I haven’t blogged in almost a year, but just may have found what I think to be the best business model I didn’t think of that will make a ton of money and piss people off and then go away like a lot of internet businesses do. The owners are mysterious, their WHOIS of course registered through Domains by Proxy, the “keep the ownership of your domain secret” folks. A couple of job postings indicate the desire to hire web developers in Los Angeles.
BidFire.com. As unethical as it gets. And from what I gather, not even an original business model.
You buy the ability to bid, not the commitment to pay that much. It would be like raising your card at an auction…and the card-raising cost you money. The best part…each time someone clicks “bid”, the cost of the item increase by a set amount, so you can’t remove bidders by paying more and removing the not so serious bidders. Here’s an auction I’ve spent 15 minutes watching. $500 Amazon gift card. The auction bids start at a nickel. In the auction I’m watching, it’s a $500 Amazon gift card. In painful 5 cent increments, people keep paying between $0.87 (if you buy bids in bulk) to $1 (if you buy a low # of bids) to raise the bid just $0.05, and each time someone spends their hard-earned money on a bid, the bid clock resets to 45 seconds. In this case, the item only needs to sell for $25 for BidFire.com to break even ($25/0.05). If it sells for $499.95, less than cost to the winning bidder, BidFire will have taken home almost $10,000, and the winner may have had to sit through up to more than 5 days of watching the item (9999 bids at 45 secs. each).
In googling for “Bidfire scam” I found a Swoopo.com review, which offers what could be the same deal, it sounds like it, only bids are far below that all important $1 barrier at $0.75. It’s been around since 2005, even featured in the NYTimes (criticized), according to Wikipedia.
They even use Sociallybuzz.com to generate tweets, which pays people to tweet about companies. Clients of sociallybuzz.com are here…not really brands that have any value.
Scams. Unless you heard about these sites in advance of their launch, with the limited number of products for sale, you are very likely competing for many others looking for a steal. Game theory comes into play when the bidders are reduced to just a few (”I’d rather the other bidders compete and then I’ll jump in at the last minute and swoop up the item without paying a lot for it”), but that requires time and patience that will likely result in more users just getting fed up.
Both of these services require very little user loyalty, and actually feed off of the anonymity (and potential user base) of the internet. Please avoid both. Thank you.
3/25/10 UPDATE: I’ve stopped comments on this entry due to the large number of cross-posted ultra-positives, which obviously speaks to its shady nature. Enjoy losing your money folks…
19 responses so far ↓
1 ZWeber // Feb 17, 2010 at 1:18 pm
I was told about this site by my brother. We both put in $50 for bids and both walked away with worth more. I got an Ipod Nano for a $1.50 plus my initial bid costs…Total $51.50 for a $180 Nano. You can’t beat that!
2 Kal // Feb 17, 2010 at 1:31 pm
I love bid fire. I have won 2 macbooks and a playstation for less then $500.00. It got sent to me right a way. Go Bidfire.com
3 zipyourlipps // Feb 17, 2010 at 2:03 pm
I have won 5 times in 7 weeks this site is GREAT! I will repeat GREAT A wii $5.90, Target card $50.00 twice $2.35 & $4.45 also bluray Up for $.75 and just today a Ps3 game $4.45 NO SCAM HERE all of it came with in 7 days domain isnt secret it comes when you win on your prize dont let the WANNABE make you not get a great deal!!!
4 Ray // Feb 17, 2010 at 2:30 pm
I disagree - Bidfire has an interesting business model, much like all the other penny auction sites. I like that they don’t have “bid butlers” and only have a small handful of auctions going at once. The best thing is that most of the pros stay away, because it’s not profitable for them (win limits, no bid butler).
Since they operate much like the others, I don’t see them as a scam or con game. I have won twice, and lost about four times. I’m ahead of the game by about $300. It’s all in how you play - if you think you’re going to use one or two bids, then win something for 10 cents, you’re mistaken (although it does happen). You have to educate yourself first. I have used swoopo also, and don’t like it at all - far too competetive.
5 cheesedork // Feb 17, 2010 at 3:22 pm
I love bidfire, I’ve been a user since summer of ‘09 and have won so many great auctions. Of course it’s a gamble, I know that because I’m putting in money not sure I’ll get anything out of it, but I have. And not sure if that’s luck or just sheer determination. You can find my username under closed auctions. I should honestly take a picture of all the stuff I’ve won :]
6 Penny Auction Watch // Feb 17, 2010 at 3:39 pm
It’s true, penny auction sites all seem like scams at first glance, and some actually are. Some penny auctions have shill bidders and autobidders to drive prices & increase profit, some do this and never even ship out products to customers. This is an increasing problem.
However, there are penny auction sites out there today, yes you can disagree with the concept and call it a scam outright/gamble, etc. if you wish, there are many critics and they too aren’t going away soon. However, you should also realize that there are bidders that like to use penny auctions to obtain fairly good deals on popular electronics and the like, and once they understand the underling concept and how it works, observe the auctions, know their opponents, some are able to form a good strategy and become quite successful in the process on the few penny auction sites that are “legit,” by legit I mean the sites that do not have auto bot bidders, are not shill bidding, are loyal to their customers give users a bid-to-buy option for instance, etc. I have personally heard from a few individuals who are penny auction aficionados and who have received items from Bidfire.com. If you have had a poor experience with them or any penny auction site, please feel free to contact us or post about it in our blog/forum for penny auction information. Thanks!
7 HaramiBidder // Feb 17, 2010 at 3:40 pm
I can’t believe all the negative reviews surfacing on this site. First of all, I would like to say that I started bidding on Bidfire in January. My username is HaramiBidder. It was a Saturday and I was new to the site. I lost all of my bids but the next day, I tried again without giving up. At first, I was a little skeptical about the site but when I changed my strategy the next day and won $500 amazon gift card, I was so happy! The reason why you are all losing is because you are recklessly bidding. You need a technique in order to win. I saw that there were the same winners each time and I actually took the time and checked how they were bidding. Slowly, I learned and started winning more items. I admire those people because they are experts when it comes to bidding. The only time I am able to win is when they aren’t there. Before, it was very easy for me to win because there were less people and now there are many which means you have to be really patient and bid in a smart matter to win. I always see bidders bidding when not needed to and that is really why they don’t win so if you are one of those people, then you need to change your strategy. I did not give up and started complaining on various sites that Bidfire is a fraud because they are real. You can check out Facebook and Twitter to see the winners. So if you like complaining instead of achieving, stay away from Bidfire and stop spreading false rumors so it can be easy for me to continue winning. As for the seconds on the clock, you can see other auctions having the same issue. Sometimes people hold the bid button so the time changes. My goal is to win the Ipod Touch and MacBook Pro but there are numerous amounts of people bidding making it quite difficult. Bidfire is legit and have excellent customer service.
8 Eric // Feb 17, 2010 at 3:48 pm
I have been using bidfire for a while now and I have to says this is a legitimate site. I have won an IPod touch for $8.30, an 8GB memory card, a $50 Target gift card and an all in one printer. I will use this site in the future for buying Christmas gifts for my family members. I have received all items in a timely manner and in its original packaging. Love the site and will continue to use for a long time.
9 jdperformkance // Feb 17, 2010 at 3:56 pm
I skeptical about the site as many are but I figured why not try it, I won on it and received my winnings today. For the people who say that they see the same bidders on it spending more than its worth, think of all the people that sit in casinos dumping money into gambling, once they get started and have the investment into they want to win their money back and not give up, exactly what’s happening on Bidfire. The people not only have the comfort of being home but can just keep going back to their credit card to reload. The site is real just be sensible when bidding, and when you do win you will see.
10 tanaka42 // Feb 17, 2010 at 4:27 pm
i’ve used this site a lot. won some good stuff….not a scam in my eyes
11 sam // Feb 17, 2010 at 5:18 pm
The site is not a SCAM. Just because some of you didnt win anything doesnt mean u were scammed. It’s just that you lost with someone else who was willing to spend more money on the item. If you dunt have the desire to win dunt gamble on this site. I have lot of items from this site and got them new and ass described. This site is perfecctly legal
12 fernando // Feb 17, 2010 at 5:30 pm
I have a wonderful experience in bidfire.com I got one camera (olympus) for 4,50 plus a netbook for very little money!!!1 Great site
13 jci34 // Feb 17, 2010 at 5:32 pm
I watched this site for a while trying to figure out if it was for real. When I decided that it may be just a chance but worth a few bucks for a try. Timing, watching and a little luck of when to jump in (like any auction) plays a part but on the first auction that I bid on it took 4 bids to win a $500 Kindle DX for $28.15… and the 4 bids of course. Then I still had a question of whether I would actually receive the Kindle but sure enough it arrived in less than two weeks.
14 fernando // Feb 17, 2010 at 5:35 pm
Great site !!! never has a problem and always got things on time!!!
15 Miranda Watson // Feb 17, 2010 at 5:45 pm
I read all the negative comments but still decided to try this website out. I decided to bid on a Kindle DX. I actually WON this item for $41 after 100 bids (look in the closed history on their site, my username is watsonm), so I actually paid $141 for this Kindle DX, which retails at Amazon.com for $489. This is a VALID site, I’ve seen many people win, and I was able to get a smokin’ deal on a DX which I badly wanted. Yeah, it’s a gamble, so to speak, but aren’t all auctions? I love it, and for the sake of MY future bidding, I hope the rest of YOU stay away, so I have a better chance of winning more amazing stuff in the future. I love the site. I just wish I was the one who thought of it ’cause they’re raking in some amazing dough, and us consumers are getting awesome deals because of it.
16 tpboy45 // Feb 17, 2010 at 6:31 pm
Bidfire does take home hundred and thousands of dollars for each item they put on auction, but that’s their profit, it their auction business. it’s the same thing you are going to Las Vegas, you buy chips, you gamble and you win or lose, are you going to say the whole Las Vegas is a scam?
I won couple times on Bidfire, it’s a great experience and I had fun. All my winning are shipped in time, I’m happy
17 ddavis13 // Mar 3, 2010 at 1:10 am
I discovered this website before Christmas on a link from eBay. I decided to purchase bids (for $25 I got 27 bids). I decided to play around on the site - I figured the worst that could happen was I’d lose $25. To my delight I won a Kindle DX for $42.15 (+ $9.99 shipping). At the time, I had only used 2 of the bids I had bought. I had them send me the shipping info. I saw that they received my Bidfire payment, then someone from their company went to amazon.com and bought a Kindle DX, which they paid for with an American Express credit card. They then listed my shipping address as the “Ship To” address. They also sent the tracking information. I received the Kindle DX about 10 days later directly from amazon.com, in its original packaging. The following week, I won another Kindle DX for $1.55, which I gave to a friend for Christmas. Since that time, I have won 50 bid packages on two separate occasions (for approximately $8.00 and $6.00, respectively). They also gave me 25 bids for submitting a video of myself with my product. If you become a fan of them on facebook, they play games where you can win free bids for guessing the price an item will sell for. I won 25 bids that way, as well. Plus, if you follow them on twitter, they give you 3 free bids! This site is great. Yes, there is some risk involved; you could use all your bids and never win anything. But I figure I’m around $1000 ahead thus far. Also, they have rules in place to make it more fair for everyone - you can’t use autobidders and you can only win 3 auctions per week (people do report if you go over). It is definitely not a scam. My user name is ddavis13 if you want to check to see if I’m legit.
Thanks, Bidfire,
Deb
18 dontbother // Mar 21, 2010 at 3:03 pm
Bidfire is a COMPLETE SCAM. Won an aution for a high priced laptop for very little money - then Bidfire claimed there was a technical issue, which made the auction void. They refused to send the laptop. SCAM. Do yourself a favor, don’t use this site. It’s a complete rip off.
19 dontbother // Mar 21, 2010 at 3:04 pm
they also reward users with FREE BIDS if they blog about them and say “nice things” about the site.