QuiBids.com
| Company type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | E-commerce, Online auctions |
| Founded | 2009 |
| Founder | Matt Beckham, Shaun Tilford |
| Defunct | after October 2023 |
| Headquarters | Oklahoma City , United States |
Key people | Matt Beckham (CEO), Shaun Tilford (former CTO), Jeff Geurts (CFO) |
| Products | Consumer electronics, apparel, jewelry, home and garden items |
QuiBids.com is an American-based e-commerce company located in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. It runs a bidding fee auction system, often referred to as a penny auction. The business has encountered legal disputes accusing it of operating as illegal gambling and employing deceptive marketing by equating auction prices in QuiBids cash to US dollars without sufficient clarification. Reports indicate the auction platform ceased operations sometime after early October 2023.
History
Established in 2009 by Matt Beckham and Shaun Tilford—currently serving as QuiBids’s chief executive officer and former chief technology officer respectively—the website originated from Beckham’s apartment in Oklahoma City. The brand name is a fusion of "quick" and "bids," representing its auction approach.
In June 2012, the okcBIZ publication ranked QuiBids as the third most desirable small company to work for within Oklahoma.
By November 2013, the company had rebranded itself as an entertainment-focused retail auction platform, featuring products such as consumer electronics, apparel, jewelry, and home and garden items.
Lawsuits
In 2010, Lawrence Locke initiated a class action lawsuit claiming that QuiBids breached the Oklahoma Consumer Protection Act and engaged in fraudulent practices by not revealing that the majority of participants lose money on bids for items they fail to win. Jeff Geurts, QuiBids’s chief financial officer, contested these allegations, highlighting that unsuccessful bidders have the option to purchase products at retail price minus their bidding expenditures.
Further federal legal actions have charged the company with illegal gambling and deceptive advertising, including allegations of improper use of images and fabricated endorsements. The Washington state attorney general's office determined that the bidding-fee auction model does not qualify as gambling under state legislation but continues to assess whether these penny auctions meet the criteria of a lottery.
Further reading
- "An Empirical Analysis of Quibids' Penny Auctions". Agent-Mediated Electronic Commerce. Designing Trading Strategies and Mechanisms for Electronic Markets. Springer. pp. 56–69.
- "Quibids: Can you buy electronics for a penny? (No.)". The Christian Science Monitor.
- "How To Win at QuiBids Auctions—Which Might Just Mean Stay Away". Business Insider.
- Freeland, Bridget (2 December 2010). "QuiBids Online Auction Faces Class Action". Courthouse News Service.
- "Dissatisfied customer sues Oklahoma City-based penny auction website". The Oklahoman.
- "Auction site faces class suit". The Chronicle Herald.