ajzepp Posted January 7, 2011 Author Posted January 7, 2011 Thought I would post a quick update to let you guys know that I've received all the merchandise that I won in the auctions. Unfortunately the little Vulcan speaker that I was really excited about wasn't working properly, so I need to send it back for an exchange. I'll post back and let you guys know how well they handle that, just in case anyone is interested for future reference. I even saw a pretty professional looking quibids commercial on ESPN classic yesterday, so they seem to be growing quite a bit. I lost track, but after my most recent auction wins, I'm way ahead in terms of getting my moneys worth...I couldn't be happier with the results.
Gary M Posted January 7, 2011 Posted January 7, 2011 lol, can't help it...I like comfortable pillows I thought it was one of those pillows you stick under your wife!!
Captain Caveman Posted January 7, 2011 Posted January 7, 2011 Donte should find out what Ed Reed is sleeping on it's nails
ajzepp Posted February 21, 2011 Author Posted February 21, 2011 I wanted to bump this thread to tell you guys about my biggest score yet... So as I said earlier in the thread, I tend to go for non-sexy items that I can get for a steal, and I've done this on multiple occasions. But my other approach, if I ever wanted to go for a big ticket item, was to find something I was willing to pay full retail for and then bid my rear off in hopes that I'd end up saving significant money. Well, I've been wanting some sort of exercise gear for my apartment, but don't really have the room. I've seen the commercials for that Chuck Norris gym, the Total Gym for years, but never paid much attention to it. I saw that quibids had one of them in an auction from time to time, so I did some research. As it turns out, the one they have is the "XLS", which is the top of the line home gym. (They have a nicer commercial version, but it's like $4k.) It folds up out of the way when not in use, which is exactly what I need due to space restraints. Anyway, when I saw all the positive reviews I figured I'd go ahead and put my plan into motion. I verified that the retail price was around $978, so if I ended up having to pay that, then apparently it would still be a good investment given the number of happy customers. Well, the auction just finished, and here are the results: Bids purchased: 300-pack, cost me $180 (I used 255 out of the 300) Shipping cost: $49 Item cost at end of auction: $28 So for a $978 home gym, I am paying about $230 total, including shipping. That is a frickin STEAL. I should have it here in the next week or two, so I will report back on how I like the gym in case anyone is interested. BTW, quibids is now accredited by the BBB, just in case anyone is on the fence about participating and that fact is of consequence to you. You can read the report HERE. I've received every item I've won at auction, and have dealt with their cust svc dept on two occasions. They have been very accommodating and easy to work with. If anyone wants to talk to me about bidding strategies or for other feedback on the site, feel free to comment below or send me a PM. But especially after tonight, I could not be happier with this site.
stevestojan Posted February 24, 2011 Posted February 24, 2011 I just joined tonight. The best part about this site is the people who think it's a "scam". Those are the folks who make it fairly easy to win. Read about the site first! After that, realize the money is made in the non-iPad, non-macbook items. I paid $60 to join (well, to get your first 100 bids). So far, I won $50 gift card to JCPenny and $10 Gift card to Target and paid $6 shipping for all three. Best part is, each came with 15 extra bids "worth" $9. So, technically, I'm up a few bucks and have more bids. I have now tried 6 times to explain it to my girlfriend who graduated cum laude from U of A, and she doesn't get it, so don't just dive in. But once you realize that a $34.91 bid on an ipad means 3,491 bids have been placed, but $.01 on a $25 gift card means only one other schlep is sitting there looking at it you're good. I was at first annoyed that you can only win 3 items in a day and 8 in a month, but I get why, and now I actually appreciate it.
ajzepp Posted February 24, 2011 Author Posted February 24, 2011 I just joined tonight. The best part about this site is the people who think it's a "scam". Those are the folks who make it fairly easy to win. Read about the site first! After that, realize the money is made in the non-iPad, non-macbook items. I paid $60 to join (well, to get your first 100 bids). So far, I won $50 gift card to JCPenny and $10 Gift card to Target and paid $6 shipping for all three. Best part is, each came with 15 extra bids "worth" $9. So, technically, I'm up a few bucks and have more bids. I have now tried 6 times to explain it to my girlfriend who graduated cum laude from U of A, and she doesn't get it, so don't just dive in. But once you realize that a $34.91 bid on an ipad means 3,491 bids have been placed, but $.01 on a $25 gift card means only one other schlep is sitting there looking at it you're good. I was at first annoyed that you can only win 3 items in a day and 8 in a month, but I get why, and now I actually appreciate it. Excellent post, and I'm glad to see you are already kicking ass You may have already figured this out for yourself, but one of the best ways to win items is to do a search for the exact item you want to bid on. That way you can see the history of what happened with previous auctions, INCLUDING the time of day. Sometimes there are trends that can be discerned and you can use that to your advantage.
stevestojan Posted February 24, 2011 Posted February 24, 2011 Excellent post, and I'm glad to see you are already kicking ass You may have already figured this out for yourself, but one of the best ways to win items is to do a search for the exact item you want to bid on. That way you can see the history of what happened with previous auctions, INCLUDING the time of day. Sometimes there are trends that can be discerned and you can use that to your advantage. Do you use bid-o-matic at all? seems like a waste...
ajzepp Posted February 24, 2011 Author Posted February 24, 2011 Do you use bid-o-matic at all? seems like a waste... I have played with a few times, but haven't figured out how to use it to my advantage yet since you can only set it for a max of 25 bids at a time. The other problem is that it wastes bids. If I could set it to the second I wanted the bid placed, that might be helpful (but then everyone would chooose one sec...) but as it is now it may place the bid with like 10+ sec to go, whereas I'd rather let others use their bids and sort of hang out until the clock gets closer to 1-2s. So yeah, I pretty much just click every bid where I want it and don't fiddle much with the bid o matic.
KD in CA Posted February 24, 2011 Posted February 24, 2011 So for a $978 home gym, I am paying about $230 total, including shipping. That is a frickin STEAL. And when you amortize it over the 5 times you'll ever use it, that's only $46 per workout!
dayman Posted February 24, 2011 Posted February 24, 2011 (edited) I've read horror stories on these things. Maybe I should wire ajzepp money and have him do it for me. Edited February 24, 2011 by dayman
ajzepp Posted February 24, 2011 Author Posted February 24, 2011 And when you amortize it over the 5 times you'll ever use it, that's only $46 per workout! LOL, yes, I know that phenomenon very well...I'm determined to make this a worthy investment, though!
ajzepp Posted February 24, 2011 Author Posted February 24, 2011 I've read horror stories on these things. Maybe I should wire ajzepp money and have him do it for me. Yep, there are horror stories for sure. But there are ways to make sure that doesn't happen, too. If you're smart about what you're doing, though, you won't get burned. Simply learn how the site works, and then bid ONLY on items that you're willing to pay retail price for. If you do that, then you are guaranteed to 1) never pay more than the retail price for a given item, and 2) ALWAYS come away with the item. Let me put it another way: Let's say you came to me and said you were in the market for an iPod. Then I tell you that I know two stores that sell the iPod for retail value, with one of those two stores offering a 50% chance of being able to buy it for far less than retail value. That's sort of how quibids works, except I think the chances of getting items for less than retail is much better than 50%. But you have morons who go to the site thinking they can just get stuff for cheap, they buy a bunch of bids and then start spewing them all over the place with no idea of what they're doing. Next thing you know, they've lost hundreds of dollars, they're mad as hell, they have NOTHING to show for it, and they find anyone who will listen to them complain about how dumb they are. If you think things through, you can make a killing here. My advice to you would be to look at the site, watch a few auctions, and see if any of the products appeal to you. If they do, find a low ticket item that you're willing to pay retail for (worst case scenario), and bid away. The site has a nice little display indicating what you've spent relative to the price of the item. If you get to the point where you've spent at or near the retail value, then you simply use the "buy it now" feature and buy the item. Again, buying the item at retail cost is the WORST CASE SCENARIO. I've had to do that exactly ONCE so far. Every other time I've been able to obtain the item for far less than the retail cost. The buy-it-now feature is your safety valve and your insurance policy for not throwing money away aimlessly. And that's just MY take on the site....Stojan will find things that work for him, as will anyone else who trys it out. But if you're judicious with your actions (and your money), you'll be fine. Let me clarify something about what I wrote above...bids are pre-purchased. This is why the buy-it-now button is essential. If you use, say, 20 bids on an item...that would be $12 out of pocket that you have into the item. Let's say the item costs $20. What quibids does is allow you to deduct what you have already invested in terms of bids (in this case $12) from the price of the item. So if you just decided to stop after the 20 bids, you DON'T lose that money. Quibids lets you buy the item for the cost of it MINUS what you have spent on bids. So in this example you'd be charged $8 for using the buy-it-now option. Does that make sense? When you're smart about this, the worst case scenario is always just simply paying retail for an item...it's taht simple.
WVUFootball29 Posted February 25, 2011 Posted February 25, 2011 Yep, there are horror stories for sure. But there are ways to make sure that doesn't happen, too. If you're smart about what you're doing, though, you won't get burned. Simply learn how the site works, and then bid ONLY on items that you're willing to pay retail price for. If you do that, then you are guaranteed to 1) never pay more than the retail price for a given item, and 2) ALWAYS come away with the item. Let me put it another way: Let's say you came to me and said you were in the market for an iPod. Then I tell you that I know two stores that sell the iPod for retail value, with one of those two stores offering a 50% chance of being able to buy it for far less than retail value. That's sort of how quibids works, except I think the chances of getting items for less than retail is much better than 50%. But you have morons who go to the site thinking they can just get stuff for cheap, they buy a bunch of bids and then start spewing them all over the place with no idea of what they're doing. Next thing you know, they've lost hundreds of dollars, they're mad as hell, they have NOTHING to show for it, and they find anyone who will listen to them complain about how dumb they are. If you think things through, you can make a killing here. My advice to you would be to look at the site, watch a few auctions, and see if any of the products appeal to you. If they do, find a low ticket item that you're willing to pay retail for (worst case scenario), and bid away. The site has a nice little display indicating what you've spent relative to the price of the item. If you get to the point where you've spent at or near the retail value, then you simply use the "buy it now" feature and buy the item. Again, buying the item at retail cost is the WORST CASE SCENARIO. I've had to do that exactly ONCE so far. Every other time I've been able to obtain the item for far less than the retail cost. The buy-it-now feature is your safety valve and your insurance policy for not throwing money away aimlessly. And that's just MY take on the site....Stojan will find things that work for him, as will anyone else who trys it out. But if you're judicious with your actions (and your money), you'll be fine. Let me clarify something about what I wrote above...bids are pre-purchased. This is why the buy-it-now button is essential. If you use, say, 20 bids on an item...that would be $12 out of pocket that you have into the item. Let's say the item costs $20. What quibids does is allow you to deduct what you have already invested in terms of bids (in this case $12) from the price of the item. So if you just decided to stop after the 20 bids, you DON'T lose that money. Quibids lets you buy the item for the cost of it MINUS what you have spent on bids. So in this example you'd be charged $8 for using the buy-it-now option. Does that make sense? When you're smart about this, the worst case scenario is always just simply paying retail for an item...it's taht simple. +1
stevestojan Posted February 25, 2011 Posted February 25, 2011 Just got confirmation that my $60 in gift cards were shipped today, roughly 14 hours after I won them. People are morons. You buy 100 bids for $60, you go in with no strategy and blow them all in 10 minutes. Idiots are what make this site great though, as you can literally watch a person spend all $60 worth of bids in 5 minutes. You wait for them to leave and then bid. For $.60 a bid. To potentially win a decent item, and maybe something much nicer. The gambler in me likes it. The consumer in me loves it.
ajzepp Posted February 25, 2011 Author Posted February 25, 2011 Just got confirmation that my $60 in gift cards were shipped today, roughly 14 hours after I won them. People are morons. You buy 100 bids for $60, you go in with no strategy and blow them all in 10 minutes. Idiots are what make this site great though, as you can literally watch a person spend all $60 worth of bids in 5 minutes. You wait for them to leave and then bid. For $.60 a bid. To potentially win a decent item, and maybe something much nicer. The gambler in me likes it. The consumer in me loves it. They typically are very good with processing wins pretty quickly...the one time they ran out of the item I won, they didn't just refund what I spent on bids, they sent me a gift for the value of the item I won...they are cool like that. And I agree...there are a TON of morons. I really don't understand people sometime, but like you said, it's to our benefit in this case lol.
ajzepp Posted February 26, 2011 Author Posted February 26, 2011 Hey guys...just wanted to let you know that I came home tonight to find a big ass box sitting by my door...from the end of the auction to my doorstep, it took less than one week. Can't wait to get it (the Total GYm) hooked up Happy bidding!
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