Marketing Genius

Over the weekend woke up with a typical full bladder.

Tough to try to go back to sleep without taking care of it!

So what happens,

I get on the iPhone and search around craigslist.

What do I find,

but a too good to be true pair of speakers.

It looked legit enough to reply.

I've done the same (at) trick in ads,

as a way to limit hackers and spam.

An hour later I realize it was too good to be true.

The guy sends a link to this penny auction site.

www.quibids.com

Saying how great it is.

Another too good to be true site.

I watched some of the listings,

and was amazed how cheap this junk went for.

I had to investigate what the catch was.

Here it is.

Each bid is either a penny or a nickel,

but each bid costs $0.60.

These are prepurchased bid packages when becoming a member.

The other trick is the bids are never ending,

each bid launches another 20 seconds of life,

until the bidding war stops,

usually when the bidder runs out of the prepurchased bid ammo.

Here is the marketing genius.

See that tool set on the top right?

Ok the seller, 

quibids,

which is basically a mail order store,

Has made at the time 547 x $0.60,

Which adds up to $328!

Way more then the actual value.

Basically someone gets a deal but someone else pays for it.

Here's the fishy thing.

If you look on the left auction,

A guy pfscorpio is bidding on a cheesy record player,

Then on the right he's bidding on a cheesy tool set.

He could be real but also could be a shill bidder,

driving up the price.

Wish I had thought of this!

TP