Sellers haven’t been particularly happy at eBay putting adverts on their eBay listings. The design of the page is OK(ish) for private sellers but quite frankly rubbish for eBay Top Rated Sellers as it causes a load of wasted space at the top of the listing.
Tonight however Lee from spotted some adverts boasting “Cheaper than eBay” and “Auctioned for 90% off”.
The adverts are for Quibids – they call themselves an “auction website” but in actual fact they’re not much difference to a gamble. They’re one of a large number of penny auction sites where you pay to bid and the only winner is the last person to bid who will then pay for the product at a knock down price. However if you add up the cost of all the bids placed as well as the final selling price the products sell for many times the RRP and most bidders are losers and left out of pocket.
Quidbids do allow you to pay the RRP less the value of the bids you placed if you’re a losing bidder, but that means at best you’ll be paying top dollar for your purchase. For most bidders you’ll never buy a product “Cheaper than eBay”.
I don’t know why eBay are allowing these adverts on the site. It certainly doesn’t enhance the buying experience and the chances are anyone that clicks on the ads and places bids on penny auction sites will end up disillusioned and out of pocket.
5 Responses
Oh ebay why are you allowing yourself to give visitors the impression that you are a scamming site?
Do you not want to get away from this image?
It is in keeping with all the counterfeit items eBay allow with little restraint (despite constant complaints!) – remember THE LISTENING BANK? Well eBAy is the exact opposite, don’t you think?
The process for vetting adverts (or rather the lack of one) is a disgrace.
Scummy high interest loans, gambling sites and cosmetic surgery do not do the site any favours.
Come on ebay, the ad revenue isn’t worth it!
Well now, I wonder if eBay affiliates get a cut of the advertisement earnings if traffic they sent to eBay clicks on the ads.
I’m guessing not.
Maybe Amazon’s 24 hour cookie isn’t so bad after all.
Yeah well, look at what ebay is doing on Yahoo…
You type in penny auctions, and you get ebay sponsored advertising.