BidFunReviews 117

Its a complete and total scam.

1. The statement "Recently sold for $xx. Xx" is a lie. They should mention the total amount that the user who won the item paid. This will include the amount they charge for the bids. At $1.00 a bid and 0.02 increments, a user can easily pay $200/- for an item which they say sold for $20/-. Even if you don't include what the users who lost the auction paid to bid, the fact that the eventual winner paid a much larger amount for the process of winning and paying for the item means that the statement is a lie. They should put the total amount in there. ( Cost of bidding for the item by the winner + cost paying for the item and winning amount).

2. They do not provide your own bid history.

3. They do not provide the item bidding history.

4. At the last second, on some items you can see a number of automatic bids which the system automatically subtracts from (completely fleece). It is difficult to put in an auto bid at the last second, so it must be an auto bid an user placed earlier. But if you notice closely, the same auto bid would have kicked in earlier by definition of the auto bid. So it has to be done by a fake user created by the system in order to prop up the price.

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE... STAY AWAY FROM THEM!

I joined and I stayed up all night to check their dealings, and I can prove that they are 100% scam. Absolute scam run by scumbags.

You bid and bid, you NEVER win. I then check the winner's details and the final bid amount, they actually put it lower. They are the biggest scammers and I feel sick for letting these bastards part with my money. Worse of all, I contacted them for an explanation and I got no response back.

THIS IS THEIR DETAILS, PLEASE STAY AWAY FROM THEM!
Naxopresence UK Ltd
*******@bidfun.com
*******725

Well, it is clear that there are also planted bidders there, doing most of the bidding. One can see quite clearly on some auctions that one bidder constantly outbids itself. Bear in mind that
A] The planted bidders make no money for the site
B] They must make a profit on each item they sell, and thus the logic must exist for that to be the case

Now if many people were legitimately bidding, the maths above in many examples would be correct, but given that the large percentage of bids are clearly made by plants, they are not making significant amounts on each item. Presumably, once the price gets too high, if not enough bids have been taken to make the item profitable to sell at that price, then they let one of their plants win.

Take an example:
A Sony PSP Go! Console retail £250.
Obviously they want some margin, and to pay for the 'free' shipping. Let's imagine that they decide the amount they wish to make for the item is £500. As each bid is worth roughly 50p (down to 40p for discounts). That means the number of bids required to pay for the item is 1000 - raising the item price by £10. Clearly if it were just you and a plant bidding, at one bid each, this would mean a winning bid price of £20, at which point you'd have spent £500, plus the cost of the item - another £20. However, if there are more legitimate bidders, for example 2 bidders, then you could perhaps win the auction after having spent only £250 on bidding - presuming the other legitimate bidder has also spent £250. With 10 legitimate bidders, you might actually win the item having spent only £50 on bids, plus e.g. £20 final price.

So ultimately, it all depends on how many legitimate bidders are placing bids. Believe that if you are bidding against plants - it will end up costing you a lot. If you are bidding against other people, you might get it cheaper.

Ya it's a scam. When they sell a wii for say 60 us dollars they're making $4,800.00 based on a minimum of 80 cents a bid. Looking at various auctions they ALL have 1 thing in common even on the dead low demand auctions there is always at least 2 people out bidding each other. I would be shocked if there weren't partners in crime on the other side out bidding you just so you bid back thus jacking up the number of bids. Also, when they win the auction (which again i would be shocked if they didn't win every one of them) then they don't even have to forfill the auction.

Remember people: when something looks too good to be true 99% of the time it is.

To Shauna R.: What makes it a scam is the constant after 0 bids which they call server delays, the auto bidding which when 2 people are on that they both can run out of all their tokens in seconds. And the fact that they can and probably do have a program and/or partners in crime set out to jack up bids. I've seen some really suspicious activity on several auctions namely by a someone by the name of "nothing4u"--Impossible to prove without server logs and they're counting on that.

It may very well be a legal scam but it's still a scam.

I didnt fall for this scam but I am fascinated by it.

Bidfun is not a scam, as far as I can tell. They state very clearly how the bidding works, the cost of "tokens" to bid, and the fact that tokens are non-refundable. It took me less than 30 seconds to figure out how they made their profit on their items, and I think it is genius for the owners. Basically consider it a raffle. You buy a raffle ticket for a chance to win, but you are not guaranteed you will be the winner. People don't call raffles scams or frauds when they don't win. Think of casinos with slot machines. Noone guarantees you'll win on those either, but people plunk in credit after credit for the chance to win. I don't see how this is different.

I have looked around the web and mostly I see people screaming scam who have either not read the terms of using the site correctly and then lost a bid and couldn't get their bid tokens refunded, or people who never tried it who object to the way the site makes money. The one thing I have not come across is a genuine winner of a bid stating they recieved their product. I understand they (bidfun's owners) make an obscene amount of money on each item they sell thru the bids placed, and to me that actually makes it more believable that I could actually recieve a PS3 for under $60, because I understand how they make their money and see no reason for them to scam the winners, and every reason to fulfill their contract by delivering the product promised so people will continue to bid and not sue their pants off.

But caveat emptor (buyer beware). Read the site, understand how it works, and decide if you want to spent the money for the opportunity to win something at a fraction of retail when it is more likely you will lose your tokens and not win anything at all. Just like lottery or raffles, you pay to play with no guarantee of winning. I chose not to play.

Interesting website, i have been wathcing the website for a month and think it is wuite genius for them to think of. I understand the frustration of bidders who feel they are being taken. Although $1 a bid is a bit much considering the fortune they are making on the items, it is the bidder who become addicted. It is like some addicting game at a chucky cheese or dave and busters, a slot machine, etc. you start in hopes to win, but there is no real garauntee you win. Unless you happen to be the LAST bidder. Bidding at this auction is a GAMBLE but is it a gamble you are willing to risk. They may want to think about entertaining the idea of possibly changing the format mildly to accomadate consumers. (add 10 sec. Up to 1 min. And maybe. 50 bids.)

PLEASE, PLEASE DON'T BID WITH THIS SITE. Bidfun is a total ripoff. 1 bid equals approx $1 and only increases the bid amount by $. 01. Using that math, an item selling for $20 actually nets them $2000+. You do NOT get your money back if you don't win the auction. If you do win the auction, not only do you pay $1 for every bid, you also have to pay the final amount of the auction. They are on the rip-off report list. I only wish that I had checked it before I spent $200, which is non-refundable. I can hardly believe that they are legal or were able to actually set up this business, but I must believe it as I just got taken for $200. I am unemployed and that was my christmas money and I feel more stupid than I have ever felt in my 53 years right at this moment. Stay away! Register complaints on ripoff.com

Don't let the lure of cheap electronics and products draw you in. The credits you buy on the site are for the right to bid. $1 per bid. The price of the item increases by a penny each time a bid is placed. So, even if a ps3 does sell for $50, they made $5000. Since each bid extends the auction time by 20 seconds, hours can go by until you either run out of time or money. Hard to know if the competing bidders are even real. STAY AWAY.