how do you feel you’re any different than any of your other competitors?
QuiBids.com : That’s a great question. When we decided to enter the penny auction space, there were about half the number of competitors as there are today; and that was 6 months ago! With all of our competition running this model in a similar manner, we realized the best way we could differentiate ourselves from our competitors was by providing our users with auctions that are easy to win. Moreover, we strive to provide our users with excellent customer service , and to get our products to our winners as quickly as possible.
In the next 6 months, however, you’ll see some substantial differences in the way we run the penny auction model versus our competitors. So stay tuned…
What got you interested in the entertainment shopping industry?
QuiBids.com: We felt it was a fun business model. Penny auctions are fascinating in many aspects. There is a lot of economics, marketing, finance and many other facets of business, involved in making a penny website successful. We thought this would be a wonderful challenge in a fun niche market.
How long have you been open?
QuiBids.com: We launched QuiBids in late October of 2009. Since then, we’ve experienced substantial growth and are looking forward to the year ahead. We’re pretty pumped about all the things we have planned for 2010. Some of these plans include ways to change the landscape of penny auctions in regards to not only how they’re run, but also how to create the best user experience for our customers.
What kind of items do you offer/ have lined up? Do your auctions run on a schedule?
QuiBids.com: We are currently auctioning off HDTVs, MacBooks, smart phones, gaming consoles, digital cameras, a variety of gift cards to many popular stores, various kitchen appliances, and much more.
Yes, we do schedule our auctions to give our users a chance to see what’s coming up. This way they know when to come back and bid.
Penny Auctions can sometimes get a bad reputation, due to the fact that some employ bot bidding scripts and shill bid. What do you have to say about those who say “QuiBids is a scam” or “Penny Auctions are scams?”
QuiBids.com: I feel that anytime a consumer potentially spends money and gets nothing in return, (other than the experience of competing for prizes), you are going to have those who say it’s a scam. Given the model of penny auctions, there are many companies that run these sites only to make money. These companies do not put an emphasis on building long lasting, valuable relationships with their customers. At QuiBids, we didn’t want to just be another penny auction site that cycles through new customers in order to make the model work. In order to make this happen, we’ve dedicated ourselves to giving out the most wins of any penny auction website, as well as making it easy to win. Because we do this, and do it quite effectively, anybody that uses our site for a few hours and watches auctions will clearly see we aren’t a scam.What are the timer increments between bids/does this vary by auction?
QuiBids.com: We want to allow time for everyone to have the option to think about whether he/she wants to bid on an item. We use 20 second/15 second/10 second progressions; this is essentially the internet auction equivalent of ‘going, going, gone’. All auctions start off and as they gain more attention and bids, the timer increment goes down to 15 and then finally 10 seconds.If a user does not win an auction, we do offer the ‘Buy it Now’ option, which is where the user can purchase the item at retail minus the cost of bids placed.
How much are your bids?
We also offer free bids for a person’s birthday (5), for referring friends (25 bids), and for other promotional offers!
Each bid costs just $0.60 and you can buy them in the following bid pack sizes:
40 Bids = $24
75 Bids = $45
300 Bids = $180
600 Bids = $360
800 Bids = $480
How many auctions do you currently run each day?
QuiBids.com: We currently run over 200 auctions a day. In terms of the number of auctions and winners we have daily, this makes us the largest US penny auction website. We take great pride in not only having the most auctions, but also giving our users the best chance of winning.
What are your shipping costs? How long does it usually take for users to receive their items?
QuiBids.com: Our shipping costs vary from item to item. Users should expect to receive their items anywhere from 5-10 business days… In other words, pretty quick!
What states/countries are you open to?
QuiBids.com: We are currently only open to the United States; however, we are considering whether we want to offer QuiBids internationally. At the moment we feel we are able to give the best user experience and customer service by staying within the United States.
What is your policy for bid refunds?
QuiBids.com: We are happy to refund any unused bids, though we do not offer refunds on bids that were placed during auctions, unless there was a glitch in the system on our end. This is a very rare occurrence, but in the event that this does happen, we’re happy to assist in the situation.
Are there win limits, limits /household?
QuiBids.com: Yes, there are limits. While some exceptions may apply, only one account is allowed per person, per household. Our support team would be happy to answer any questions regarding this policy.We limit a total of eight wins every 28 days and only three wins per day per account. Additionally, only one win of the same product is allowed, on items with a value price of over $285, over that same 28 day time span. Similarly, only one win is allowed per 28 days on items with a value price $1,000 or greater. These limits are in place so that we can give everyone the best chance possible to win an auction.
Is there a story behind the name/theme?
QuiBids.com: QuiBids is pronounced (Kwi-Bids), as in Quick Bids. We’re just chopping off the “c” and the “k.” This has led, unfortunately, to people pronouncing QuiBids in all types of different ways such as Kwee-Bids, Q-Bids, etc.Is there anything else you would like to tell Penny Auction Watch readers?
Quibids.com: Our mission is to redefine shopping by providing the best deals possible for our customers with a unique, fun and exciting online experience. We give out the most wins (for US residents) out of any penny auction website and we do this because we want users to continue to use QuiBids for their shopping needs. Also, we pride ourselves in being the beacon of moral and ethical business practices in our industry. We define success through the creation of long-term, mutually beneficial relationships with our customers.Please tell us about your experiences with QuiBids.com in the forum.
Related posts:
- QuiBids’ Terms State That They Do Indeed Offer Different Items to Different Users
- QuiBids Games
- QuiBids’ New Logo Feels Like Amazon – New Items Include Piggyback Rides on Bigfoot?
- QuiBids Wins Interactive Media Awards, Best in Class for Auctions
- QuiBids CEO Matt Beckham Interviewed by Oklahoma’s Business Roundtable
and 
Could BidNuke’s Name Be Fitting? We Found What Appears to Be Phony Video Testimonials
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Search “Quibids are Scammers” on facebook and like me please!
Ok can you show us the proof?
I got physically sick by the end of that interview. Out of all people. The CEO!? In my experience some penny auction sites are legit. (bidrack for one) and others < to put it nicely, not so legit. I think quibids started this scam and others saw it as a good soure of legit money with staying power.
Hi RyanB,
Good to hear that you had a good experience w/ Bidrack. I can’t say whether or not they are a scam because I don’t know but they do seem to have a lot of traffic & users and I’ve always received won items pretty quick. Good luck!
It may not be a “scam” but the business model is designed for them to make a bucket of $$ while one person “wins” the auction.
Thinks about it: Each bid costs $0.60. If the price is raised by $0.01 and 1000 bids are placed, they get $6000 and the price rises $60. So they buy the product (say it’s a $500 product) and then ship it (maybe) to you. They pocket the $5500 and you have paid perhaps $75. A deal for you. But if you lost the bid you are screwed.
This is a business model that only works when the majority lose. This A—hole thinks the “experience of competing for prizes”….wait, what did he say? ” Competing for prizes? I thought this was an auction!!! There are NO PRIZES in an auction.
If you have half a brain you will see right through this rather dubious ‘scam’
Proof? You make $4,000 off a $200 item. That’s a scam.
Even this interview is a pathetic shill piece.
You all end up in prison soon enough, interstate wire fraud is a felony – a Federal felony.
Shill piece? What? I am not affiliated with QuiBids
You come off somewhat insane
Making $4000 off a $200 item doesn’t make it a scam. If your basing scams off of profit margins you are retarded
I guess Apple or Windows with their products or musicians are also scamming their customers then??? How much do you think it costs to create a CD or DVD?? about 5 cents… but you see the software being sold for several hundreds of dollars. Scam?? I think not. You know what your getting into with these auctions, just as you know what your buying when you purchase a CD or DVD. Try to think a little more before you post comments that make you look like a tard
I am so excited of this awesome site called Quibids.com. It’s almost to good to be true, but it is true. I Won This Nintendo DS Lite (Cobalt) for only $4.20 I want to say Thank You Quibids!
Good luck in getting your product. Have you received it yet??
How can I talk to a live person What is your telephone # ???
JACK
What is quibids phone number???????
JACK
its great… another good one i found is ibid4mc.com . customer service is great.. shipping is quick… its not too crowded…. you actually have a chance to win
Hello, everyone is entitled to their own opinion of this website, however I am a member of this website and do not feel as though I am being scammed. If you bid on items properly then you do save quite alot of money on things you would have bought outright. I recently bought a 45 bid package for 27 dollars. I bid 5 bids on a 25 dollar giftcard to Starbucks and ended up having to pay 14 cents and right after that I won another giftcard to walmart for 50 dollars using just 3 bids and ended up paying 1 dollar and 2 cents. If you keep track of how much money you spend and the amount of bids you use you can be ahead of the game. But many people don’t take the time to understand this and go bidding like crazy people, lose all their money on bids and say its a scam. All in all I spent less money than what I got back at Quibids. And yes, I recieved both cards with the correct amount on each.
“properly”…sure.
A common error that I see 100′s of people making is they claim Quibids is making the price sold of item * $0.60 and that simply is not true.
Let’s say a $10 gift card goes for $0.50 , all these idiots online are claiming that Quibids makes 50 x $0.60 = $30 (you could not be more wrong).
See, they have this feature called “Buy It Now” which subtracts the amount you paid from $10
Now, if 5 people made these 50 bids (lets say 10 each) they each would have spent 10 x 0.60 = $6
Now, 1 person had to win, so he pays $6 + $0.50
The other 4 people can “Buy It Now” for $4!
What profit did Quibids make when everyone who lost used the “Buy It Now”? NOTHING!
Oh yah, they made money from shipping, but they have to encur shipping costs themselves so I don’t see that as profit.
You absolutely cannot just take the price of the item and multiply the number of pennies by $0.60 , that is wrong and it is stupid. That is not Quibids profit. It’s called “you fail math big time”
Check our BidBidz.com New Reserve Penny Auction
HOW DO I STOP QUIBID FROM TAKING MONEY OUT OF MY ACCOUNT AND HOW DO I GET BACK MY UNUSED MONEY, I WANT OUT
What happened?
You probably won’t
Amanda you have to be pretty naive to not realize it’s a scam. Were you born yesterday?
Not a scam. Doesn’t have to be. Plenty of gullible people looking for the low-percentage chance of scoring an incredible deal. The few win large, the large win few. QB rakes in the cash fair & square. The company gladly ships each product – especially after making 500-1000% on it.
You are a f**king thief and ought to be in jail. The site is full of shill bidders and it is nearly impossible to win unless you bid more than the item is worth. Shame on you and I can’t wait until you are put in prison. I hope it’s for a long time. You got $60.00 from me and I consider it a lesson well learned about trusting something that is way to good to be true, fair , and honest. I would comment to all these scam web sites, but it’s obvious that others have already caught on. Unfortunately, you’ll be super rich before you run out of suckers. Joe McCarty
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