DubLi Scam
Here is the info I gathered on DubLi and the DubLi reverse auction:
DubLi operates in the US, but their domain is registered to an address in Denmark. They operate in the US under CEO and Founder Michael Hansen.
The DubLi Reverse Auction lotteries - there is no way to tell if this is legit, or rigged by the operators. Their dislaimer gives them the right to ban you at any time, even if you have auction credits. The reverse auction title is a bit misleading. On DubLi, buyers compete to get the lowest price. In theory, the price of the item is offset by the purchase of the credits used to make the bids on the item. It's really a gamble.
You are required to buy Dubli points that are part of the advertising packages you use to recruit more promoters ( who in turn buy Dubli points to recruit more DubLi associates and so on ).
According to one site:
DubLi claims to be the competition to eBay, but:
DubLi uses a pyramid model and sells gambling tokens called “DubLi credits”.
DubLi doesn’t even register when you compare traffic analysis.
DubLi gets .026% the number of visits that eBay gets; to put it another way, if you add up all the traffic they each get, eBay gets 99.97% of all that traffic.
What competition? The two organizations have completely different markets.
My questions on determining if this is all a DubLi Scam:
Does the company have a US office? On their website, in their terms of service, this is the contact info:
(1) If you are a consumer, you can cancel your contract statement, without specific reasons, within two weeks after receiving items or purchasing Credits. To ensure the revocation period, a notice of cancellation, or the goods, must be sent in due time. Cancellations can be sent to:
DUBLICOM Ltd.
17 Gr. Xenopoulou Street
3106 Limassol
Cyprus
(Cypress? This is a HUGE RED FLAG )
Do they deposit funds in a US Bank? ( If they don't it makes it impossible to recover anything should the FTC or another agency determine they are a Pyramid, and shut them down )