Just under two months ago Bidify made the announcement on September 5th that they’d hired Albert Liske as the new CEO and Christopher Robinson as the new VP of Bidify’s Bidsson penny auctions.

In a press release announcing the hiring, Bidify heralded the decision to hire Liske and Robinson as proof that Bidify’s ‘commitment to a more transparent and sustainable future is stronger than ever‘.

Our long-term goals are ambitious and present challenges that are substantial, complex and systemic. Simply put, they will demand cutting edge technology and stream lined shipping and support.

We strongly believe that with the addition of Liske and Robinson to our executive team we will be well equipped when confronting these challenges.

In a press release put out last night however by Liske, he announced the sudden resignation of both Chris Robinson and himself.

No explanation as to why the CEO and VP quit Bidsson was provided.

With both Bidify and Bidsson’s business floundering over the past few months, much has been made of the announced but not yet released “Bidsson 2.0” penny auction format.

Bidsson 2.0 is reportedly going to include a “buy it now” option, meaning those who lose in a Bidsson penny auction will have the option of buying an item they lost at its stated retail value.

In marketing material circulated amongst Bidify affiliates, it has been claimed the implementation of Bidsson 2.0 will “increase (Bidsson) sales by 10 times“.

Curiously, despite Liske taking on the CEO role at Bidsson to seemingly spearhead development of Bidsson 2.0, along with his resignation Liske announced that Bidsson 2.0 ‘will be launch (sic) in the next few days‘.

Again, along with why he quit, why Bidsson 2.0 is being launched without Liske at the helm was not revealed. One possible explanation however could have to do with the ongoing problems the MLM side of the business, Bidify, is having with its affiliates.

Bidify use Towah to handle payments to their affiliates and this appears to have caused nothing but problems for Bidify’s US-based affiliates. Problems which the affiliate’s have recently become much more vocal about.

One affiliate recently called for a “Bidify recruitment strike” (later retracted once BehindMLM covered the story) and others still are speculating that payment problems between Towah and Bidify’s US based affiliates are simply a plot to keep as much money as possible on Bidify’s end.

In an attempt to get some answers one Bidify affiliate, ‘after waiting a much longer time than usual for (their) towah withdrawal to be completed’ contacted Towah support today only to be told ‘all money is frozen for everybody‘.

Whether this relates specifically to Bidify affiliates or all of Towah’s merchant partnerships however isn’t clear. At the time of publication, no announcement existed on the Towah website indicating any such predicament.

Looking at the bigger picture however, withdrawal problems for Bidify affiliates might entirely be a moot point considering the commissions affiliates are earning.

Just yesterday Bidify affiliate “A. Smith” left a comment on BehindMLM advising they had made just 0.08 Euro via the Bidsson bonus for November 1st (how big their stake in the bonus is however was not provided).

Over the last 24 hours two other Bidify affiliates have also shared their experience with the company. One wrote:

I spent more than $1500, 6 months with a lot of ads recruiting more than 50 people and didnt receive a penny.

and the other,

Of the 2k I put in, I have made 100 bucks. I hope to break even in 20 years or so from now…If I’m lucky..

Whether or not Bidsson 2.0 will infact increase Bidsson bid sales by a factor of ten obviously remains to be seen. With the now departed Liske claiming Bidsson 2.0 is going live “in the next few days”, let’s hope Bidify’s affiliates might get to find out either way before it’s simply too late.

As for why Liske and Robinson quit their Bidsson executive positions on the eve of some long-awaited and much hyped success Bidsson 2.0’s release is supposed to bring Bidify’s affiliates… that’s a question still out in the open.

Whatever the reason though, many will no doubt be watching future developemnts within Bidify and Bidsson with much interest.

With Bidify being the currently oldest example of the pairing of a penny auction with a non-“Ponzi points” compensation plan, any failure might be the final nail in the coffin surrounding the question of long-term viability of a penny auction and retail bid sales orientated MLM compensation plan combination.

As always, stay tuned…

 

Update 3rd November, 2012 – Within 24 hours of this article going live, Bidsson have mysteriously removed Andrew Liske’s resignation press release from their website.

No explanation has been provided with the company’s blog now displaying an old September 5th article as the latest entry.\

 

Update 29th January, 2013 – Finally breaking his silence, Albert Liske has written a blog post over at the newly created “Bidify Fraud” website explictly clarifying why he and Chris Robinson resigned from Bidsson.