Flubit

[veevee]

Just seen this on the PH homepage, can anyone explain how it works?

'Flubit creates you a better offer on your online purchases. Just give them the product web-link to receive an offer up to 15% cheaper than the listing price.'

Seems completely legit and there are lots of people online posting excitedly about getting £1.50 off their computer game, or complaining because it took an extra day to deliver, but I can't find anything on how it actually works?

[MrSparks]

Loads of people sign up to sell on Flubit

People wanting to buy post a link to something they want on Flubit

Flubit emails relevant retailers and says "this person wants to buy X, sell it to them cheaper than the online price they've found...."

Buyer receives a better offer.

Great for buyer I guess if you can be bothered. Seems a race to bottom otherwise but I haven't actually used it so can't comment more than how it appears on the face of it.

[Zoon]

MrSparks said:

Loads of people sign up to sell on Flubit

People wanting to buy post a link to something they want on Flubit

Flubit emails relevant retailers and says "this person wants to buy X, sell it to them cheaper than the online price they've found...."

Buyer receives a better offer.

Great for buyer I guess if you can be bothered. Seems a race to bottom otherwise but I haven't actually used it so can't comment more than how it appears on the face of it.

I have used it and it works fine. They have a set of merchants that field the offers for them.
Merchants get increased sales albeit at lower margins, buyer gets a better price.

[ModernAndy]

MrSparks said:

Loads of people sign up to sell on Flubit

People wanting to buy post a link to something they want on Flubit

Flubit emails relevant retailers and says "this person wants to buy X, sell it to them cheaper than the online price they've found...."

Buyer receives a better offer.

Great for buyer I guess if you can be bothered. Seems a race to bottom otherwise but I haven't actually used it so can't comment more than how it appears on the face of it.

I've not looked into Flubit at all, I just have seen it's advertising in banners but if that's the case then it would seem to me that sellers are either making a loss or next to no money on a lot of the things people buy online. I would have thought that Flubit would have the customer buy on a platform not subject to eBay or Amazon fees to make up most of the discount sellers are having to give.

[veevee]

I don't get how they can claim to be able to offer discounts on 'any item' though, it's not just for items on Amazon or Ebay.

[fellatthefirst]

They basically expect you to sell item direct to the customer and knock of the Amazon fees. So you are no worse off but still get a sale..

[veevee]

veevee said:

it's not just for items on Amazon or Ebay.

How does it work for non Amazon/Ebay items?

[russy01]

I have sold through the platform and in fairness its a bit daft - you literally put in the very lowest price you'd be willing to accept - as does every seller.

Then as a customer requests a product they make the customer a offer based on your lowest price - this is where they make their money as they can decide to offer a price higher than yours (and cash in the difference) - or with some very popular products they actually contribute further to literally buy the order and customer.

I think its a neat idea, however I dont like having to submit our lowest price - its a race to the bottom as it is, So we go fairly conservative and just view any extra sales as a bonus.

[Simpo Two]

So really just another parasitic internet middleman - like comparison websites...

[TotalControl]

I've used it to buy and sometimes the price on some sites can't be matched.

Most times they can beat the price by a few pounds/pence.

[Jakg]

I've used it a lot and my experience is mixed - sometimes theres a delay, or the wrong item - but you need to deal with the merchant and not Flubit and sometimes they are slow to reply. But if you treat it like eBay it's ok.

I've noticed that several times I've requested an offer for something on Amazon, they've come back with 13% cheaper - and it's come from Amazon anyway. I suspect they are eating the difference as I can't see Amazon giving >13% discount even via an affiliate.

[russy01]

Yea Flubit are just buying the order....Amazon wouldn't give a damn about Flubit as they're pretty small, so no chance of a discount.

We did a fair amount of business through them and with our most popular lines (Amazon are always cheapest), Flubit would offer a much lower price than Amazon, give us the order but then obviously credit us for the money they gave away. I did the numbers and they certainly did not make a penny from our business....