K W.
They use small print to cover themselves
I followed a link from an online newspaper out of curiosity (click bait) and it linked to an advertorial disguised as an independent review. I was convinced that this was an eBay type site which sold excess warehouse stock. The sign up screen doesn't let you see how the site actually works and gets you to commit to a £49.99 or £99.99 payment first. Once you are in, you discover that bidding times are fixed e.g. 7pm and only a few items are on offer. Typically a vacuum cleaner. You also discover that your money has just bought 'bidding tokens' and is no longer available as cash. The only thing you can bid for on the fly are more 'bidding tokens'. This is where you may first realise the nature of the beast. If you bid for the extra tokens alongside someone else, you will note that your own token balance goes down quite quickly. If you win, you cannot pay for these extra tokens with your own tokens but must give more real cash from your credit card. If you bid on a real item like the occasional iPhone on offer, your bidding tokens will dissappear very quickly as everyone thinks they are getting a bargain even as they push up the bidding price by 5p or so each time. Eventually the winning bidder may get the phone for a small discount but will have used up all their tokens. It's like putting money in a slot machine. Except that the casino has already taken your money before you started playing. The company contacts unsuccessful bidders and offers them another phone 'at a discount' which combined with what they spent on the slot machine is much more than what they would have paid for it on Amazon or eBay. The Site is a scam not because of their business model - which is essentially an unregulated casino - but because of the way they market it. A great deal of dishonesty is involved..covered of course by their small print. At the very bottom of the 'independent review' link are the words 'This is an advertorial' in small letters. Yes, as some one else remarked...very bad people. I was able to reverse my payment because I had used Paypal. Well done Paypal for protecting me.
Response from Madbid.comJan 8, 2016
No small print, the following is explain at point of purchase: How can I use my credits? After having bought credits, you may spend them during auctions. Every time you bid on an auction, a certain number of credits (specified on the auction page) is deducted from your balance, and the auction timer is reset. If the timer reaches 0 without anybody outbidding you, you can buy the item at the closing price, plus any delivery charges that may apply. If you don’t win an auction on which you have bid, you will receive an ‘Earned Discount’ corresponding to the monetary value of the credits spent in that auction after it closes. This discount applies to any item available for ‘Buy Now’ purchase. Please note that we refund the value of unspent credit packages only. If you have any question or remark, you can contact our customer service by submitting a new enquiry at https://uk.support.madbid.com/support/home or by calling this number: 0800 808 5180