My QuiBids Experience

My first experience with QuiBids was in July last year. QuiBids is an online penny auction site where you can bid on products such as Wii and Xbox games, ipods and accessories, televisions, cameras, camcorders, laptops, small kitchen appliances, and restaurant and retail gift cards.

I had heard of QuiBids and thought I’d check it out. I set up my profile and bought a beginner’s bid pack of 75 bids for $45 (or .60/bid). I looked around the site a bit, and decided to come back another time. I liked some of the big ticket items, but didn’t want the big ticket price tag at that time.

This weekend I went back. I had been getting emails from QuiBids in my spam mailbox, but didn’t read them. Had I taken the QuiBids101 course and quiz, or maybe read those emails, I would have known that I forfeited any unused bids after 6 months of no activity! Another life lesson learned.

Since I figured out pretty quickly how I parted with my cash, I decided that QuiBids was very straightforward about their practices; nothing overtly deceptive. I saw their Better Business Bureau endorsement, and decided to go ahead and buy another beginner’s bid pack. Almost immediately, I won an auction. For .04 I was the proud owner of a $15 WalMart gift card. I do a lot of shopping at WalMart for groceries, home goods, cleaning supplies, health and beauty supplies. I went to check out my new purchase. A $2 shipping and handling charge was added to my .04 purchase, but I was still a happy customer.

Feeling a bit overconfident, maybe even cocky, I started bidding on a TV; a 22” LG LCD HDTV to be exact, and several other items. I’ve been converting one of our empty bedrooms into a workout room, and have thought that a TV in there to play exercise videos on, or just to watch while I mark time on the exercise bike, would be a good idea. The TV auction closed. I didn’t get my bid in on time.

I could hear the familiar sound of an incoming email message. It was from QuiBids again. Every time I won an auction or completed a transaction, I got an email from QuiBids. This one was different. According to this one, even though I had not won the TV auction, I had spent $42 bidding on the TV. QuiBids was allowing me the option of applying that $42 toward the purchase of the TV if I exercise the option within 2 hrs.

Hmm. If I don’t buy it, I’m out $42. I was going to buy a TV anyway. I have the money. I did a search at WalMart.com to see if they sell the TV and for how much. The TV at QuiBids was priced slightly higher than the same TV at WalMart; about $45 higher! So, there really was no benefit to buying the TV at QuiBids, and I was going to be out another $45 or so either way. I went ahead and purchased it.

Then I was notified that I won a QuiBids Achievement Badge! I had won several achievement badges that day. What a good little achiever I am! And how very pleased QuiBids must be with their newest achiever!

I went back to bidding on $10 and $15 gift cards. With 1 bid I won another gift card. With another single bid, I won another gift card with a bid voucher of 5 free bids. I started bidding on bid vouchers for free bids. While bidding, I was notified that I had reached the limit of winning 3 auctions in a 24 hr period, and wasn’t eligible to win anymore.

The next day, I took the QuiBids 101 course and quiz, and earned a badge for that. In it I learned some of the things I had learned the day before from trial and error, and for a small price. I also learned about the three biggest mistakes beginners make: 1) unrealistic expectations, 2) setting sights too high, and 3) not taking time to familiarize oneself with the site.

My LG TV from QuiBids arrived safely at my doorstep. It was very light and easy to carry in. It works great and is now hooked up to Direct TV in my exercise room.  Now I can listen to music or watch TV while I work out, or sit on my exercise ball or exercise bike while I watch TV!  My bids are all spent, and it will be awhile before I return to QuiBids.  I wonder if QuiBids gives out free bids to people who haven't signed in for awhile.