CT Bids

I have won several local bids, and they have all been seamless. Everyone at the pickup from CT is kind, and the whole endeavor is very organized.
On the other hand, I have won several bids that needed to be shipped, and as others have mentioned, their fees are EXORBITANT. They clearly don't want to offer shipping but know they have to in order to get more attention, and therefore bids, to their sale. I was charged almost $200 shipping on a flat box that was large-ish but weighed less than 20 lbs. That's outrageous. And that was on top of the 18% fee from the site and an additional handling fee. Plus, I've had shipments take over three weeks to be sent.
So long story short, sometimes worth it for local sales but rarely worth it for shipping unless you really, really want the item or get it for next to nothing.

Won an auction for clothing that read luxury / designer brands. Out of 30 pieces, the majority went straight into the donation bag for the local thrift store (worn so many times with snags and stains). There were about 5 out of the 30 that I kept. Bad experience!

One of my least favorite duties of my job is warehousing, staging, pricing, and executing the sale/auction of item. It is chaotic, frustrating, and a lot of work! CTBids is very organized and they safely control every process. You win a bid, next day you get an email telling you how to pay. Once payment is made, you receive an email asking you to schedule a pickup time. Then you get an email letting you know the address. Everytime I have contacted the auction representative to ask a question, the exchange came with a quick, personable reply. I have had 3 different pickups so far and all were smooth. The only negative part to their process I have found is the auction will extend if a bidding war is in progress. You MUST be watching when time is running out and be prepared to up your bid even after the clock hits 0.
Overall this is fun site, run by pros.

CTBids is like many other on-line auction houses - some sellers are honest and some are either clueless or crooked.

Descriptions are frequently weak and the photos nefarious. Many of their sellers know nothing about anything, which is why they buy a franchise instead of starting their own businesses.

If you see something you like, you can ask questions. If it is about authenticity or something similar, do it to share with others. If you notice something that may be to your advantage, keep the question private.

If the franchisee's rep doesn't respond to honest questions, run away 'cause they probably have something to hide.

Do NOT get carried away! Think about what you're doing and what they might be hiding.

And try to deal locally if you can. It makes things a lot easier.

Everything is good about the citibids side except the auction timing which is add 3 minutes every time you get out of bid which is not considered as an auction like eBay or other auction sites that takes the higher bid automatically in the last second, also l noticed a lot of shill bidding on some local auctions which is the whole family can bid on their items and drive prices they want for with no problem as it's not controlled as well, that's the the second negative thing about Ctbids site otherwise everything works fine

We have been buying from CTBids for years; first when they held the live in person sales and then due to COVID online, we have purchased a lot of great items and at great prices.
We recently bought a huge lot from Connecticut CT Bids. And had to travel Almost 5 hours, the seller had sold one of my items to someone else, luckily I waited around to get it back since they didn't offer a refund, just expected me to walk away; I won't travel outside of my local Caring Transitions Auctions again, it's too risky, they won't provide boxes or even newspaper to wrap our breakables.

This is a franchise outfit, so every person running them works as they see fit. That being said, some auctions are run better than others and some owners are more honest. I buy at CT auctions all the time for resale, BUT, I only buy from certain owners. Chris in Springfield, MA is honest, gives discriptions and points out defects. She runs picker sales that are great with leftovers. I have never been disappointed. However, I have stopped buying from other francisers for the reasons I stay with Chris. We do estate sales ourselved, in person only, and you need to be honest with the items conditions and not rip people off. We buy at auctions for deals, and if buyers feel ripped off, they get the very bad reviews listed here. The only reason I did not give a higher rating, Chris deserves all staes but other francise owners I no longer deal with. CT bids needs to vet owners better. BTW, people have complained about extending the auctions adter end time. I prefer that, stops bid snipping where someone can lurk to a couple seconds and steal an item from someone who was in from the start.

I won about 10 lots from them. FIrst off, their bidder's premium is much higher than any other auction company I have dealt with, but I saw some items I wanted. SO MANY of the items were damaged. Most of the glassware lots I bought had damaged pieces, like a mug lot with 4 of the 6 having major cracks and one's handle was barely attached with glue, a lot of vases all had chips, some other decorative items were broken, and the lots that were not broken, like vintage items, were caked with dirt like they'd been in a shed for years. Some are not able to be washed due to the types of items, (think vintage puzzles, games, dolls) the items needing batteries that I paid a pretty penny for did not work, and some leather shoes I bought are literally so old they're cracked an unwearable. None of this was visible in the photos or mentioned. They got me for almost 400.00! NEVER AGAIN

I have been screwed over time after time by this website. Each seller is allowed to make their own policies which are hidden in an essay of text below the listings. Be prepared to follow these policies to a tee or these sellers will keep your purchase and your money. Many sellers charge ridiculous shipping and handling fees. The shipping costs are not disclosed on the listing and they can charge you whatever they want after you have purchased an item. Be prepared to pay 25+ dollars for shipping on even the smallest of lots.

My final straw for this website was when I had something come up and I was unable to make an auction pickup, the seller donated 80$ dollars worth of purchases and kept my money. I had been a loyal customer for this particular branch of CT bids for many months and they did not hesitate to throw me under the bus. As far as I can tell the website has no protection for buyers in situations like this.

With sellers being allowed to do whatever they want and no protection for buyers from CT bids I have decided that this website is just not worth the risk.

Clearly stated on their website to contact said person for any questions. Made multiple attempts to do so...crickets.

You want to charge a 15% buyers fee? Thus was designed for auction houses to help pay the bills. The majority of items are on-site. What additional fees do you incur? Imagine going to an estate sale and being told there is a 15% buyers fee. Oh yes, plus an additional 7% in taxes. Pure rubbish.

You can bid, but the pickup is on Wednesday between 1-3. Seriously? Most people are doing what they call "work" during these ridiculous windows.

Please consider a traditional estate sale company for your needs. Nine out of ten estate sale goers agree.

JC

I am already tired of contacting number of people to complain about the item I received that is broken.
This location is at Elk City Ok and I do not get any action since I brought up this issue. They have been telling me that there will be someone who will call me but there is none.
Is there a way or there is NO way I can refund my money?
You see, shipping fee was debited on my card but the handling on their end is very very poor. No matter how expensive the shipping is, I paid for it. What an insult!
I just feel that I was conned by Ct Bids because of my issue.
I do not accept your response that "there will be someone who will be contacting me" or "I will forward this email to the location where you won the auction"

I won many items this month for my store. Many orders arrived broken after paying HUGE shipping prices. Your dealing with some people that are unrated and don't know what they are selling. You don't know who your buying from i just won 4 antique decanters cut crystal. They packed them in paper one next to the other and a few other items I won and everything was broken into pieces.

I was bidding on 10 lots. I ended up winning them all. Unfortunately I only received 8 as 2 lots of items were LOST. I was offered my $ back, but not the point! When I arrived for pick up the directions were null and there was NO signage. The lots I won were in boxes with other peoples stuff. We had to search for my stuff and never found 2 lots. I will never attend another auction with this seller, It was so badly organized. Buyer beware and check your stuff. One of the lots I won was sealed in a box and MISSING 4 items. Open your boxes and check everything!

Lots of hidden costs and lies about the process. We were charged thousands for dumpsters of things that didn't sell or sold but were not picked up. These things could have been donated or even set on the curb for people to grab. Actual trash was left for us to deal with. The photo is of things that were dumped out of boxes of things purchased and left in the yard. I should have taken more photos,
But I started cleaning before I thought to do so. The check we received after the sale did not even pay for the dumpster we had to rent to do what Margo said she'd take care of. We were offered $600 by another company to empty the house and clean up the property, and we should have taken it. We had to spend more than that to clean up Margo's mess. She said we would make thousands of dollars. Instead we are having to spend over $1000 due to her incompetence. The only one who made money on our sale was Margo.

This highly rated company is superb at doing online estate sales. Not only is the company's owner highly professional but is very meticulous in ensuring that every aspects of the estate sale operations is thorough and concise from start to finish. The company's owner Paul and its staff are very honest, trustworthy and hardworking and you can be assure at the end of the auction they will clear out your estate without a drop in efficiency. All I can say is that I guarantee you will be impressed and pleased with this company's performance. I highly recommend them to friends and family.

I paid their invoice and opted to have the items ship. The items were never shipped and there was no communication. If you do take the chance and buy from them, use paypal as they refunded my money. This is the info for whom I dealt with:
Caring Transitions of Loudoun
******* Quiet Brook Place
Sterling Virginia, *******
*******@caringtransitions.com
Phone No: *******111

I have won numerous auctions with ctbids and been very happy. However, a new person took over. I won an auction and when I went to pay noticed a $10 handling fee. When I reached out and told her I was picking it up there must be a mistake as I've only paid the sellers 15% premium before which is understandable, she told me they were losing money on the auctions and corporate told them add a handling fee. So basically I'm paying almost 30% in fees above the cost of the item.
I am a picker. It's not uncommon for me to spend several hundred dollars at all of her in person sales. It's a shame because of this she has lost me as a customer completely. No online or in person sales ever again.

When I was in a pickle and needed to clear out some of my moms stuff after she passed away, they were there for me. Not that it's been over a year and a half, I'm slowly helping my dad rebuild his life by buying him new furniture and all kinds of items. I believe in repurposing all that we can. CTbids allows the world to be a little bit more green. We just got pops a great new car. Sometimes I buy at two auctions and when my pickup times overlap, they are great at working with me!