auction channels

[jean88]

Anyone bought goods from these auction channels like bidup, ibuy etc....??

Some of the stuff looks too good value, especially from ibuy. Aren't they the same people from auctionworld reported on watchdog??

I know they use premium call lines. How do they make a profit?

[BigB]

Hi Jean88

All of the auction type channels are pretty much the same. Remember that these are businesses and need to make money (sometimes unscrupulously). If it looks too good to be true then it isnt true!

[henrymullen]

I buy all my bargains of BID UP and it is 1st class and they give you guarantees and if you are not happy with your purshase you simply send it back and you get a full refund.

Ibought all my Xmas pressies on the channel and all my friends and family are delighted that they now use the BID UP themselves and have no problems.

They make a profit because they buy in bulk

[DirtyHabit]

I bought a watch from Bid-Up TV. It did not work, but they were very good. They refunded all my money, including the return postage very quickly. It has not put me off and I would buy from them again.

[jean88]

Thank you!!

Anyone used ibuy?

[Hippy]

This is how they make a profit. Like any other TV station they take advertising. Next the products. Let's say they buy a hundred DVD players (as just seen on Price Drop) and the bidding starts at �65. As more people buy the price goes down until when all are sold the price becomes �49. Everyone who was successful pays this price. Now the same article in Comet is advertised at �49.99. So the TV channel acts like any other retailer, buying at wholesale price and selling at retail (typical mark-up on domestic electronics is 22%). So, in this example they bought the DVDs at �40.16 (or less) and made �8.84 (or more) per unit, so a gross profit of �884 (or more) for the lot in the space of about six minutes air time.

The price drops in such a way that even if some items are unsold the buyers are locked to a price that covers the cost of the purchased goods, the profit, and an amount to cover the expense in disposing of the unsold items by other means. For example, if the TV station only had 50 buyers and wished to draw the item to a close the price would likely have been �40.16 + �8.84 + �6 = �55

So, whatever happens (except if it gains just a couple of sales for an item) the TV station wins. The goods are held as an option from the manufacturers, like sale or return, but the goods stay in the warehouse. Each purchaser pays typically �8 for dispatch of the goods (as in this example). This, or a proportion of it, is paid to the wholesaler to pay for the costs of sending the stuff to the purchaser.

So, as far as the TV channel is concerned they can't lose. So long as they keep their costs down as low as possible they are laughing all the way to the bank.