sliBuy Auctions — Local services in Shorewood

I have been a customer with sliBuy for about 2 years now, on and off, because of many disappointments. The business has changed management a few times during this period, showing instability and lack of direction. Bidding on the website is a joke. It constantly freezes, fails to place bids, resets at the most pivotal moments, and this is just a small annoyance in comparison to their customer service and the quality of the items, their photo presentation, and description. Often times, it feels like you are getting a mystery box with every listing. The most recent experience of this was just yesterday when I received a "new" trash can missing the lid and having a huge dent in it. The two photos posted for the item were of its unopened box, and a photo of the top of the product as it was sitting inside of the box. No capturing of the damage or the missing part. Not mentioned anywhere in the item's description either. The second item, a power wheels jeep in red, linked to a 24v two seater jeep in the same color red. The photo of the actual box failed to display the most important information about the item, its voltage, weight rating, and a photo of the item itself. Who takes a photo of the bottom of the box? Slibuy. All one can make out from the box was the color of the item, red. The photos take of the physical jeep did not provide any further information about the item, but the color. What I got? A 6v, one seater red jeep. At least it looks to be new. The third item, a black two person sleeping pad, listed as new. The photos didn't capture the most important information. It wasn't new and it has a huge rip in it, deeming it unusable. That was just yesterday. Today, I spoke to customer service at window 2, Juliet. I showed her the poorly represented items and explained that this is to serve as a feedback to improve the process, so that customers have a better buying experience and know what they are bidding on. Juliet, the face of sliBuy to the customer, did not care one bit, rolled her eyes, fixed her eyelashes, and everything else, but making eye contact, and carrying about what I had to say. If this is how "customer service", who interfaces with the customers, handles constructive customer feedback, I have to wonder just how much the new management team cares about the business, its direction, and continual improvement. I was appalled. I have never seen anything like this in my life, but i am sure I will see it again at sliBuy. Perhaps someone at sliBuy in a position of power will care to listen/read this. (And if you already know this, apply it and make it sustainable.) How to improve? Hire people who care and no, your current customer service is not a representation of that. Focus on linking the physical product to the correct product online, so that customers can at least know what they are bidding on. Mystery boxes have their name for a reason. Let's keep it that way. A better presentation of the product begins with taking clear, good angle photos, highlighting any issues with the item such as missing parts/pieces, damages (dents, rips, broken parts, fading, and so on). And finally, the description. Do your best. I recently won fence posts listed as something completely different, and no one else apparently wanted a dog fence. 😆 I left a message with the office for Ashley, the Operations Manager, to contact me, so I can share my latest experience, but I suppose it could be...

Updated 7/2025: A huge new frustrating discovery this week. There are now multiple countdowns for an item. What this does is address the numerous last second bids. An item goes into its last seconds an then instead of ending, it adds another minute which allows more people to bid the item up. I have been caught in a countdown that restarted 5 more times. Stars removed as a result.

Also, be aware that any item labeled "uninspected" have historically had a major defect in my experience. For my most recent example, a suitcase, won, but upon pickup the wheels were barely hanging on. The entire bottom was cracked and held together by a thin piece of broken jagged plastic. Generally a an inspection of item upon pickup can be returned for a refund, but not when labeled "uninspected". Clearly broken items shouldn't be allowed to be labeled as such. Again a star removed.

Update 11/2023: Do not trust the listing on the post. I did not want to be in this situation, but here I am. So I bid on an item. It was put on auction as "Air purifier with basic breather filter (h12 Hepa)".

Upon receiving the item the filter was not there. So, I reached out to the company. The response from customer service was eye opening. "Apologies for the confusion. Auctions are BASED ON THE PHOTOS posted on the website. You can always check the auction notes that say "See photos for what's included." If a part or an item is not posted, that means that it is not included. All of these items are listed with our terms and conditions. We do state all items can be missing minor to major parts."

So what I've learned today is a seller can write whatever they want in a listing, but if a picture is not showing that part, it's not included. I am dumbfounded. I looked at all pictures. It looks like there's a filter. Even at the generous 50% credit, one time extension of courtesy it will not get me a $67 filter that was listed as included. So upsetting. Do not trust the listing on the post. The filter was "posted" but there wasn't a specific picture of it. Star removed. I enjoy the hunt and a bargain. The individual sellers can be rated. Find that option on the "items won" page. Don't forget to do that!!! Leaving a specific review for each individual seller is important. I've won multiple auctions and have personally been to the Shorewood warehouse 4 times. The workers are kind and hard working. The crew that pulls the items are the face of SliBuy and awesome to interact with; John and the others work so hard and are able to answer questions for the customers with patience. The bin area is crazy but fun; lots has changed recently. Customers can now choose a day and time for pickup...no longer have to wait for a couple of hours anymore. As far as the wearhouse store, I have found some things I didn't know I needed in the pick though area. . . Carhartt tee, Harry Styles socks, books, lots of baby/pet gates, blinds/rods/curtains/ filters (know your measurements on advance), home decor and even a huge area rug. Bring a tape measure and a box cutter to break down the boxes that will not fit in your vehicle. ...

What is it called when a bidding place takes bad pictures on purpose to hide the imperfections on the item because they knew it wouldn’t sell otherwise? & then states that everything is sold “as is” and that I should have viewed the pictures before bidding, so therefore, it’s my fault?

Here’s what ChatGPT has to say: That sounds like deceptive practice, especially if the intention was to mislead buyers about the condition of the item. It could be considered unethical or even fraudulent, depending on the laws in your area. However, the "as is" disclaimer may limit your recourse. It's always a good idea to thoroughly inspect pictures and descriptions before bidding, but intentionally misleading images are not fair to buyers.

I wouldn’t recommend making any bids on slibuy unless you’re prepared to lose ALL of your money on the bid. This is because there is no quality control with their “new/other” listings, or anything else, for that matter. I have won 10 bids over the past week listed as ‘new/other’ & 5 of those items have either been broken, or missing essential parts such as their chargers or other important pieces, making me have to buy them elsewhere to even render the item useful. The other 5 items I won were very clearly used before as well, but at least they had their chargers and essentials, so I considered that an overall win. However, I still don’t appreciate them being listed as ‘new/other condition’ when they clearly ARE NOT.

And, of course, when I told this to the onsite customer service, I was immediately met with attitude & gaslighted that I “should have looked at the pictures before buying” when their pictures are deceptively taken because they know nobody would have bidded on the item otherwise. How am I supposed to know if the charger is included if you’ve only uploaded pictures of the box? How am I supposed to know an item is broken if it’s listed as ‘new/other condition’? Please make it make sense.

And despite these same complaints from customers spanning back months, have they improved the quality of the photos they upload to their bids? Nope. Have they improved quality control of their items to ENSURE it is what they’re claiming it is?? Nope. Do they even use the description box to accurately detail the listing??? VERY RARELY.

They will then tell you that “you can come in and inspect the items before purchasing,” but this is completely impractical for someone who lives over an hour away and when half my bids I’ve won have been within the last hour of noticing them on the site. Tell this to the lady at customer service, and all you will receive in return is an eye roll and an “oh well🤷🏽‍♂️”

So long story short, it is a COMPLETE GAMBLE when bidding on Slibuy’s listings, and if you have that mindset when entering into the bid, it won’t hurt as much when you’re excitedly opening up your items & notice that they’re totally unusable.

My conscious couldn’t let me go on any longer without at least calling out the deceptive practice’s of SliBuy, in hopes of it helping others from getting $crewed out of your hard-earned money.

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