It’s a sad day on TheThriftyMama.com when I have to post a retraction. Last week on Wednesday, I recommended a site to you all that I was very excited about. I had been on the site for more than a week, and felt it was definitely worth recommending to all of you. I told you all about BidRay.com and how awesome their auction site was, especially with the referral program that they have set in place.
Bidray was advertising that each new sign up would get 3 bids each. This did not happen when you all signed up. They were also offering referral bids for when we tell our friends about it, but I did not receive any referral bids for posting about it last week. I contacted BidRay, and here is the email that I received:
We’ve unfortunately had to put our referral system and amount of sign up bids down to prevent
abuse. I deeply apologize for the inconvenience that this has caused. I have just manually credited
your referral bids into your account. Please advise your friends to contact support to get their free
bids.
Have a fantastic day,
L****Ps.
Don´t forget to tell a friend about Bidray using our easy-one-click referral tools.
Both you and your friend will be awarded with free bids when they join us through your link!
–
Bidray Support
First off, I found it completely hilarious that they told me the system is down for a while, but in the email I was told to tell my friends about it so that we can get free bids. That was the first irony of the email. The second irony was that they only posted four (4) bids to my account: Three that I was supposed to have initially gotten for signing up, and one (1) for all of you. Seriously? Only One ? I’m interested to know exactly how many of you actually signed up through my link last week.
And the third irony: “We’ve unfortunately had to put our referral system and amount of sign up bids down to prevent abuse.” Abuse? So, you tell people they can get three free bids for signing up, and free bids for telling their friends, and they actually do this? THE NERVE!!
Oh, and look what is still advertised on Bidray’s site (click to enlarge):
So Bidray is telling everyone they get three bids for signing up, and referral bids for telling friends, but this doesn’t actually happen. Yes, you can email them, but you won’t necessarily get all the bids you are supposed to be getting. In the meantime, they get free traffic from me and everyone else linking to them.
I only want to recommend companies that will stick to their promises and not pull their promotions secretly. If a company has to pull a promotion for some reason, then they shouldn’t do it secretly and keep making the same promises without following through. A legitimate, honest company would stick to their promises.
I’m very sorry that I ever recommended this site to you all, and I hope I never have to write another post like this again.
This blog uses affiliate links within posts. To read more, view the terms and disclosure policy here.
{ 18 comments… read them below or add one }
I live in Kentucky so wasn’t able to set up an account with them, but I did check into the site when you posted your initial review… you should write them again and tell them that although you don’t know how many of your readers set up accounts with them you’ve received xxx number of referral credits from your posts refering other sites such as EBates, SwagBucks, Mr. Rebates, and CashBack (all sites I personally checked out and signed up for under your recommendation) and you find it entirely impossible that the percentage of your readers that signed up for their service was so vastly different than the other sites that actually appreciate referrals and follow through on their promotional promises (and verifiably get business from this practice!)
[Reply]
Thanks for the advice Lea! At this point I don’t care about any referral bids. It’s the fact that I recommended this company to you all, and they turned out to treat us all this way.
[Reply]
I signed up after reading your recommendation and Bidray didn’t give me the correct number of free bids either – just one. I was disappointed. But I don’t blame you – this is Bidray’s fault! They clearly advertised something and then didn’t come through with it (unless they are counting those two “free” text message bids as part of your three for free), and it just means I’ll be that much less likely to give them my money!
[Reply]
I signed up using your link, I thought the site was cool and showed my dh about it and he paid $40 for some bids. I then found all sorts of things online saying it was all a scam.
[Reply]
I sent you an email Shari. I can’t tell you how sorry I am about this.
[Reply]
I signed up and got one bid. I emailed them, and they gave me the other 2, so it was fine for me. I used those 3 and didn’t win anything, but I didn’t want to buy bids. So, I wonder if you didn’t get some because some people (like me) didn’t buy a bid pack. I think I remember it saying you got the referral credit when people bought bid packs. I’m sure some people bought them though.
Lauren´s last blog ..Quandary, no doubt!
[Reply]
Shari, be sure to dispute it off your credit card! That would be the best policy for a company like this!!!
[Reply]
I checked it out too, just for fun, and got the one bid… nothing gained, but nothing lost! Still lovin’ your deals Mama…
S.Carter-Tacobella´s last blog ..Shaws deal!
[Reply]
I read your post and signed up also. Then I bought a substantial number of bids. The policy states you can only win three times a week. Here is the exact text: [IMPORTANT]
As you know, a single user may not win more than 3 products/week.
If you have already won 3 items in the past 7 days, then please do not bid again until this time has
expired. If you do bid and win, you will not be awarded with the right to purchase this item. Instead all bids placed by other users will be refunded back to their accounts
However, I lost all of my bids to people who won items way more than three times in the 24 hours I was on. I too contacted customer service stating that I wanted my bids refunded since the person had won more than the allocated three times. They said:
Users may not win more than 3 auctions per week. So in any 7 day period a user must only have won 3 or less auctions. Our system will automatically prevent the members on their limit placing new bids. However, if a member has active Bid Buddies while he reaches his limit, those Bid Buddies are not automatically cancelled but the member will technically be able to win more than three items per week.
Bidray encourages its members to refrain from taking advantage of this loophole until it is fixed, and reserves the right in its absolute discretion to void any wins after the third win on a seven day period. Other members bidding on an auction against someone on his limit with an active Bid Buddy are not entitled to any compensation whatsoever and are encouraged to step down from the auction if they feel uncomfortable with bidding against a member on his limit.
This is a COMPLETE scam on multiple levels. Thank you Crystal for warning others from making the same mistake i did.
[Reply]
Crystal,
Your loyal followers (like me) know you are very ethical….and smart. It’s unfortunate that even smart, ethical people can be taken in sometimes…look at Bernie Madoff. I commend you for addressing this in such a timely manner. It makes me respect you even more.
[Reply]
I also signed up to this and got only one bid. What I want to know is, is it legitimate as in, if you win you only pay what they say, which is your amount of bids and what the auction sold for with free shipping? And do you get your item? Anyone know? Thanks.
[Reply]
Crystal,
Thanks for posting this retraction. What an honorable blogger you are! I appreciate your very clear reasoning and justification for pulling your endorsement.
Beth (drama)´s last blog ..Mommas, Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Leaders? Part II
[Reply]
I emailed Bidray customer service and requested that my account be canceled. I stated that I did not want to be associated with such a company, as I have heard a LARGE AMOUNT of negative feedback about bidray.com. Hopefully they get a LARGE AMOUNT of emails like mine!
[Reply]
I also signed up using your link. I did notice I only got one free bid and even went back again to their home page where it clearly stated you get 3. I also noticed the same person was bidding on quite a few items and won them. So I do find it interesting that they say you can only win so many times a week. They are definitely making a mint off of poor business practices.
[Reply]
I am actually at a loss for what this site is. I did not see the post so I did not sign up. BUT I wanted to comment on the information about someone bidding and winning more then I think it is 3 items a week. I wonder if it is possible that it is someone from the company bidding and winning?
I know nothing of the site or how it works, was just throwing it out there.
Seems like a scam though, good call Crystal!
I Heart Coupon Deals´s last blog ..REMINDER: Payless: 50% Off ANYTHING In The Store! TODAY ONLY!
[Reply]
O yea, that happen to me. I always have to contact them so i can gt my referrals bids…But I’m never sure if they give it all!
ALSO,
I had to contact them to give me my 3 free bids!
But i do love the website!
Free Xbox Live Codes´s last blog ..How to get Modern Warfare 2 Beta Code
[Reply]
I have been using bidray for about 4-5 months now and I cannot even tell you how many items I have won (and some I lost obviously). There is definitely risk in this type of auction but it can work with the right strategy as it has for me. To address some of the comments posted:
1. It is not a scam. I have been receiving each item, well as of a couple of weeks ago at least- I hope the rest comes soon. I cannot say for sure that they do not have their own people upping the price but I have seen no evidence of it and find it highly unlikely with the amount of auctions that end for just a few bids because noone is around to bid.
2. in regards to the free bids- they changed their policy recently. Originally three free bids were awarded when you signed up. They changed it to one bid because people were abusing the system and signing up for 50 accounts and using those 150 free bids one at a time on an item, with some other poor bidder putting in his paid for bids each time on the other side. As someone who watched this happen, it was getting out of hand and they needed to change this. Since it was changed to only one free bid, this problem has pretty much been eradicated almosy entirely. on a side note, you may not receive the free bid if an account was already set up on the same ip address to stop people from creating multiple accounts. As for referral free bids, I cannot tell you much as I have only referred a few people. One thing to note though is that you only get the 5 free bids for referring if they buy a bid pack- just signing up is not enough and they say this outright.
3. The rule about winning only 3 items a week is up for discussion now and they are asking for feedback about it. The reason there are people winning more than three is that they automate their bids before they win the third and those are not automatically cancelled once the third is won. However, I used to do this same thing until they cancelled my bids mid-auction when someone complained that I had already won three- and so I lost all my bids. There is not much to do bout this while people continue to just automate their bids- but you can only automate on items for that day that are already put up on the homepage. So the next day they should no longer be able to bid on any new auctions.
4. I have found their customer service to be more than satisfactory- they really have been excellent, well most of the time at least. I have only my experience to base it on but I am very surprised to hear how upset people are with their customer support.
I am not trying to convince people to start using the site- there is definitely risk involved but I just wanted to clear up a couple of things and let people know that it is not a scam and you will receive anything you win. It is not impossible to win- I have won many items from small inexpensive items like $50 gift cards to hogher end ones- tv’s, ipods, and computers as well
[Reply]
I just wanted to sontribute, so you don’t feel so bad. I won 4 things my first week on Bidray, that’s the current win limit. They were not huge things, (CD, DVDs), but things I wanted. Customer service has been really nice and quick to respond. I did study the site for a while before I tried and I was very careful. You just can’t go on there and start bidding without research. Winning on Bidray just takes a lot of time and patients and most people don’t have time for that. The people on there who are winning are spending a lot of time and money. I usually don’t say anything on the blogs that call this website a scam, (more stuff for me right?), but no one should be mad at you for referring them to this site.
[Reply]