madbid.com - scam?

[RoganJosh]

I had a look at the madbid.com website after a friend mentioned them - although he hadn't registered. I had another look this morning and thought maybe I'd try and bag myself a new Macbook Air for peanuts - so began registering - just before I clicked on the final button to confirm registration I did a google to check for anything negative and found this:

http://www.ukfraudforum.com/viewtopi...41c5a761dce343

Anyone had any experience of madbid.com?

Thanks

[PeterStoba]

Not a scam, just very clever and hard to win an item, and you often pay the same ammount anyway

[RoganJosh]

I read a bit more about it at timesonline - I don't think I'll be registering. Thanks

[funtimestobehad]

I was referred by a friend on facebook yesterday to a new website which launced just days ago and shares the same model as madbid

To be honest im struggling to see the catch.

The site is called bidfast.co.uk and it differs from madbid because when you win all you bids are refunded. Postage is free. All auctions have fixed prices (always less than 10% off the rrp). And the timer is only increased to 30 seconds as opposed to madbids silly timers.
Im confused about where the catch is.

Yesterday i watched an ipod be sold for £9 and a PS3 for £15.

I also did a check with websiteoutlook and found their daily view to be just 113 compared with madbids monstrous 7438!!!

No wonder you cant win on madbid.

Please can someone explain a catch as there is a 32" samsung tv for sale today for £15 and i want it

[tigerboyce]

I was referred by a friend on facebook yesterday to a new website which launced just days ago and shares the same model as madbid

To be honest im struggling to see the catch.

The site is called bidfast.co.uk and it differs from madbid because when you win all you bids are refunded. Postage is free. All auctions have fixed prices (always less than 10% off the rrp). And the timer is only increased to 30 seconds as opposed to madbids silly timers.
Im confused about where the catch is.

Yesterday i watched an ipod be sold for £9 and a PS3 for £15.

I also did a check with websiteoutlook and found their daily view to be just 113 compared with madbids monstrous 7438!!!

No wonder you cant win on madbid.

Please can someone explain a catch as there is a 32" samsung tv for sale today for £15 and i want it

Probability of the above being advertising/scam? High. Reported to mods.

[mikerr]

madbid isn't an auction, its a lottery - and a very lucrative one (for them)

i.e. you pay per ticket (bid). Ever seen an auction do that?
More bids = higher chance of winning.

Every bid increases the price by 1p (but costs you £1).

So if there are just 400 bids for an ipod,
thats £400 revenue for madbid,
and one of those bids gets it for £4

(and everyone else loses their bid money (£1 per bid).

Now it is supposed to be the last bid wins - but it is acceptng bids after "auction end", so I suspect they have a set amount of revenue to receive before really closing...

[danroyle]

all seems a bit shoddy to me.

sometimes if it looks too good to be true it probably is

[Salazaar]

when you win all you bids are refunded.

When you win... If you don't win you pay the charges, as does every other loser on the item in question. And since there can be only one winner that's a lot of losers. It's still a lottery, just a marginally less shady one.

[finlay666]

I don't think it's a scam tbh

They will make a significant loss on some items, but the bids cost you over £1 each pretty much

So if an iPod nano RRP £99 say goes up, and 100 people bid on it, they have made money (so the price is above £1.01 on the item as it increases a penny each time), now add to that that you have fairly high postage on top it seems like if you are an opportunist and time it right you COULD get them cheap, but it's the timer resetting that got me, for the mini they had, went for £6.83, so they potentially lost £6k or so, but then you look at the cash deals, they made over £150 selling £50

£250 cash, £24 so they made £2400 in bids on £250

It's not a scam as such as you probably get your items (no guarantee as I have never used them) but it's very lucrative, just like those cash call shows late at night where you pay £1.50 or so just to stand a chance of getting through, even then no guarantee that you get through but you still pay, even if you dont win the item you still pay each time you bid on this.

[spottedhyena]

So you've now changed it from auction to lottery, don't recall any age verification...Oops.

Very clever idea. Average of £1 for a 1p bid (so they make money). Obviously the timer resets after every bid, which they also tell you clearly, so far nobody gets misled. It tells you that when the timer reaches zero (like on eBay) the highest bidder wins. This is where they start lying.

When the timer does reach zero it goes into "checking results" mode (which they explain as letting autobids and mobile bids placed in time process) . HOWEVER it stays in this checking mode for sometimes 15 seconds and the Bid button is still there ready to press for anyone. Which means 10 seconds after you've won the item, I can still place my bid, keeping the auction going on and on, leading to a whole new cycle of bidding and loads more cash for them. So to be safe you need to wait 20 seconds after the zero before you can celebrate.

That dear friends is why I call it a scam. If it reached 0 and new bidding gets stopped, it will become a "legitimate" gamble again. For now STAY FAR AWAY, you're just going to waste time and money....

[acorn94]

I have been watching MADBID for a week or so now, and it seems to be the same bidders names coming up every time i go to the site.
They are usually bidding on multiple auctions and are frequently the highest bidders but rarely actually win the auctions.
There is the possibility they have endles amounts of money to keep bidding or there is also the possibilty that they are paid to bid and inflate the prices.
I personally can't see the point in bidding on these auctions when there is still minutes to go like these bidders do, as it's only the last few seconds that rearly matter...scam, you betcha!

Update: been watching again and there is definately something going on, who in their right mind bids on an auction that has to run down to zero, even then has time added on to it, when there is a minute plus left on the clock.
Either stupid people with more money then sense or planted bidders, i know where i'de put my money!

As for the poster below, you only get 3 free bids and you can only claim the daily free bids if you buy at least the minimum package of bids and then for only 30 days.....................?

[Jennica28]

I'd joined up (before checking it out) and each day that I log on, I claim my free daily bid. Today I used my free bid on a Nescafe Dolce Gusto coffee machine, not expecting to win & I did!! Also meant to say that I haven't bought any bids yet as I've just been using the ones I got when I joined & the free daily bids too.

So I got myself a coffee machine that's worth £73 - £88 (depending on model) for a total of £12.88 inc delivery & tax.

I think I definitely got a bargain & I now just have to wait for it to arrive! Will let you know when it arrives!

Probably is a scam site if you pay to bid!

[cambridge_blue]

You are going to see a lot more of this type of site.
For a good example see also 'swoopo'.
As many others have correctly concluded these are NOT auction sites they are forms of LOTTERY site with bidding mechanisn attached.
They are usually misnamed and misleading and believe me they make good money from the 'punters'.
There is a pressing need for them to be regulated properly to control misleading advertising but more especially they are also excellent vehicles for scamming and 'lottery bid' inflation via shill bids ets.
Try working out under which consumer legislation these sites fall under and where you go for help LOL and if they are based overseas.... no chance.
As usual the politicians are so far behind the curve it isn't true (well it is actually..) when dealing with 'innovation' like this.

[looney]

seems like these old market scammers have gone up a level, not too disimilar to those theives who use to run lottery auction type shops were punters used to bid for tvs, gameboys, and when they won they used to be given fake perfumes lol

[Merlin4458]

alot of first time posters on this thread...

[Rob_B]

alot of first time posters on this thread...

Why sir, are you suggesting the site owners are trying to improve their image? How very dare you