Flookle Rip Off

Stanbe

Why do the bids only go up 8p when in fact they cost 50p?
has anyone confirmed if this is breaking any trading rules?

saintscouple

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flookle

Stanbe wrote: »

Why do the bids only go up 8p when in fact they cost 50p?

You don’t have to pay the current bid, as mentioned in the previous post as such the "current bid" could be (# of bids) but a cash value looks better, so if the reserve has been met and you have the last bid as the timer reaches 0 you win it, we just ship it straight to you, you don’t have to pay any additional costs for the item.

We were originally going to sell our homes/partners/children and use the money raised to give stuff away to people but in the end decided that would be silly.

What we do is there in black and white, the normal auctions are more tactical, the sealed bid auctions are pretty self explanatory and lower risk (submit your bid, sit back and wait, you do have to pay your submitted bid on these though (if you win) ). ALL items will end with a winner.

Many Thanks

Rob
www.flookle.co.uk

CHR15

flookle wrote: »

You don’t have to pay the current bid, as mentioned in the previous post as such the "current bid" could be (# of bids) but a cash value looks better, so if the reserve has been met and you have the last bid as the timer reaches 0 you win it, we just ship it straight to you, you don’t have to pay any additional costs for the item.

We were originally going to sell our homes/partners/children and use the money raised to give stuff away to people but in the end decided that would be silly.

What we do is there in black and white, the normal auctions are more tactical, the sealed bid auctions are pretty self explanatory and lower risk (submit your bid, sit back and wait, you do have to pay your submitted bid on these though (if you win) ). ALL items will end with a winner.

Many Thanks

RobBING CROOK
www.flookle.co.uk

What a crook, stealing from those mentally unstable enough to believe your rubbish and buy bids!!:mad::mad::mad:

Hope you end up in Jail.

omen666

..........pmsfl

CHR15

It gets worse, I just had a look at some GHD Straighteners.

Currently at £2.80

To Win the item you must be the last bidder and the reserve must be met

How to win
Be the last bidder when the reserve has been met AND the timer gets to 0.

reserve for the GHD's £22

Each bid raises the bar by £0.08p so it needs 275 bids to meet the reserve. That means 275 people are spending their foolishly purchased bids when it is not possible to win anything.

Each bid costs the victim £0.50p so thats £137.50 before the item is even available to be won.

flookle

Hi Folks,

Thanks to those of you that made constructive comments.

We have made some changes to the site and the way auctions are presented that should help those users that did not read the "how it works" guide, and make things clearer in general.

We have removed the Countdown timer from the auctions until the reserve has been met. Once the reserve has been met an hour countdown timer starts. Previously the reserve could be met but the timer might have 100 hours left.

Once the reserve has been met and the countdown timer is active, if a new user becomes the last bidder 15 seconds is added to clock.

You can no longer bid on the item from the smaller overview window; it takes you to the full page item description where it is clearly stated

"Place a bid now and get emailed when reserve is hit
Bid Value = 0.08p - 1 Bid = 1 Credit"

In the Current Bid Field, it now displays the amount of reserve left on the item before it is met and becomes available to win, so even if someone doesn’t read how it works, ignores the bid value and 1 bid = 1 credit, they should put 2 and 2 together when their bid reduces the top figure.

These changes apply to outstanding auctions that have not reached reserve, there are a few older ones that either had no reserve or met reserve that have countdowns on them.

I hope if nothing else this assures you that we do take most of your comments onboard and look forward (albeit with trepidation) to hearing what some of you have to say.

Thanks

Rob
Flookle

BillTrac

flookie,

I think even the dimmest of us realise what you are doing.

What was asked is why when you can only buy in credits of 50p, does the bid only raise by 8p? 42p a go makes you a very happy person. Especialy when you either sell/not sell at a ridiculous cost(ie x number of bids = 42p to you) and if the reserve is not met you get to keep everything.

Perhaps you should have sold house/partner and/or children, especially as with what you are doing the house must be worth a packet

CON!!

flookle

Using the GHD4's as an example,
Reserve £22
Bid Value £0.08
Number of bids required 275
Amount generated from Bids (at 0.50p each) = £137.50
- Cost of GHD4 (Approx £100) = 37.50
- Shipping (£5- £10, £7.50 say) = £30.00

Total profit (excluding VAT liability) =£30, and that’s a generous estimate, not taking into account price of Premises rental, rates, power, phone, internet, equipment rental, wages etc. hopefully the site will continue to grow and we will review our profit margins as more products shift, to the point that no reserve is required, and no final payment either. As mentioned several times now, every product will sell; it’s just a matter of time until they reach that point.

Unlike any other sites doing the same thing, we have at least tried to make things as clear as possible, even interacting with you lot:D .

If we removed the reserve we would have items selling for 10 bids or less which we can’t fund, when our user base get sufficiently high then we will start introducing no reserve items and you will still not have to pay anything further once you have won the item. We tried a couple of no reserve items but it was all too clear it was too early to do them.

How can a new site coming to the market guarantee they can generate money to cover the item and profit? think about it:

You are a brand new site you want to add an Xbox 360 to encourage users on the site, you submit the item to Google and add Google adwords, your item has no reserve and a 2 hour countdown timer. You have no way of guaranteeing that you will generate enough interest in the item for it not to end up selling for 2 bids.

We have chosen to add a "reserve" this makes it obvious to everyone involved that there is an amount that needs to be reached before the item is obtainable. There are other ways to ensure this outcome but we don’t think these are fair or even legal.

We will keep you informed of any changes we make to the site, and as usual look forward to your feedback.

Thanks

Rob
Flookle

dmg24

flookle,

I trust that you have permission from the MSE Team to post as a company representative?