While recovering from our stock trading reviews, we thought it’d be fun to check out some online auctions to unwind. Today, these sites are huge operations selling everything under the sun, with many brand new products and not just useless throw-away items. Star Reviews needed to see what other online auctions were out there besides eBay, so we pulled up Bidz in our Google search. The intro page didn’t spark our interest and left us a bit skeptical, but keep reading to hear about our experience.
What’s New?
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Autobid - Set maximum bid amount & it takes care of the rest.
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Close Now auctions - Buyers can avoid an auction and buy the item at a set price.
Star Reviews Favorite Feature
Bidz is one of the few auction sites affiliated with BillMeLater, a program where you can essentially charge your purchases on an account specifically design for online shopping. You have no set credit limit, but your purchases can incur interest, so this is great for a frequent, yet frugal shopper.
Bidz Features:
- Auctions starting at only $1
- Works with certified merchants, not private sellers
- 15-day money back guarantee on all products sold through the auctions
- MyBidz Control Center
- Extensive jewelry auctions
Navigating the Bidz website:
We weren’t too fond of our immediate entry into the Bidz website, as the graphics were lacking in quality and we felt there were too many images. Unlike most online auctions, you won’t find a Search feature on the main page of Bidz’s web site. In fact, a link to the Search feature in the Help section of the site is not functional. Instead, you have to browse through the categories, which include gemstones, such as garnets, or jewelry type, such as bracelets. In order to find auctions other than jewelry and watches, you have to click on ‘All Auctions’ under Features.
When you select a category, you’ll see pictures of the item arranged on your screen with bid closing countdowns and bid changes in real-time. Only about 16 items are shown per page, with results arranged in terms of closing times. You can’t change the organization of the results, but you can switch to “Old Fashion” listing instead of the “Showcase” mode. We didn’t like how the image enlarged and took over our screen whenever we rolled over it, as it got a bit annoying.
Buying on Bidz:
If you like an item you run into, click on its image to learn more about its features. You’ll also find out information on who has the highest bid and how much their last bid was. If you want to bid, hit the large red “Bid” button, sign in, and enter your amount. Regardless of whether you win the auction or are outbid, you’ll receive email notification for all auction activity. The process is pretty straightforward, but make sure you’re a registered user before trying to join an auction to save you time.
Selling on Bidz:
Bidz is a little different from other online auctions, in that their products solely come from their own warehouses and through Certified Merchants. Typically, Bidz sells jewelry or gift items and the rest of their auction items come from outside businesses that want to take part in the Bidz auction platform.
Selection:
Bidz tags itself as the largest online jewelry auction, but they do include other items such as televisions, books and even beef jerky. Yes, beef jerky. Many of these items are in limited supply, so don’t expect the world here. Clicking on the “diamond jewelry” category at Bidz resulted in around 200 different auctions, while searching for the same criteria at EBay resulted in more than 40,000. That’s a significant difference in selection, but it can be expected just by looking at the site. They are pretty basic without a whole lot of bells and whistles.
Buyer Protection:
Like uBid, Bidz sees the importance of protecting buyers from fraudulent sellers. As a result, they have a Certified Merchants program, in which all of their sellers have to take part in. Only businesses who have been in existence for more than a year can apply, and must adhere to Bidz’s policies, such as accepting returns. Some of their items also come with warranties. Most of the items auctioned on Bidz come directly from their warehouses and not from Certified Merchants, however. This rules out a lot of shady activity that can occur on online auctions, so rest assured that you will get the product you bid on.
Pricing:
Buyers can register, bid, and purchase items through Bidz for free.
Sellers, on the other hand, must pay a $49 upfront fee to cover the costs of being evaluated through the Certified Merchants program. If approved, the seller won’t be charged any listing fees or commissions on anything sold through the site for the first year. While that sounds like a good deal, the small print allows Bidz to determine how much those fees will be after year one is up. Keep in mind that the Certified Merchants program is only for businesses that have been around for one year or longer.
Customer Support:
We weren’t thrilled with the Bidz customer support experience. There is a very scantily clad FAQ’s page, which left us wondering about some basic questions we had. The FAQ’s are a bit cluttered under the “Help” menu and we looped through several pages to get some answers. Talk about a process to get information! A telephone number is also available, but can only be used for making payments for auction purchases.
To use the live chat feature, we had to register with the site and almost immediately began receiving solicitations from them in our inbox. That’s disappointing since both the live chat and email representative did not answer our question in full. Instead, they sent us a link back to the web site to find the answer, which we knew wouldn’t happen. We did receive our email response within 24 hours, however, if that means anything.
Upside:
Certified Merchants program to protect buyers. Good variety of jewelry auctions.
Downside:
No “Search” feature. Limited selection. No clear listing and commission fees for sellers. Very disappointing customer service all around.
Summary:
We were really disappointed with the Bidz experience, all in all. Not only were they lacking a professional and succinct site feel, their selection wasn’t the greatest. There were tons of jewelry auctions going on, but in their other auction categories, there were definite holes in inventory. We liked that they incorporate flash in their live auctions, as this makes for an exciting experience. But, the pages loaded very slowly because of this and we didn’t like how rollover images produced gigantic close-up images, as it was a bit distracting if we slid our mouse over the picture by accident. We liked the Certified Merchants program and the fact that many of the auction inventory come directly from the Bidz warehouse, as this adds a safety net in essence. Customer support was a joke here, and finding any information at all was a challenge. We don’t really recommend this online auction if you’re looking for an effortless experience.