madbid.com

LoveToSave.

George666 wrote: »

The site is a total scam and as bob says a tax on the stupid.
Anyone for a SPAM fritter one post to ask about a scamming auction site got to be spam.
I am only shocked that another user with only one post has not already posted here and said how great it is and how they got a 52" plasma TV for 50p on their first free bid.:rotfl:

:rotfl: Give it time!

soolin

LoveToSave. wrote: »

:rotfl: Give it time!

What give it time to scam more naive buyers...no, I think carrying on warning people about it is a much better option.

macfly

There are many "taxes on the stupid" out there. The National Lottery is the main one, sanctioned by our own lovely government. Sites like the madbid, Wonga, advertising on TV. I have more respect for loan sharks.
However, all legal. How can that be?

mippy

Essentially, it's a raffle. You aren't bidding on things as with eBay, but essentially betting on the final price. Google 'rhodri marsden penny auctions' - a friend wrote a good feature about how they work.

Madbid and loan sites are entirely legal to advertise on TV. If you feel important terms and conditions are not being made clear then I suggest you speak to the ASA about it.

macfly

My point is that it's an outrage they are legal. The nanny state won't let you smoke in a builder's van, but allows adverts for loans charging 2000 percent interest.
Legal, but immoral.

Crowqueen

Everyone is going to disagree on what should or shouldn't be legal. Unfortunately advertising rules are getting less rather than more strict .

bungle888

middie wrote: »

has anyone used this site. i have looked at it and it looks good and some really good bargins on it but is it woth it. anyone that has used it i would appreciate any feedback. thanks

I used to play with madbid but found this new site www.nothing2lose.co.uk - on here actually I entered a free competition. Its kinda like madbid but with fixed odds plus you get a voucher for your money back if you buy.

StaffsSW

I've heard a very interesting tale of woe around one of these reverse auction sites recently.

Punter buys £200 worth of bids with his credit card, and chases a new TV, and "wins" it for £80, with the RRP being around £400. He pays the balance with more bid credits purchased via a credit card, and a few weeks later the TV turns up. It's the wrong one, a much cheaper one he "bid on"/gambled for.

He doesn't get any joy from reverse auction helpdesk, so tries a chargeback via his credit card for not as described or similar, but the credit card company refused to honour his claim on the grounds that he purchased "bids", not a specific TV.

He is now left with a very cheap supermarket spec TV, and 4 months on still no response from reverse auction site.

Still - each to their own. There must be plenty of people "naive/stupid" enough to continue using these sites to make it worth their while to spend so much money on TV advertising.

jonluke

Look at the latest Car on MadBid.com and ask yourself one question;
Would you put your car up on MadBid?
An Audi A3 Sportsback RRP £18,790.
Even if you are a car dealer you may have a long wait before the bids go through the RRP barrier.
If you are not a car dealer and the bidding stops short, you have lost a fair bit of dosh.
At the moment the bids stand at £411.69p.
Looks like there will be a few tears before bedtime at this rate!!

Pembroke

Have you read the rest of the thread Jonluke?

Madbid uses penny bid increments, so for the current £411.59p price you quote there have been 41,159 bids made. The cheapest bid package I could find gives an average price of 24.9p per penny bid. So forgetting admin costs for the moment Madbid have already made 41,159 x 0.249 which equals £10,248.59p. So all that has to happen is that the bidding reaches £1000 (100000 x 0.249 = £24,900) and Madbid will easily cover their costs and that's the minimum they will make as not all bidders will buy the maximum amount of bids.

Oh and in the article Mippy mentions it says the buyer then has to pay the VAT on the full RRP of the item so Madbid are also covering that expense.

Does anyone know where I can get the software to run a site like Madbid, looks like a licence to print money if you ask me.