Quibids- Penny Auction Fun

A few weeks ago I tried my hand at penny auctions.  I started with Bidrack because they give away free bids right and left.  They are slow as snails with shipping and customer service is interesting.  They are improving, but Quibids is the place to try this fun new concept.

How Does It Work?

• First you buy a bidpack.  $27 for 45 Bids
• There are many online coupon codes that will give you 3-5 bonus bids for signing up and buying a "Bid Pack"
• Watch auctions, place bids, win
• It really is entertaining and there are GREAT DEALS to be had if you have some self restraint and reasonable goals.
• Each bid raises the "price" of the item by a penny.  Each bid essentially costs 60 cents to place, win or lose you lose the bids you use in the auction.
• You can win 12 auctions in a month.
• Auction end times are NOT like ebay.  It is like live auction- during the last 20 seconds of the auction the clock resents to allow for a "going once, going twice gone" effect.

Best Bang For The Buck

• I am 2 weeks into participating in this site and have won a heap of stuff for minimal out of pocket costs.
• My goal is to win Gift Cards: To Date ($15 Walmart with 10 Bid Credit Certificate for 1 penny plus Shipping= $2.00 oop and only used 1 of my original bids) ($100 in Lowes Cards for $8.00 OOP and 11 bids, I earned back another 50 bids with all of them) ($10 Target Gift Card for 2 cents= $2.02 OOP), Case of Golf Balls (1 cent plus $8 S&H, used 1 bid, retail value $60 and S&H from company is usually $14.99), Stainless Steel Kitchen Garbage Can with 20 bid voucher for 3cents, used only 1 bid to win ($75 value for $5.98 OOP). Children's High End V-Tech Computer Toy and 20 bids for 2 cents adn $7 S&H)
• One friend joined using my link and I earned 25 more bids.  For a $27 investment we are reaping lots of rewards.
• If you are interested in trying it out here is my link (I will earn more credits).

Gift Card Greatness:

• When you participate in auctions and lose there is a pot of gold at the end of the losing rainbow.
• One day I went a bit nuts trying to win a $25 lowes card.  I ended up placing 16 bids and not winning.
• They offer a BUY IT NOW @ Full price offer to bidders that lose at the end of auctions.
• I was able to purchase a the gift card at face value- $25 minus $9.60 credit from bids I used trying to win.
• I did not lose because I still got the gift card.  It wasn't a "deal" but there was no loser either. 

How Can They Do This and Profit?

• I only wish I had dreamed this up and owned the business.
• They earn 60 cents for each bid purchased- for example They frequently auction Dyson Vacuums Cleaners that retail for $500 for around $50-$75.  If it sells for $50 they raked in $3000 from the bids used during the auction and rake in another $50 from the winner.
• Last week they sold a Honda Civic for $1800 ish they collected 60c for each of the 180,000 bids placed ($108.000 collected just from bids used) and collected the $1800 from the winner.
• It is easy to see how they can keep these great deals going with such high profit margins.
• Set reasonable expectations and shop during nonpeak hours to rake in legendary deals.
• I am now saving my cheap Lowe's Gift Cards for home improvement projects.

How Reliable is Quibids?

• I am so impressed with order processing, timely email updates and lightening fast deliveries.
• So far every Lowe's Gift Card I have won has arrived in my email inbox withing 4 hours of paying for the card I won.  I have redeemed a pile of them (They were an honest blessing when our sump pump and basement dewatering system was a giant fail last friday and left us in 3 inches of water).
• Every other gift card has arrived in my physical mailbox within 72 hours.
• I won the V-Tech Kids Laptop (the one I paid 3 pennies plus shipping for) Sunday night at 930 pm.  It arrived Tuesday before 10am. 
• My neighbors sister won a Kindle e-reader for about $40, their supplier could not ship within 48 hours.  Guess what they did? They sent her a $200 Amazon gift card.  She got her Kindle and a pile of Christmas gifts and everyone was VERY HAPPY!
• Their BBB scores and customer reviews are excellent.

If you throw yourself into trying to win a Dyson or Ipad for $50-$75 you can quickly blow through your bids and be left empty handed, but if you focus on winning giftcards to buy the things you are itching to get your hands on for pennies on the dollar you will win every time.  There is no lose in paying full price for a gift card.  90% of the time I have saved 90% or more on the gift cards I win.  If I have to pay full price for one here or there then I am still way ahead.

If you want to try it out please consider using my referral link HERE then share your link with friends and family members.  I cant wait to hear about the deals you score!