Posted on

Quibids penny auction site review

Today I did my usual browsing on the gossip section of Daily Mail and I noticed somewhere on the front page an article/add about Quibids. I decided to write this article because Daily Mail has high circulations and I am quite sure that lots of people are going to click and see what is all about. And probably some are in desperate need of getting good items at low price and may get scammed. Therefore I did my and their homework.

Naturally I had absolutely no idea what the heck Quibids is, so curious as I am I started looking. First I checked their website, the one that pop up when you click on Daily Mail’s article about the guys. Boy oh boy! It’s full of promises and examples of people who were lucky and scored an iPad for less than $50, or a MacBook Pro for pretty much about the same amount.
Suddenly I got the feeling that something must be wrong; when it’s too good to be true, it’s probably a scam.
Some time ago I checked a more legit auction site here in Vancouver and I have almost considered placing a bid, except that I could not find anything interesting. However, I digress so let’s get back to Quibids. So you click on the link, you land on a page full of promises and you almost feel like ‘joining for free’.

Luckily your neurons started making the necessary synopsis and you think that maybe you should check a little bit more what is all about, before committing to anything, not to mention giving your CC number.

What I found out is that Quibids is one of the pretty safe penny auction sites. It’s completely different than eBay, therefore is you think you are a seasoned bidder on eBay and Quibids it’s going to be a walk in a park, think again.
First of all you have to buy a $60 worth bid package. For every bid you place, you have to spend $0.60… hence the qualification as a penny auction site.
The beauty starts now… and by that I don’t mean your ‘beauty’ but the website’s owner one. You place the bid, the clock resets and the bids increase by 1 penny. Basically it can go on and on until you exhausted all your bid money or you quit or somebody else is more callous than you and somehow manages to outsmart you.

People say that actually you are not losing money as you are given the option to ‘Buy Now’ at a price below the retail one. I guess it all depends on how much you want to pay for a merchandise.
Don’t forget that you still have to pay shipping and handling, which I read was much higher that what amazon (for example) charges.

Some negative comments in case you are still considering having ‘fun’ bidding:
– Manipulated auctions: after (trick) winning in the beginning, you are kicked out of easy auctions and you don’t have other choice than to bid battle on big ticket items.
– Same bidder names appear on and on, even if apparently is a restriction on the number of bids per month for certain types of items
– Defective merchandise and not all warranties are honored
– They say it’s free to join, but ask for CC from the very beginning. People claimed that they were charged $60 at the sign up, before considering placing any bids.
– There is no phone number to contact them; it’s just a ‘live chat’ you could use in case you have a complaint
– If the final bid is over the amount you have on your bid package, you lose everything because you are kicked out of the bidding for insufficient founds

Finally, do a simple math. Let’s say that you want an item worth $500. It ends up by being sold for $100. Considering that every bid increases the price by 1 penny, you have about $10,000 bids x $0.60 = $6000 for a $500 product.

Not bad for Quibids, right?


Posted on

Is Harper Government going to raid our bank accounts?

If you think that the bank account confiscation happening in Cyprus is not going to happen here in Canada, you better think twice.

Harper Government included some interesting proposals for the next ‘Economic Action Plan 2013’, presented on March 21, 2013 in the House of Commons.

This is what Minister Flaherty has declared:
“As always, our Government’s top priority is jobs, growth and long-term prosperity,” said Minister Flaherty. “Those who took part in this year’s consultations can be assured that their ideas are being carefully considered as we develop Economic Action Plan 2013 in this difficult and uncertain global economic environment.” Source: http://www.actionplan.gc.ca/en/news/harper-government-announces-date-economic-action.

In the mean time, the Economic Action Plan 2013 paints a different image
“The Government proposes to implement a “bail-in” regime for systemically important banks. This regime will be designed to ensure that, in the unlikely event that a systemically important bank depletes its capital, the bank can be recapitalized and returned to viability through the very rapid conversion of certain bank liabilities into regulatory capital”

I wonder what is the meaning of ‘bail-in’? What are the ‘certain bank liabilities’? Would they get the regulatory capital via our saving accounts?

What if one morning we wake up reading that Canada adopted the new proposed European Parliament law stating that “Deposits below 100,000 euros are protected … deposits above 100,000 euros are not protected and shall be treated as part of the capital that can be bailed in,” Hokmark told Reuters, adding that he was confident a majority of his peers in the parliament backed the idea.
The European Commission has written the draft of the law, which now awaits approval from eurozone member states and the parliament on whether and when it can be implemented. It’s been reported, the law is planned to take effect in the beginning of 2015.

Interesting times to come.


Posted on

The new Pope has been elected

After two days of voting and deliberations, the new Pope has been elected.
He is Pope Francis I, formerly the Jesuit Archbishop of Buenos Aires and Cardinal of Argentina Jorge Mario Bergoglio.

new-pope-francis.jpg

It should not have come as a big surprise considering that Latin America is probably the strongest Catholic enclave in the world.

In Canada, there was a hope that Cardinal Marc Ouelett might have a chance. However, Pope election is just another political move and based on that, it would not have made any sense to choose a Canadian Cardinal. And maybe it’s for the better for Canadian unity not to have a Pope from the secessionist Quebec.

Posted on

Headlines January 28, 2013

JonBenet Ramsey grand jury voted to indict parents in 1999, but DA refused to prosecute
According to Boulder Daily Camera, back in 1999, the grand jury (GJ) voted to indict parents of JonBenet Ramsey on charges of child abuse resulting in death in connection with the events of Christmas night 1996, which carries a potential sentence of 4 to 48 year in prison.

The District Attorney Alex Hunter refused to sign the indictment and prosecute the case, citing his belief that they could not prove the case beyond reasonable doubt.

After 13 years of silence, the truth is trying to come out. Back in 1996, people were puzzled by the level of incompetence exhibited by the Boulder Police. Or was it?
Nothing made sense and Occam’s Razor (and apparently FBI as well) would tell us that if evidence points towards an inside job, then it was an inside job.

Do you remember the 10 pages ransom ‘note’ and the money requested? $118,000, the same amount of money received by John Ramsey as a Christmas bonus. Or the forensic report stating that JonBenet has been molested more than once? The truth is that Boulder Police helped Ramseys to get away with what happened. Maybe not the whole police force, but the people with the power to bury evidence and testimonies.

Some people may cheer right now, hoping that finally the guilty ones are going to be brought up to justice. However, there is a statue of limitation to the child abuse resulting in death indictment, and that expired three years after the dead occurred. Therefore, no, it’s not going to be any justice because it’s too late.
The true story was the incest that took place for some time. The rest of it it’s just the cover up.

In the mean time….

Putin is believed to have a second child with Russian gymnast, Alina Kabaeva
Althought not officially confirmed, it looks like the ex Olympic gymnast Alina Kabaeva, gave birth to Putin’s youngest daughter, in November 2012. Rumor has it that there is a 3 year old son as well conceived by the gymnast and the Russian president.

Putin’s wife has not been seen in public since his last inaugaration and according to New York Times, the Russian leader and his wife are widely believed to live apart. Their daughters (Maria, 27 and Yekaterina ,25 )attended college under assumed names, and many of their classmates did not know their true identities. Even now, it is not known if they live in Russia or abroad, and what, if anything, they do professionally. And the horror, they don’t have a Facebook account!!

Four arrested in Brazilian night club fire
Brazilian police have arrested four people in connection with a fire at Kiss nightclub that killed 231 people in the southern city of Santa Maria on Sunday.

A co-owner of the nightclub handed himself in to police on Monday afternoon for questioning.
Earlier, police held another owner of the club, a member of the band Gurizada Fandangueira, and its security chief.
Brazil has declared three days of national mourning.

The fire apparently started when a member of Gurizada Fandangueira used some pyrotechnics that “started a huge and fast fire that grew quickly and made a very dark and heavy smoke”.

Officials are also investigating claims that many of those who died were unable to escape as only one emergency exit was available. Some people were found dead in the bathrooms, and it’s believed that due to the heavy smoke, they mistook the bathroom door to exits.One of the owner admitted that the fire safety certificate of the club expired last year.