While easy to admire the business model and psychological tools being employed, it has a poor reputation among those giving feedback on the site. Honestly, it seems likely that they could have hired persons to boost bids (which is certainly unethical and usually illegal).
Check out this evaluation site. (I run an app in my browser that checks sites against these ratings to warn me of scams, etc.) http://www.mywot.com/en/scorecard/quibids.com Paul C. Bernhardt Department of Psychology Frostburg State University Frostburg, Maryland -----Original Message----- From: Rick Froman [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Sat 1/7/2012 12:46 PM To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS) Subject: RE: [tips] Social Psych example I saw it as an amazing refinement on the simple dollar auction (bidding for a dollar) where both the winner and the second place bidder have to pay. In this case, all of the bidders have to pay and they pay before the bidding has begun so they don't have to be bothered with the feeling that they are spending money during the auction. They are just consuming something (bids) they have already bought. Bids are limited to increments of one cent so it increases the number of bids. This also makes it impossible for a winner not to end up paying what they bid. The site even provides helpful information on starting small with bids that are more likely to win therefore providing customers with initial successes (reinforcement) that might tend to immunize them from the later experiences of not winning (partial reinforcement extinction effect instead of consistent punishment). And, although dollar auctions can provide some return on an investment over a dollar, it would be dwarfed, as Ken Steele shows, by the profit margin on quibids.com. If you are fortunate enough to win a bid, you may get it for less than it would cost at retail but the site makes (from all bidders) much more than they could get from retail. In this sense, it makes it seem similar to gambling where someone (and certainly "the house") in this case makes (or saves) a lot of money while many spend a lot of money for no tangible benefit. It certainly fits with the "I'm hooked" comment by one excited and satisfied user. Rick Dr. Rick Froman, Chair Division of Humanities and Social Sciences John Brown University Siloam Springs, AR 72761 [email protected] ________________________________________ From: Michael Britt [[email protected]] Sent: Saturday, January 07, 2012 5:31 AM To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS) Subject: Re: [tips] Social Psych example Rick, I discovered quibids a while back and it is an interesting site. I haven't participated in it, but I noticed they now have commercials on TV so it must be gaining in popularity. The connections to psych I saw with it were in the area of Cialdini's influence principle of scarcity - if buyers doesn't act quickly enough they'll "lose out on an incredible price" kind of thing. There's also an excitement about the site. Things are moving really quickly. Not sure where that aspect of it fits into psychology. What principles of social psych did you see in it? Michael A. Britt, Ph.D. [email protected] http://www.ThePsychFiles.com Twitter: mbritt On Dec 31, 2011, at 10:56 AM, Rick Froman wrote: > I just found this website (quibids - I didn't provide a clickable link in > case it would be blocked as spam - just add .com to the end of the name) and > thought it would make a great example for anyone teaching Social Psychology. > I don't suggest actually participating in it. I do think it is quite > interesting in the number of Social Psychological principles applied in its > operation. Its almost like someone created it as a term project in Social > Psychology. I think it is funny that one of the comments on the site included > the term, "I'm hooked!" in a positive way. > > Rick > > Dr. Rick Froman, Chair > Division of Humanities and Social Sciences > John Brown University > Siloam Springs, AR 72761 > [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> > > --- > You are currently subscribed to tips as: [email protected]. > To unsubscribe click here: > http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13405.0125141592fa9ededc665c55d9958f69&n=T&l=tips&o=15066 > or send a blank email to > leave-15066-13405.0125141592fa9ededc665c55d9958...@fsulist.frostburg.edu --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [email protected]. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13039.37a56d458b5e856d05bcfb3322db5f8a&n=T&l=tips&o=15150 or send a blank email to leave-15150-13039.37a56d458b5e856d05bcfb3322db5...@fsulist.frostburg.edu --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [email protected]. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13441.4e79e96ebb5671bdb50111f18f263003&n=T&l=tips&o=15156 or send a blank email to leave-15156-13441.4e79e96ebb5671bdb50111f18f263...@fsulist.frostburg.edu --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [email protected]. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df5d5&n=T&l=tips&o=15157 or send a blank email to leave-15157-13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df...@fsulist.frostburg.edu
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