ibrax.com > Reviews > ibrax auction site is hit and miss

Author's product rating:   

Layout & Design	Good
Navigation	Good
How fast is this website?	Slow
Quality of the Content	Poor
Range of Services / Products	Needs improvement

Advantages:	Choose whether to go to the shops or to bid in the auctions
Disadvantages:	limited items and choices in both areas

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

This auction site actually has two distinct halves called BID and BUY, whereby you can bid on items or go to a shopping area in the BUY section. In the BUY area, Ibrax have given space to a number of shopping sites, many of them non-high street/specialist names that you might not see elsewhere. Strangely the only known big name is WHSmith. Why this one and no other major name, I really wouldn't know!

On the home page they list the hottest/most recent items up for sale, or that you can bid for. These are in two columns, one for the Bid area and one for the Buy section. Clicking on any item will take you to those items for more info.

You can view specific categories of items, make a specific search or , use the pre-set buttons to see: "Auction items closing today", "Bid for a £1", or "Hot items".

There is also an "Auction Guide", "Sellers Guide" and "Shops Guide".

Thats the facts - now my opinion.

Auction area:

There are lots of categories, but very very few actual items up for offer. Doesn't this site have many visitors or users? It makes you wonder how they survive. I was very disappointed with this.

However, their one saving grace is that there are quite a few desirable completely brand new items you can bid on that have been donated by their sponsers/shopping sites, eg, TVs , walkmans, videos, DVD players etc. Most carry no reserve and really do offer a chance to pick up a bargain.

In fact, I decided to bid on a portable CD Walkman - It was a Panasonic, anti shock, sleek silver design. I bid £30 and used the "autobid" feature to choose my maximum bid of £35. To my utter amazement, the auction closed a few days later and I was the highest bidder. I was sent an email and was given the choice of paying over the internet or ringing them up and paying by credit card over the phone. I decided to phone them and I was pleasantly surprised at how friendly and helpful the chap I spoke to was. He told me that the walkman would be delivered in two days and he arranged for it to be sent to my work address so that I would be able to sign for it. Again, to my amazement, it turned up exactly as planned, brand new and boxed and in perfect condition. I was very happy with such a result!

On the Buy section:

There are 70 shops divided into different categories, and you can view their products where you get a description, a picture of each product, and of course a price. Many of the shops are very specialist or quirky, eg get this as an example: Nikki Stephens, Equestrian Artist! or how about this one: "Drumstruck" - Furniture shaped like drums !!

So, if you like curio items, check it out. There are also a couple of mainstreams for electronic goods, or DVDs & videos