What Is Going on with Bidz.com?

Senior Editor Brecken Branstrator takes a look at the jewelry auction website’s growing number of negative consumer reviews.

Brecken Branstrator brecken.branstrator@nationaljeweler.com

Bidz.com, the website that sells jewelry and other accessories to the public via live auctions, has received an F rating from the Better Business Bureau for not responding to multiple customer complaints against it. It still appears to be holding regular jewelry auctions, as this screenshot of the website shows.

A few weeks ago, a consumer reached out to me via email. She was having some trouble with Bidz.com; she had won an auction item on the website but never received her merchandise or a response from the company.

While doing some online research, she came upon the story I wrote in February 2015 about the site’s relaunch, and she asked if there was any way I could help her or if I knew anything about the company.

I hadn’t been in touch with anyone at Bidz for a while or heard anything about it since that story, but I told her I’d look into it. After some quick digging led me to the realization that she was one of many customers claiming a very similar issue regarding the company, I thought it might be worth a deeper dive.

First, let me start by sharing a bit of Bidz.com history for those who are unfamiliar or in need of a refresher.

In June 2014, a group of six suppliers and manufacturers who were owed a total of $1.3 million by Bidz.com filed a Chapter 7 (involuntary) bankruptcy petition against the company in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Delaware. Two weeks later, interim CEO Evan Warshawsky said the company had ceased sales and begun liquidating.

Then, in August 2014, U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Kevin J. Carey signed an order dismissing the Chapter 7 case and appointing a firm to dissolve the company.

Overstock.com purchased Bidz.com’s inventory, estimated to be worth more than $89 million at retail.

In September 2014, a firm announced the sale via auction of Bidz.com’s trademarks, domain names (including both Bidz.com and Buyz.com) and customer data. In February of the following year, a team that included Daniella Zinberg, the daughter of former Bidz CEO David Zinberg, bought it all back so they could give it a second try.

They then redesigned the jewelry auction website site to be cleaner and more image-focused while still offering closeout prices on jewelry, watches and other accessories.

But the retooled Bidz.com is racking up negative complaints across a number of consumer review sites; most of the complaints have to do with paying for an item that was never received or never getting a response from customer service about the status of an order or refund.

(It’s worth noting that there are still positive reviews on some of the sites, with

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customers noting that they got their purchases in time and were happy with the results.)

As of Thursday afternoon, the company had an F rating from the Better Business Bureau, which cites the following as the reasons for the failing grade: 149 complaints filed against it; failure to respond to four complaints filed against it; 32 complaints filed against it that went unresolved; and the fact that Bidz.com has “failed to resolve underlying cause(s) of a pattern of complaints.”

The BBB said it contacted Bidz.com on March 27 in regards to “concerns about the amount and the pattern of complaints (they) have received,” but received no response.

I tried reaching out to Zinberg and Danielle Zinberg, with whom I worked for the 2015 story and helped put the new management team together after relaunch, and sent out a few emails to some of the generic contacts listed on the business’ site, but received no responses by press time.

The website doesn’t make it clear who is on the company’s management team anymore, and the LinkedIn profiles of those involved in buying the site’s IP back in 2015 indicate they have moved on.

It appears that, despite the complaints, auctions continue on Bidz.com, though without the aid of regular social media support.

The Bidz.com Facebook page has two recent postings but, prior to that, hadn’t been updated since August 2017. There aren’t many comments on the page either, except some recent activity.

Its Twitter account has been inactive since February 2016 and no posts have been added to its Instagram since a year before that.

In addition to the complaints mentioned on the BBB website, there are a number of other places with negative reviews of Bidz.com.

On the Consumer Affairs website, the company is averaging less than two stars from 69 ratings submitted in the past year. There are 97 reviews and complaints of the company posted there, many of which are negative.

One from a customer in Las Vegas who posted in April states: “Bought 2 watches from BIDZ.COM and over a month later still no merchandise. Called their one customer service phone # 17 times and no human contact. Their Co. voicemail remained full (3 & 1/2 weeks) so leaving a message was impossible. Finally received an email back telling me they were not sending me my merchandise nor were they going to refund my money yet they are still currently selling the same watches on their website!!! I will never do business with these scammers again. Buyer Beware!!!”

There are more negative reviews on the websites ComplaintsBoard.com, SiteJabber.com—where 124 out of 191 reviews gave the company only one star—TrustPilot.com and even Yelp.com, where the company’s rating has been trending down since the start of 2018.

Given the fact that Bidz already ran into trouble once and had to be dissolved, it’ll be interesting to see what, if anything, comes of all this.

We’ll keep you updated if they get in touch or we hear anything else.

Brecken Branstratoris the senior editor, gemstones at National Jeweler, covering sourcing, pricing and other developments in the colored stone sector.