"7/12/02
I hadn't noticed, at the time I placed my bid, that the vendor claimed this product would weigh 15 pounds to ship. This seemed odd for a 35mm camera to me. So, I waited for it to come in. When it came (UPS Ground), I found that the package only weighed 3.58 pounds. The UPS receipt that was taped to the package shows the following:
07/08/02 R1 Pkg Id 011393
FUE CHG 0.07
DAS CHG 1.50
GROUND (R) 3.58 LB 7.45
Tracking# 1z069x050314151619
I was CHARGED $24.84 for shipping. At the most, this package should have cost $9.02 to ship. This means that the HANDLING of this package was OVER $15!!!!
7/15/02
Well, after almost a week of deliberation, I got the postage knocked down to what they have posted as their (overpriced) standards.
Save yourself the headache. Go to eBay or Yahoo auctions instead."

"I don't know exactly when I TRIED purchasing from them or how long ago (more than a year) but their service is horrible. The shipping is overpriceda and their customer service stinks, all they care about is that they made one effort to contact you, they don't care for you to contact them back. I had forgotten to update the credit card on file so they contact me via email about it and I replied istantly with updated info both on the site and in the email. Well, they gave it to another bidder and blacklisted me. I'll never do business with them again. The only good thing was their low bid prices for new items.

Also, if you want contact info, I got it from the Better Business Bureau.

uBid.com
*8550 W. Bryn Mawr, #200
*Chicago
*Illinois
*60631
*United States
***-***-****
"

"hehe i won a bid for a duron 1.1 cpu, shuttle mobo, and case. well cpu and mbo come same day, ups for once just dropped off without signature. well i had to wait for the case as it wasnt from ubid. okay no prob. well case comes, put everything together for my computer, turn it on, and a capacitor burned on the motherboard. well it somewhat continued to work, win xp wouldnt install at all setup would lockup. winme was ok, i got win2k installed, left the computer on over night wake up and its locked up. now wont even startup. all my past experiance wiht ubid was ok till now. im never buying from them again"

"They charge way too much for shipping. I paid $13.96 for shipping for a ATI video card. I ordered it on April 19th, 2002. I didn't receive it till April 30th, 2002. Way too long. But here's the real irritation, they didn't bother to package it. It came in as the original retail box. If you want to look at, go to my site:

http://www.geocities.com/shoebox56/box.jpg

It's quite irritating that they charge that much in shipping and don't even put it in a real shipping box. ( I had the same issue a little while back where I ordered a $300 digital camera only to get it in it's original retail box, rapped in plastic. Unfortunately, I don't have a picture of that. That camera was DOA.) I haven't had a chance to see if this video card even works, but I did want people to see how they ship things.

I am also irritated by the way they indicate shipping charges during bidding. It's upto you to do the calculation of what the true shipping cost is. On their site it would say something like, 7.99 Shipping & Handling + .99/lb. You have sit there and calculate the shipping before making a bid. They could have easily calculated that for you.

They do have some good deals which is why I still go back. But they really need to improve on their shipping and shipping charges. I've passed by quite a bit of bids mainly because their shipping is atrocious.. I wish they would learn from Amazon which usually has better shipping."

"I've just had my last horrible experience with U-Bid. Why do I even try to deal with these guys?
1. The quality of product and shipping is usually garbage.
2. Customer service is horrible.

A year ago, I ordered an A/V receiver and the thing came shipped in a box with no styrofoam! Needless to say, the receiver was smashed to pieces. So, I call U-bid for several days to get through to them. Finally they claim they'll send a shipping ticket. It thever arrives. After over three months of screwing around with them on this issue, the claim that I can ship it to them. I was traveling at the time and didn't get the opportunity to come home and ship the thing. Then, after I got back from my trip... (5 months had now elapsed). They said that they wouldn't take the return.

These guys just screwed me over again on a recent "hyper-shipping-price" product. I guess the U-Bid shipping proces are higher since UPS much charge extra to break and run-over packages.

Don't bother buying from these guys. They are, IMOHO, the worst on the Net."

"These people are bad news. Any savings are eaten up in pumped up shipping costs. Deceptive pricing…bids “Starting at $9.00”…right…no mention of “reserve prices”. Next Day shipping means nothing when the product isn’t shipped because it’s “In Credit Processing”.

I’d used them once before, for a Sharp multifunction fax. It took 2 weeks to arrive. It doesn’t work. Didn’t even come with a starter ribbon cartridge.

Stupidly, I tried them again, this time for a 17” LCD monitor. I checked the box for Next Day shipping, and after I won the auction, uBid made it 3 Day Select. I contacted their “customer service” and got this:

Dear Margot Copeland,

Thank you for contacting uBid. We apologize for any inconvenience that
you may have experienced with Order Number B7669501.

UPS is our preferred shipper. And in this case the shipping may only be
one day in transit.

If you have any further questions, please contact us from our webform
with the following URL: http://www.ubid.com/help/topic38.asp

Sincerely,
Tyreis C.
uBid Customer Care
uBid.com

Huh? $50.00 for what is essentially ground shipping on a 14 pound item to Arizona from California? Doesn’t matter, though, as my order has been “In Credit Processing” for two days. Next Day means I order Thursday, and won’t receive it until next week (maybe).

It’s not worth the trouble. You can get the same items with real shipping from real people from a lot of other places. I’ve asked them to cancel the order, which shouldn’t be hard as it’s tied up in “credit processing” (I now read that as “shipping delay”).

Grrrrr.
"

"I was looking for a good deal on a cable modem. I found the 3Com Office Connect listed for a minimum of 59$ on a retailer at pricewatch. However, the retailer did not have a good rating so I went on over to uBid. Saw the same modem up for grabs straight from the uBid wearhouse. I won the auction for 29$ on April 19th and the order comes on April 25 (1 day later than expected... UPS screw up), and everything is working fine. Great experience.
However, the shipping rate is highly inflated and the packaging was very poor (what the hell do they do with the overpriced shipping charges)... it was just plastic surrounding the box... lucky for me the box was sturdy.. could imagine the damage caused on shipping more fragiley packed hardware.
I really don't know about the list of unhappy users, but my experience was a good one. *Might* order from again."

"I have recieved products from ubid with small problems before. Like the previous guy I won an auction for "VisionTek Xtasy 5564 GeForce2 MX400 PCI 64MB w/TV Out" I recieved a card without TV out. I emailed ubid about the problem and this was the customer service reply:
"Dear ****** Usher,

Thank you for contacting uBid. We apologize for any inconvenience that you may have experienced with Order Number B7******.

We have verified from our records that your order was advertised as
VisionTek Xtasy 5564 GeForce2 MX400 PCI 64MB Video Card and the TV Out is not included in this package.

Thank you for your patience and understanding. We value our
relationship with you."

This email really bothered me... the person didn't even take the time to look at my sales invoice that under description clearly has "w/TV out". I send a second email pointing this out to them and they reply asking for the model number and SN#'s to send to their research department. This is when I start doing a little research of my own at VisionTek's website. I found it interesting that at the bottom of the page for the Xtasy 5564 that it states "TV/S-Video Out available on AGP boards only." Which tells me I will not be getting a replacement card with TV-out and UBid has commited fraud and continues to do so with current auctions. Right now they have more of these PCI cards with TV out up for bid.

If you are going to order from ubid.. do some research and make sure the product actually exist before you bid.

UPDATE: After disputing the charges and emailing UBID about this, I recieved an email within 4 hours with an RMA number and free shipping back to them. Its amazing how quickly they jumped on this after spending a week playing games with me."

"I was looking for a pci video card with tv-out. I saw that ubid.com had a page that was about a geforce 2 (visiontek) model with tv out (pci also). So I ordered it. I recieved the package in a couple of days, which was expected. I did not expect, however, that there would be no box for it to be shipped in. Meaning it was shipped it the video cards own box. When
I received the card, I did not get a pci video card with tv-out. There is nothing that indicates anything about tv out on the box. Trying to give them the benefit of the doubt sent them an email, since there is no phone number listed, explaining the situation. I received one email saying that it was being fowarded to another department, which I was ok with. Now about a week later, I recieve an email saying:

Thank you for contacting uBid. We apologize for any inconvenience that
you may have experienced with Order Number ##########.

The item has VGA and TV out that can be used however they want to
provide signal to two displays.

I was at a lost for words, especially after I explained how I ordered the video card that was advertised with video out and did not recieve the product. And that is my unhappy story with ubid.com"

"Good deal and the item arrived on time in perfect condition. The shipping is a little bit too high though."

"I actually got good deals from Ubid…UNTIL THE LAST TIME. I have bought seven items from them and six have been good.

What I buy are items that are last years models (or older) or factory refurbished items. Everything I have got works fine. The last year’s model work just as good as this year’s model does and is a lot cheaper. No one wants the old stuff. The FACTORY refurbished models that Ubid sells, I figure, has gone through the assembly line twice and was checked carefully before it left the factory. These items work perfectly every time. My other thought on refurbished items is kind of like a car with a salvage title. Depending on who rebuilds it, the factory or an independent repair, determines whether I buy it. This is more items that the consumer stays away from.

Ubid sell a lot of refurbished and factory refurbished items.

My one problem I had with Ubid was not with the product but with their advertising and missing accessories. I bought a new digital camera from them. Ubid advertised the camera with a supplementary wide-angle lens, NiMH batteries with charger, floppy disk adapter and Smartmedia wallet along with the normal accessories. Ubid showed a picture of the camera with the kit and their description described all the additional items. I bid (and I think others did to) for the whole package. The camera arrived at Ubid's usually slow mailing pace, the camera worked but the extra accessories were not included.

My calls and emails to Ubid referring to the missing accessories got me long holds with no answers and no email replies.

Now that Ubid has sold at least a 100 of these misadvertised cameras without the extra accessories I have noticed they have changed the camera description and picture to reflex the missing items. The additional items are not advertised with the camera. I have also noticed bidders have adjusted their bids, downwards, because the extra items are not advertised.

Ubid's packing and shipping charges are a joke. A flat rate charge of seventeen dollars with additional 99 cent a pound shipping is expensive. The camera cost $19 to ship standard UPS ground. The camera came in a slightly larger box than the manufacturer’s box. The packing was two wads of paper as a cushion. Another item I bought from them had plastic wrap on the manufacturer's box with a label stuck on it. Adjust your bidding to include the overpriced shipping.

Because of their unresponsive customer service Ubid gets a below average rating from me.
"

"Another addition to the long list of unhappy shoppers at UBid aka "Ubend over now that we have your credit card number." My brother and I have made several purchases from this site. Here is the tally: defective item, item not as advertised, item did not work properly, proprietary software CD unusable, and more. I have also had good products at reasonable prices. Nonetheless, what they refer to as Ubid Customer Service does not exist for all I can tell. After fricking 45 minutes on hold I decided this must be a candid camera joke or something and never tried again. And I believe a monkey reads and replies to e-mail inquiries. My brother was able after some tug-of-war to get a replacement for a defective item. Ridiculous that a customer has to argue to get a DEFECTIVE item replaced. When I received a 21" monitor which was not what they advertised, I called to report the error. They offered a $10 discount on a $560 purchase. If they had thrown in a pack of chewing gum plus the $10 I would have gone for it. My brother convinced me to keep the monitor after all which is a good product, but not what they advertised. Continuing with wrong advertisement, I happen to own a Fuji Finepix 4900Z which is a 2.4 megapixel camera. I saw it advertised as a 4.3 megapixel just yesterday. Also, their latest gimmick: Reserve price. What a joke. On some auctions, actually on all auctions where the quantity is upwards of 40-50 or so, they set a reserve price which is a minimum price for the item. If you bid less than that, even if there are plenty of the product available, you don't win. The catch is, they still start bidding at $9 and they don't disclose the reserve price. So you have to find out by raising your bid until it says reserve price met. And the reserve price usually is set quite high. Why not start the bid at the reserve price since that's the minimum they accept rather than at $9? Why only on items with high quantity? I think you can figure it out yourselves. I am totally appalled by this company. I was disgruntled, but now I detest them. And considering that there is a number of clueless shoppers who don't know the prices and often bid higher than one would pay to buy the product from a retailer, you are not likely to get a good deal anyway, which is especially true since the introduction of reserve price aka trick 254. And if you ever have to deal with "customer service" (play along for a minute), you will curse the day you threw reason out the door and did business with Ubid. Never has the term "at your own risk" fit better."

"What follows is the transcript with UBid regarding my last order (A DOA 24" Toshiba television). Note that apparently Customer Care is not the department that handles the defective merchandise they send out.
~~~
Congratulations, Jonathan!

On 3/5/02 6:41:28 AM, you placed a winning bid for:

Lot #: 6822449
Description: Toshiba 24AF41 24"Color FST Pure Flat Television
Quantity: 1 of 1
Price: $239 each
Shipping, Handling and Processing: $91.19
Thanks again for your order. Remember, when you shop at uBid you can
save up to 70% off retail!
~~~
Thank you for your order at uBid. Please be advised that your order,
number B7261723, shipped recently.
~~~
After receiving the package in a box with literally a 5 inch hole torn in the side and scratches on the front panel of the TV, I then emailed UBid asking to return the merchandise. That night I then turned the TV on just to see what would happen.
~~~
Since forwarding my inital email this morning, given case
number 1302891, I decided tonight to at least turn on my Toshiba 24AF41
television and see if the only defect was the series of scratches on
the
front of the casing. IN ADDITION to this, the screen displays all
picture in greenish or purplish hues all down the left and right sides.
I am appalled that a TV that doesn't even display a proper picture
could
ever make it past the testing that I assume is done when qualifying a
"refurbished" product.

I have dealt with UBid on numerous occasions in the past, from its
first
inception several years ago, and I must say this is the first time I
have just been totally aghast. My friends have been telling me that I
should stop shopping with you because of poor customer service and
various errors with the products, however I would like to think that
you
are a credible outfit.

Please return my message ASAP so that I know I did not just have $300
stolen from me and do not have to resort to anything extreme to get
either my money back or a functioning television with as little hassle
as possible.
~~~
Thank you for contacting uBid. We apologize for any inconvenience that
you may have experienced with Order Number B7261723.

We are sorry to hear that you have to return your product. Since uBid
is an auction site and merchandise is only available in limited
quantities, we do not stock replacement products. Therefore, we will
take your item back as a return and credit you the authorized amount.
Listed below is the information along with the necessary procedures to
return your order.
~~~
I do not see how you can say that UBid does not stock replacement
products when your nature is dealing in bulk and I can plainly see that
you have at least 6 more Toshiba 24AF41s up for auction, and probably
hundreds more in your warehouse (Hopefully some that are NOT
defective).
I must say it seems you have altered your return policy to deviate from
the standup company I once thought you were when I needed to replace my
defective monitor a few years back.

In addition, I distinctly recall being refunded my original shipping
charge last time. Did this policy now change as well in order to make
it decisively harder on your customers? Please note that I paid $330
for a working TV to be shipped to me, NOT to be shipped an 80 pound
paperweight and NOT for a week of frustration in dealing with your
customer service. You may consider $330 to be the going rate for 7
days
of stress, but I unfortunately do not. I have been, and am still,
fully
prepared to dispute any charges made with regard to this transaction
(Both for the item and the shipping) with my credit card company if
needs be, as I quite obviously did not receive the merchandise that I
was charged for and in a purchase agreement it is the seller's
responsibility to ensure that what he/she is selling is functional.

I dearly hope that this situation is rectified as it may salvage some
of
my remaining faith in your company, but as it stands I feel that I may
never again feel safe shopping with you and cannot conciously recommend
your site to any of my customers anymore.
~~~
Thank you for contacting uBid. We apologize for any inconvenience that
you may have experienced with Order Number B7261723.

We are always grateful for customer feedback and do take it seriously.
Your concerns have been forwarded to the appropriate department.

It is comments from customers such as you that help ensure that we
continually
improve in order to meet and exceed customer expectations."

"high shipping costs, long delays until shipped, virtually no support or answer to my emails"