I'm looking for some opinions on madbid.com. Anyone tried it out? Is it legit? If it is, it seems like it's too good to be real. Thoughts?

Steer clear of madbid.com if you value your money and do not want to lose it. Some people think that when you bid, you go up against a very sophisticated computer system that is programmed to win most of the bids and that there are actually very few real winners.

I’ve watched some of the penny auctions on madbid, and let us say you were to win. You have to factor in the price of the bid for the product, let’s say it was 5. On top of that, you have to pay postage, which might be 2. Add to that price, the money you paid to buy the bids. If you were bidding on a shirt which was originally RRP 4, you have still paid way more than it is worth.

I bid on an iphone a year back on madbid and got it for under 2. I am not a member of the site anymore, but you did have to pay a fee to join at that point.

Definitely a waste of time. Avoid it.

They make money from people because even if you don’t win you’ve just paid for bids. Unlike Ebay-type auctions where you do not pay if you do not win. There’s little risk. With a site like madbid, they make money off you every time. I would not support a site like that. It is gambling, and the thought of something for nothing, or very little, attracts all kinds hoping to win it big.

I tried it a few times when I first came across the site. Whenever I bid, though, the timer would say the auction ends in 30 seconds, but then at the very last minute someone comes in and outbids me. I think these bidders are fake.

It is an autobidder. The company uses them to place the last bids, so they keep the item and the money you (and hundreds of others) just spent on bids.

I don’t think sites like these should be allowed to advertise themselves as auction sites. An auction is where people know other bids, you don’t have to pay to bid, and there’s always a winner: the highest bid.

Consider, if someone continues to play and play and play; they end up losing a lot of money each time they bid. It is much like playing the lottery, because your chances of winning are very small. You could play the lottery every week over your entire lifetime and never win, but you have to keep buying tickets to play.

To me, that means madbid is not a legit auction site. It’s not an auction at all!

If you want to check them out thoroughly, use their contact info. I could not pull an email address form the site, but did get a phone number:

(0845 680 971

And here’s the registration numbers:

Co Reg No: 6609609 and VAT Reg No: 934 925792

Their physical address is:

MadBid.com
The Courtyard, High Street
Chobham
Surrey GU24 8AF
United Kingdom