Is BidsTick Legit?

What is BidsTick.com?

BidsTick.com is a penny auction site  that seems to have hidden reserves, held by autobidding bots.

“BidsTick.com was created by the people, for the people!

Bid on the best brands and latest electronics, computer hardware and luxury goods one penny at a time.

Why pay more when you can win for pennies on the dollar?

BidsTick.com
4727 Wilshire Blvd #601
Los Angeles Ca, 90010”

4727 Wilshire Blvd. suite 601 is not actually a physical address for BidsTick.com, but the address for Spiegel & Utrera, PA, the law firm that they probably got their LLC/Inc. with. The CEO of BidStick.com is Miko Filppula.

Did BidsTick.com Really Secure $5Million in Funding?

Just a few months ago we posted about California based BidsTick.com’s (Creative Headquarters, LLC) claim to have received $5 million in funding from the “Diamond Institute of America” (DIA). The Gemological Institute of America (GIA) is well known, however the DIA is not. A Google search does not seem to produce much information. A forum post from 2007 on the GemologyOnlineForum.com tells us that the Diamond Institute of America could be found at diamondinstituteofamerica.org, now gone, and  gem enthusiasts had reason to believe that the organization was a scam.  The registrant for the DIA was International Strategic Investment Group, Inc.

If anyone can provide us with any information as to the legitimacy of the DIA and whether or not penny auction site BidsTick.com actually acquired funding from them it would be much appreciated.

Users Reporting Poor Experiences with BidsTick.com

A few of our readers have recently told us about their experiences with BidStick.com, and they have not been pleased.

“When I first started bidding on bidstick I had no problems. Than my winning items were taking longer to get to me. Now I have items I won in May that I have not gotten and some won in July I am afraid I may not get. The e-mails I send them are returned to me as user not found. I have filed with the FTC but not sure what they do. Be careful if you bid on Bidstick They also use Bots and shills on the higher priced items.”

And another: “I think bidstick.com is scam site. On may 2009, I purchased $50.00 and won mini laptop really easy. I see delivery time is 6 to 8 weeks. I was so happy and I purchased $500.00 bidpacks and start bid other items too. Badly no winning. Anyway, I won laptop and I was waiting for my laptop until 2 months. Nothing was delivered. I called number that from paypal. The number wasn’t for bidstick.com. It was merchant account number. They said I have to communicate with bidstick. I did about 1 months and all they saying is will be ship out. But never did. I was dispute the payment from paypal that I paid to bidstick.com. About 2 days later the dispute was automaticlly closed reason was bidstick.com replied back to paypal that was degital delivered. I was spoke with paypal that company is scam. Never ship out my winning item. Paypal understand and they opened my claim again. Now It’s been about 2 weeks nothing happen. I went back to bidstick.com account and check my winning item again and they changed my winning date to 7/21/2009. I won that items on may now they changed it and never ship out. I was filed this FBI. I guess they are making alot of money with small bidder. This company is really scam… They took the money and not shipping winning item…”

BidsTick.com Admitted Having Reserve Bots

BidsTick had a chat box where users could communicate with one another and the administration, there was also a private messaging function.

“Flykel,” a user on our forum, and a past bidder on BidsTick, told us that the users believed there were bot bidders that would bid periodically and continuously when the timers reached certain increments. He tells us that for awhile the automated bots would bid each time with 4 seconds left on the clock and then switch to 5 seconds, then down to 3 seconds, with 3 seconds left on the timer the bots would shut off, indicating that BidsTick received an acceptable amount of bids. This then either allowed real users to win, but he tells us that sometimes real people did not even win.

Flykel sent us a copy of an excerpt of BidsTick.com’s chat log, from a few months back, the chat log indicates that BidsTick.com was employing bot bidders to hold a reserve and drive up the prices of their auctions. Flykel also told us that even when there were the autobidding bots that held reserves, BidsTick’s owner did not deliver on his promise to issue bid refunds if the items ended with the bot bidders winning.

According to Flykel, Djbidstick is Miko, the owner of BidsTick.com:

<Djbidstick> the bots were invented
<Djbidstick> to protect us from mafia
<Djbidstick> chat mafia
<Djbidstick> theres never 2 bots
<Djbidstick> on anything

<bidder1> u need to come clean with everything
<bidder1> and some of your staff has to go
<Djbidstick> were our reserve
<Djbidstick> system..

<bidder1> reserves honey must be posted
<bidder2> post reserve
<bidder3> 4,0but, they are illegal and fraudulent
bidder– has entered the room
<bidder2> hi gary
<Djbidstick> we mention the reserves
<bidder4> reserve is one thing when it is posted but to put 2 bots on it at same time and letting us just throw bids on it
<flykel> thank u twins
<bidder1> u don’t post it u r in deep doo doo
<bidder4> only in fine print on faqs page
<bidder5> 13,0you should have started the auctions at a reserve price so we knew what to expect
<bidder1> dj never once have i heard a host say this has a reserve sorry
<Djbidstick> theres never 2 bots
<Djbidstick> on anything

<bidder1> u need to come clean with everything
<bidder6> Thanks for admitting the bots though. it was what we needed.
<bidder7> please everyone calm down
<Djbidstick> bots are a reserve system
<Djbidstick> i guess we need to show it you when a reserve bot is bidding
<Djbidstick> so whats up with the chargebacks?

<bidder1> i will gladly share why i did what i did
<bidder1> honest answer?
<Djbidstick> plimus will shut us down..

<bidder1> this is why dj… we know about your bots, we are tire dof being cheated, we are tired of the excuses
<bidder5> 13,0we falt as though the site was not being ran fairly and our money was just being taken
<bidder6> because people win a few times doesn’t mean they deserve to be cheated and lied to..
<bidder4> but now we can’t get in nobody can we just figured it out and newbies have not
<bidder8> guys one at a time…
<bidder1> tired of being flat at lied to
<bidder7s> gang he is here to try to work this out please don’t attack
<bidder6> When bots win you don’t even return lost bids
<bidder1> doubles where always rare
<bidder1> were*
<Djbidstick> we relist the item
<bidder1> i can’t type sorry
<Djbidstick> without bots
<bidder6> But you do not return lost bids
<bidder6> Did the item sell?
<bidder6> Thats illegal
<flykel> whish is stealing money from real bidders
<Djbidstick> yes

We are not too sure whether or  not BidsTick.com is still employing auto bot bidders or not, but we have received comments from a number of users with the same IP address. More on this below.

When BidsTick’s users found out they were being bidding against shills, many of them performed charge backs and Plimus (a payment processor) froze their account. Their FAQ page indicates that they order items within 6-8 weeks of purchase, however many users have told us they have not received items until as much as 5 months after purchase.

BidsTick.com Posting Fake User Testimonials on Our Site?

Over the past few weeks there have been multiple users posting on our BidsTick posts and thread in the forum all with separate names and different testimonials, but with the same IP address.

Though not sure, we think that these posters could quite possibly be affiliated with BidsTick. Another user also posted from multiple IP addresses from two separate states, posting from different IPs minutes apart.

Two readers “maria” and “Jared” posted the following comments on our blog both on 12/13/2009, both on the same IP address:

Here’s what Jared said:

“I think a lot of people who are crying scam probably lost money on these auctions. I personally, have lost money. But I also won, too. I can’t vouch for swoopo, but I won an apple Ipod on Bidstick for less than $6. I think it’s great that someone has found a way to sell items for pennies on the dollar. I mean who wouldn’t want to buy 42″ flatscreen hdtv for $50. You don’t see that happening on ebay. You may not have to buy bids on ebay but you’re not going to get anywhere near the same deals that penny auctions offer. And furthermore, if the penny auctions didn’t charge per bid they couldn’t offer you those deals. So, if you think penny auctions are a scam, maybe you should assume department stores are a scam, too. They dupe people into buying products for 300% markup. So, too bad, so sad. Don’t get mad. This is just the world we live in.”

And Maria:

“I won an apple ipod for about $20 in bids. I can’t vouch for all the auction sites but bidstick seems legit. I was a little disappointed that it took so long to get the item, though. It took about 2 months, but I got it.”

& The screenshot from our admin panel showing that these two posters were both posting from the same IP address:

bidstick shills

Users “aphrodite,” “mikeg,” and “tammy,”  (all three posted to our forum yesterday) and “dalebennet” (commented on the blog) all four have the same IP address.

aphrodite said: “hi guys. I don’t wanna steal anyones thunder but maybe bidstick has gone legit. I mean you guys did catch them using bots. The only reason i say that is because i won several items before coming across this thread. I won a ipod touch that took about 1 wk to get shipped. I am still waiting on the 42″ tv. Its been about 2 wks. I will reply and let u all know how it goes.”

mikeg said: “I dunno what everyone is talking about. Me and my friends have been winning alot. For instance, I wun a Macbook Pro for $27. I had to spend about $350 in bids, but that still beats paying the retail value of about $2000. Theres only one winner, err…make that 2 winners: the guy who won the auction and bidstick. So, I guess that means there’s a lot of sore losers. Sorry guys.”

tammy said: “I respectfully disagree. I don’t think bidstick.com is a scam. Ive won 2 auctions already. So, I know there are real winners.With penny auctions, just like any other auction, there is only one winner. yes, you have to pay to bid but thats how the owners of these auctions can sell items so cheap and still make a profit :D.”

dalebennet said: “sorry to heer u had problems w bidstick. man. i wun a polaroid digtal camra. Id did take awhile to get it. like 4 wks or somthin. i wuz startin to wunder if i wuz gonna get it, but it came brand new in the box. maybe u should try cust svc, again.”

bidstick comment

And the screenshot from our admin console:

The two IP addresses, for the “six” users, originate from RoadRunner HoldCo., LLC., VA.

Like we said, we do not know whether or not BidsTick.com still has reserve bots, but the fact that there have been multiple users from the same IP address posting positive “testimonials” when established PAW forum members are not is concerning.

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34 comments… add one
  • Todd April 30, 2010, 6:23 pm

    If you have a problem with them they are located in California.

    This is a link (url) to the California Dept. of Justice Consumer Complaint Online Form.

    http://www.ag.ca.gov/contact/complaint_form.php?c

    The information about business registration is public record and located at the California Secretary of State (pasted below).

    http://kepler.sos.ca.gov/

    Reply
  • john miller May 3, 2010, 2:28 am

    it has been over three months and unanswerd emails and still no items in the mail.IS BIDSTICK A SCAM.PLEASE HELP

    Reply
  • Adam Rosenberg May 7, 2010, 9:44 am

    Bidstick.com is a great site.. I have won a lot of great items from Bidstick.com. At first after reading all of the negative posts on this site it made me very concerned about receiving won items.. But however as of now I have received 6 out of 7 won auctions.. My last auction win should be delivered next week a 32 in TV and all my items will be received as promised. When I have received my item it will remove all doubts that were created by these posts.. I almost did not use bidstick.com because of all the negative remarks made on this site.. However now that I have and I have so many great items I am glad I did. I just thought someone should talk about their positive experience with bidstick.com

    Reply
    • sam September 24, 2011, 11:08 pm

      man you are one of those bidsick workers!!!!!!!!!!bidstick is a scam

      Reply
  • Southerngal1 May 31, 2010, 2:37 am

    My God, I used that site as my first site I played on. I am waiting on 10 items I won April 18 through 23rd, 2010. I don't know what to do? I can't get them to answer my emails either. The phone number just says sorry but due to volume please email. I spent Alot of money, WHAT DO I DO? Please Help.

    Reply
  • Heidi June 8, 2010, 5:45 pm

    I started bidding on bidstick in August 2009 and won a few things for very cheap. The problem is that it took over 3 months to receive the first few items….and that was after many emails I sent. Now we are june 2010 and here are the items and dates that I won them…but never received:

    * 2010-04-28 22:49:45 – $5.01 – U Video Camcorder/Digital Camera
    * 2010-04-22 12:09:44 – $5.15 – Olympus PEN E-P1
    * 2010-04-22 11:38:44 – $5.01 – Cobra LI 27-Mile 2-Way Radio
    * 2010-04-22 11:01:24 – $5.01 – ZhuZhu Pets
    * 2010-01-30 15:17:12 – $5.04 – Spy Video Pen
    * 2009-11-08 13:52:32 – $5.01 – U-Video Mini Video Camera/Camcorder
    * 2009-08-19 15:32:26 – $5.04 – Nokia N95 8 GB Unlocked Cell Phone

    They gave me 3300 free bids for the trouble in April, but I still haven’t seen anything

    Reply
  • ZWeebo222 September 5, 2010, 10:52 am

    I have just stumbled onto the site and I have been bidding on bidpacks. But there is something I have noticed; that some of the users also bidding for the 100 bids pack, have bid at least 100 times. This is twice that I have seen this happen. So the explanation is either that these bidders are employees or bots, or they are helpless gamblers who have gotten caught up in the auction game. I tend to beleive that they are bots, which in my mind removes any element of fairness from the auction. .

    It is essentially, a rigged auction which allows just enough real winners to maintain some sense of legitmacy.

    Reply
  • Tammy Leveque September 13, 2010, 1:53 pm

    Wow …. Ok I just signed up for bidstick.com this week and i am from Canada and it gave the option of country to sign up under but yet when i win the two items it seems my country disappears when asked to verify address to make payment …. how can that be ….. I tried to call the number listed and a recording which sais there is a higher volume of calls right now please contact by email….. well I did that but guess what when winning items its stated if not payed within 30 minutes the items go back up for auction sooooo how can one win ???? Scam I am thinking ….. cant call, cant verify my country because they removed it and i am pretty sure they wont email me back with the 30 minute time alloted to claim your winnings….. but yet they accept the money when buying bids with all my mailing address included there were it states Canada …… i would stay far away from this site … I dont mind losing, but I do mind when if i win and they make it impossible to win …… SCAM…..

    Reply
  • Frankie rekay September 22, 2010, 9:35 pm

    I haven’t- didn’t use it because of numerous articles like this. If it seems to good to be true… Also could you check the IP of Adam Rosenberg, I doubt he’s an actual customer.

    Reply
  • James Castillo October 19, 2010, 7:12 pm

    I won an Xbox 360 on 8/4/2010

    and the date I'm posting this is 10/19/2010

    They claim 6-8 weeks, and I've been waiting for over that much time

    I don't think BidsTick is legit after all

    Reply
  • sue October 25, 2010, 3:17 pm

    good lord if you want to win something u gotta stay up all night and all day, these auctions seem to go
    on forever

    Reply
  • Robert October 28, 2010, 1:01 pm

    I know for a fact that these guys are scam artists. Miko Fillipo is the owner. I would stay away from bidstick unless you want to lose a lot of money.

    Reply
  • Peter Bergman November 2, 2010, 5:00 am

    I’ve won multiple items on bidstick for much less than they would be on supermarket. I’ve received them after 8 weeks of waiting. Highly recommend the site for friends and family

    Reply
  • Ryan November 13, 2010, 11:04 am

    I believe Bidstick is definitely using bots. I just signed up and received 3 free bids, but have not purchased any additional bids because I wanted to check out the site first.

    I’ve been watching a 3 second auction for a macbook drag on for about an hour now… with the same 5 usernames continuing to bid against each other. At this point I am guessing that they have each bid a few hundred times at least. Considering the fact that bids are about $1 each, its laughable to think these are real people bidding. This site needs to be shut down.

    Reply
  • Miko fillipo November 30, 2010, 2:28 am

    Okay f**k you all i have over 2 billion dollars, right now and i dont care if i have your money.. you should of read the terms of agreement before you signed up.

    Reply
  • COol Man December 7, 2010, 5:37 pm

    I am a new user to bidstick.com. They are very smart to create this webiste to people who come to bid. For example, you bid a wii console game Retail Price is only 199.99 per basic console. They start one cent = $1 every time you bid and increase one cent = $1. If people bid $25 won the item then the company make a lot of money. $25 plus $5 flat shipping to ship your home 6 to 8 weeks. You bought a pack of 100 bids = $100 for every time you increase one cent you lost one dollar. $25 item won = $2500 or $8 item won = $800. If you are smart enough you know how to calculate. I bought one package is giving me stupid to give them money for free. Therefore a wii Console = $2500 for the company to make. If I owed this company I would deliver to them in two business days. I will not be lazy like them. May be they hire people to bid the bid until real people have empty coins. Not recommended to play!!!

    Reply
  • Dojr413 February 10, 2011, 5:21 pm

    Bidstick is a joke definitely I checked on a lg fridge watched it from the start 5 or 6 people going at it hard went to bed at midnight woke up at 6am same 6 people bidding got home tonight around 6pm still same 6 people bidding now for almost 24 hours it’s up to $85 yeah right come on really??? I used my 3 free bids and I’m done even watching that site pure garbage don’t waste you money!!

    Reply
  • LordPaul March 6, 2011, 4:36 pm

    This Auction site still uses Bots, on almost all items, especially large ticket items. Watching a 3 second iMac auction right now and the same 5 bidders have been on it all day. If you look at the auctions, you will always see 5 bidders, with an occasional real bidder. They have each used over 1000 bids each for a 1500.00 item.

    I am sending in a complaint to the NY Attorneys general office about this. It’s a scam.

    Reply
  • Amanda April 1, 2011, 9:23 pm

    Hi there Evi! http://www.pennyauctionwatch.com/forum please join us!

    Reply
  • Evi April 1, 2011, 9:42 pm

    I couldn’t make up my mind about this bidstick site. I bought a few small packages of bids to start, and started bidding on more bid packages right away. Then I made a few bids on a newly listed item and to my surprise I won it. I bought moe nid packages, But then I didn’t receive my bid packages and so I had to write plimus. There is never any response from bidstck directly. Only after contacting Plimus did I get a response or action. I received my item I had won in about 2 or 3 weeks weeks and my bid package finally appeared. So I trusted the site again, so I decided to stay up all night after bidding all day on a lap top and a few other items. I was willing to bid to the end, as long as it took. Like me, there could be a few people willing to do the same, if they have invested their time and money on an item, that part doesn’t bother me. However, I had a problem that day already when it seemed like the bidding suddenly stopped on an item I was bidding on–the bidder before me won the item while I was still bidding? It was weird? It mad me really mad, but I thought maybe it was just a fluke, but it happened again? It wouldn’t take my bid as I watched the person before me win another item again? So , I was determined that I was going to win this item and I was willing to stay up all night into the next day to win this item. So at !:00 AM in the morning, 4:00 AM eastern time a new bidder jumps on suddenly without any previous bidding history on the item, and bids for hours–just me and this other bidder? It’s curious why someone at that time of the evening or morning would decide to dog a bid when they have no history or investment of bidding all day and night–it didn’t make sense. Then the same thing happens–the bidding just stops on this other bidder and it won’t register my bid. I made sure not to wait to last second, after the first time it happened I made sure to give plenty of time to bid. No matter how many times I tried to bid it wouldn’t register my bid letting the person before me win the bid– the new suspicious bidder. Totally impossible for this to happen, but it happened to me three times in 23 hours. I am convinced that they just let you bid away to make money on your bids, and when it looks like someone is about to win the clock stips on the shill. So few people actually win, especially on the large items-I think no on ever has. I think they let new people win a small Item to suck them in. I did send in a testimonial to see what would happen, you are suppose to get 100 bids, but I heard nothing back and their are the same few testimonials on only small Items. Only one mac book, as many large items on the site, only one person is willing to give a testimonial, when you would think these people would be very happy to share their good luck in winning such high priced items? There is no rotation on the testimonial site and they are mostly petty items. I do think the actual testimonials legit and the could have actually used mine, but I guess they don’t want to give anyone the bid packages they promise. It is strange that there are not millions of testimonial, as many winners as there is meant to be?. As many big ticket items that people should be winning, none of these people were happy enough to leave a testimonial- I just find that very unlikely. After this experience and lack of response from bidstick about it, I am convinced the the whole site is completely rigged and the only one winning big ticket items are bidstick shills. I am convinced that they are able to manipulate the bidding to stop only on the shills then declaring them the winners. I am one that has bid all day and night to test this–if you gave invested time and bids (money) then it makes sense you are going to try to bid to the end, but then win a new person jumps in and weirdly the auction stop when the clock is still ticking and your bidding is mysteriously blocked while they end up winning–your bid will just not register, that is how they control it. Perhaps when the Federal Trade Commission and the Attorney General’ s Office pose as bidders and they experience the same thing, something will happen to stop these people. Seriously three times in 24 hours of someone blocking my bid, there is obviously something that is not legit about these people. I think there are very few actual winners. I have checked in to watch the names and if people were really winning these items, they would continue to bid there on different items. I really think it is mostly shills bidding against people and they have it fixed for them to win nearly all the time. I found the correspondence from bidstick on that forum w/ the unsatisfied customer extremely unprofessional, just in the language? He sounded like a guy working from the trunk of his car and in over his head. He sure did not sound like any kind of professional business person that understands what good business is? That post alone, maybe me feel like I was not dealing with people that could be legit.

    Reply
  • Evi April 1, 2011, 9:47 pm

    Sorry for the duplicate00I was trying to clean up my post (still typos),–No way to edit or delete?

    Reply
    • Amanda April 1, 2011, 10:24 pm

      Hi Evi! I fixed it for you! Please do join us on our forum as most of the discussion takes place there, we’d love it if you entered our giveaway too!! http://pennyauctionwatch.com/forum

      Reply
  • RoseMcD June 20, 2011, 5:54 pm

    I had no problem with the terms of use on bidstick, I plopped down my money, and began to watch for the item I was interested in. Stayed up late, got up early and I won on March 29, 1011. My Kindel was on its way. I waited, and waited and guess what, I am still waiting. I called every available number. They say phones are too busy contact thru e-mail. I got alot of those e-mails back undeliverable. I then found two other e-mail addresses, e-mailed a note to both. I am still waiting. My last e-mail was that if I did not get a response, I would contact every possible agency and report them. Still nothing. What can I do? Who do I complain to?

    Reply
  • Karen-a Tapara July 24, 2011, 9:06 am

    have only just tracked in after niaively waiting 7 weeks for bid prize to to arrive and many many emails gone by.Now there is no reply from any direction and no contact to site at all. Yes who do we complain to?There must be an agency out there who can beat up on these robbers on our behalf.

    Reply
  • Sarah Johnson July 27, 2011, 7:27 pm

    I have won multiple items from bidstick and yes they’re delivery is slow. However I have received all of my won items after the waiting period they claim on they’re terms and conditions.

    Reply
  • Sushil R November 2, 2011, 1:14 pm

    Bidstick is NOT legit… they have over 20 bots in any one auction who bid up the price and make it nearly impossible for any REAL person to win. Don’t be fooled. Of all the bids you see there, you might think at a 1.00 a bid, they have covered their cost and will actually let someone win, but NO, they haven’t as 95%+ of the bids are from their BOTS. This site is a scam, get off it now. The only good reason they have to have a 6-8 week lead time on product shipping is because it takes that long for them to acquire the money needed to actually buy the product and send it. I am sure they hope you just accept the refund for your bids as they make out much better going that route. Look at all the YouTube videos, all small ticket items and none of the $5000 watches and camcorders.

    Reply
  • joey March 6, 2013, 7:30 am

    Thanx was gunna get into it but seen the post from mikko sayin he doesnt care…..

    Reply
  • joseph nygren March 11, 2014, 3:40 pm

    Bid stick is a SCAM you are throwing money a bunch of greedy bastards

    Reply
  • joseph nygren March 11, 2014, 3:45 pm

    SCAM SCAM SCAM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    Reply

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