It’s not a penny auction! So why are we reviewing it? Well, we think that TopHatter is a good penny auction alternative. TopHatter is a free to bid auction website (you never pay for bids as you would on a penny auction). Who cares! There are some things about TopHatter that we really like, and a few things which we do not. So sit back class and prepare to be schooled about TopHatter Auctions.
Disclaimer: This review was written by an independent third party. For any comments or factual corrections, please email info@bestpennyauctionsites.org.
About TopHatter
Website: www.tophatter.com
Competition: Low-Medium (we easily win auctions)
TopHatter Coupon Codes: None needed, bids are free
Free bids at sign-up: N/a, bids are free
Other ways to get free bids: N/a, bids are free
- TopHatter Address: 185 Berry St., Suite 2400, San Francisco CA 94107
- Phone number: (405) 242-5339
- Facebook: facebook.com/tophatter/
- Twitter: twitter.com/tophatter
BBB Rating: A+
Editor’s TopHatter Reviews
TopHatter takes the term Entertainment Shopping to the next level. Tophatter is a high-paced free to be auction website which operates hundreds of closing auctions at all times. In our observations, the volume of auctions offered here seems to outpace some of the largest penny auction websites such as DealDash.
TopHatter is a bidding website which is similar to eBay in that 1) the items auctioned are done so by sellers, not TopHatter and 2) placing a bid is free. However, we think that this auction site is a lot more fun than eBay!
One important note is that TopHatter is NOT a penny auction. That’s right, NOT a penny auction. Bids are free, always. If you want to check out a penny auction, turn your eyes towards DealDash.
TopHatter Auction Features
Top Hatter is unique from other online bidding websites in a few different ways:
- Free-to-Bid Auctions: All auctions are free to bid. You only pay when you win plus a shipping fee.
- Many Sellers: Items auctioned on Top Hatter are done so by other vendors. So there are basically thousands of vendors auctioning products at all times. Similar to ebay, but much more fun and fast-paced.
- High Auction Volume: The volume is really hard to quantify as a user. It’s huge, visit the site and you’ll see.
Common TopHatter Auctions
- Jewelry
- Watches
- Home goods
- Cloths
- Gift cards of all shapes and sizes
- Laptops and tablet computers
- Video games and video game consoles
- Headphones, MP3 players
- Digital cameras including SLRs
- Purses, Jewelry, Art
- Tons of other stuff
Bidding Tips
- Shipping price: Check the shipping price before bidding, some sellers
- Shipping time: Watch the estimated shipping time. In some cases, it can take a couple weeks for shipping
- Plan to win: In our experience, we won a good majority of auctions leading us to believe that vendors are willing to sell product at a low cost
- Cancel if you need to: If you win an auction and don’t want the item, you need to cancel it within your account. Easy to do and avoids your account from being cancelled.
TopHatter.com shipping and fees
As a bidder, Top Hatter does not charge any fees. However, when you win an auction, the seller will charge a shipping fee which in some cases can be more than the price of the item. Just keep an eye on it before bidding.
Is TopHatter a scam?
We don’t think so. TopHatter has a great BBB rating, lots of auctions, and is free to bid. Nothing we see causes concern. Scroll to the bottom of the page to read reviews from other Tophatter customers who also weigh in on whether or not Tophatter is a scam.
Some reviewers have lately been reporting low quality merchandise as sellers on Tophatter are plentiful. Online auction sites such as DealDash only sell factory sealed, unused products and dealing with customer service is easy should you have the need to do so.
TopHatter Alternatives (websites similar to TopHatter)
Websites such as eBid, Bonanaza, and eBay all offer free to participate shopping.
TopHatter Pros and Cons
- TopHatter Pros: Free bids, countless auctions, fast paced and fun, easy to win auctions
- TopHatter Cons: Some products have long shipping times, quality of products is dependant on seller
TopHatter FAQs
Here are some of the most commonly asked questions about the auction website, TopHatter.com.
Tophatter merchants auction thousands of electronic devices daily (based on our best estimates). We see a lot of off-brand electronics of all types- TV’s, gaming systems, drones, MP3 players, cameras, and much more. Based on Tophatter reviews submitted on this website, many of the electronics come from overseas and the quality varies. Always review the seller ratings on Tophatter before participating in auctions. Not all electronics sellers are equal!
Tophatter in an online auction website which offers a wide variety of Jewelry. Categorized as “Bling” on the Tophatter website, common jewelry items include necklaces, bracelets, lot of rings, watches and much more. Is Tophatter jewelry real? It’s real, just pay attention to what you’re bidding. Tophatter customers who have written reviews on this website often seem confused about what they were bidding on. Have you won jewelry on Tophatter? Please write a review below.
Are Tophatter auctions live? Yep, Tophatter runs thousands of live auctions each day, in many countries around the World.
We’re not sure if the Reddit community likes anything all about Capitalism but if it’s important to you, here are links to a few subreddit topics on the Tophatter auction website.
We generally see pretty positive reviews for Tophatter. For unhappy reviewers post here, many concede that Tophatter refunds their money in situations where they asked. We generally feel that it is safe to bid and shop on Tophatter.
TopHatter offers a mobile application for both Androis and IOS. According to both networks, the app receives high reviews in terms of stability and usability. Typically, reviews of the mobile tophatter apps are 4/5 stars+.
At the time of this post, Tophatter has a BBB (Better Business Bureau) rating of A+. About 60% of BBB reviews were positive and about 30% negative according to the BBB Tophatter profile.
At this time, we do not have record of promo codes or coupon codes for Tophatter or Tophatter.com.
Bidding on Tophatter is free. The only costs which consumers incur are when they win an auction. In this case, the consumer is responsible for the auction closing price plus any applicable shipping charges.
Customers can reach TopHatter’s customer service department through the support email address. Similar to many other auction websites, they do not currently offer phone support.
TopHatter offers auction-style where, similar to Ebay, sellers put products up for auction. Bidders/consumers 1) Create and account 2) place free bids on any item they like and 3) If they win the auction, they pay and auction items are shipped directly from the sellers. All auctions on TopHatter.com are free to participate in, the only costs occur when an auction is won.
FREE AUCTIONS COMPARISON GUIDE
| Website | Editor's Rating | Type | Best Features | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 |  Read Review | Penny Auction | Many auctions available from TV's to home appliances, featuring beginner auctions, free shipping, great reputation. | @dealdash | |
 |  Review Coming Soon | E-commerce | Huge online marketplace, many perks with prime membership including 2-day free shipping | @amazon | |
 | Read Review | Free Auction | Largest marketplace to find online auctions, with many categories, offers buy it now and promotions | @ebay | |
 | Read Review | Free Auction, E-commerce | Offers products across all categories, similar to eBay, less expensive for sellers so slightly lower prices. | @bonanza | |
 |  Read Review | Penny Auction | Always free shipping. You can earn free bids by referring friends and family. | @centbids | |
 |  Read Review | Free Auction | Many auctions are available in all categories, unique product offering. | @ebid | |
 | Read Review | Free Auction, E-commerce | Offers vacation & travel auctions, excellent Deal of the Day section with unique buy it now offers. | @ubid | |
 | Read Review | Free Auction | Steal of the Day section, various categories with authentic police seized, stolen, abandoned and surplus goods. | @propertyroom | |
 | Read Review | Penny Auction | Special events to win extra bids, prizes, or other incentives, shipping is free, refer-a-friend program to earn free bids. | @orangebidz | |
 | Read Review | Penny Auction, E-commerce | Free shipping on almost everything, auctions available in many categories laptops and tablets to purses and jewelry. | @quibids | |
 | Read Review | Free Auction, E-commerce | Various product categories from jewelry to electronics featuring high paced auctions, with Buy It Now options. | @tophatter | |
 | Read Review | Penny Auction, E-commerce | Primabids store where you can buy it now, winners can re-sell products which they’ve won, gift cards, games, and many other products. | @primabids | |
 | Read Review | Penny Auction | Beginner Auctions, buy it auctions, offers auctions in many categories and discounts for new bidders. | @wellbid | |
 | Read Review | Free Auction | Offers government Auction information for thousands of yearly government auctions, bank foreclosure, car, truck, and other automobile auctions | @policeauctions |
TopHatter Bidder Ratings and Reviews
The reviews below were submitted by users, and solely reflect the views of the individuals who submitted them. Users were not compensated for leaving a review.
Submit your review | |
The items that receive is so cheap, the ads for the items are misleading claiming 14 K gold when it is ABSOLUTELY FAKE. Large items you never receive, routing app is fake but UPS claims delivery. BUYERS BEWARE
you have to pay in advance half the stuff y dont get and thw ones y get dont work. you cannot contact the in nay way the phone listed in the web is phony if y dont have an extension it hangs up y cnnot contact the seller dont use it is total scam foe the items i received i paid way above what it should have been including item s i did not get and tthose that did not work cheap? in the long rum way more pricy SCAMMMMMMMMMMMMM!!!!!!!!!!!
I just recently won a bid and purchased the item using my bank card. the next day there were over 30 transactions from my bank account that were from the same creditor with purchases I did not make and over $ 450.00 has gone missing from my account. I have the bank looking into the fraudulent activities, PLEASE BE AWARE card details can be hacked.... I use Wish quite frequently and this has never happened on their website
I went on top hatter and at first you think it's good and before receiving your item you order more, only to find out that your lucky if you get 6 out of 10 items you buy,half the time they don't send the correct item and they don't like refunding, so in probly 3 months I was on I must have lost about £100
Also there tablets are realy crap the phones are the same and extreamly slow and that's if you can get on anything, I brought illuminous stones Yes STONES to put in my water fall and plastic crap comes through, so not everything you read on a listing is true, you realy carnt belive them,
Well I've deleted the app and marked there emails as spam and I'll never go back to using this sly cheating deceiving dishonest site again,
As a new user in Tophatter I figured I would give it a chance. I was SO WRONG. Most of the stuff I received was WELL below standards - cheap - broken - damaged - SO tiny compared to what they tell you.
Example: Women Oversize Plain Hooded Dress Long Sleeve Casual Winter Hoodies Pullover - you can see through it and a 5XL is too small to fit a person that usually takes a Large in shirts.
Example: Soft Rubber Cartoon Bee Hand Knocking Rattle Dumbbell Baby Early Educational Toys Kids Preschool Tools - picture shows a young child playing with it. describes a pleasant ringing... the item was 4 inches across and metal bell on hard plastic - no it is not pleasant.
Example: High quality off-road vehicle toy 1:64 toy alloy Suv high-speed truck off-road truck kids toy gifts - it was a jeep and a little bigger than a matchbox car... no high speed - no rc - no high quality...
Thankfully everything was refunded... just wasted my time looking, paying, waiting, and returning.
This is not a bad site 4 some of the items but i aint buying anything else as they are con artists. I have sent 3 items back with tracking and they got there within the time slot they gave me.now they are saying they did not recieve them in time frame but my tracking says they did .so they wont pay my money back for these items
Only good thing about this site, is they refund you your money. So far it’s been simple, see what you like, bid and win, wait for the refund, because the items never come!!
Don't bother. There is no point bidding on an auction site if your items never ship. I have been on Tophatter since '17 and I am done. I bid a lot this time of year and it used to be good. First you need to understand that these sellers stretch the truth in their descriptions, lately though they flat out lie. Shipping has become a joke. At least a month unless it's from the U.S. That is IF you get your item. I am getting over 70% of my items refunded for non-delivery. It's good they refund but really, what is the point of bidding just to get your money back two months later? DO NOT WASTE YOUR TIME.
When I first joined top hatter I was pleased with my purchases and now it’s taking longer and loner to get items. Recently more items are showing as delivered to Florida, Utah, Ohio and yesterday 11/16/2020- I had some nice items delivered to Grenada California but I live in Texas. I’m thinking this is Fraudulent activity, I have requested refunds on all merchandise possible, and I’m waiting for pending orders and I’m getting off the site. I think something that I can’t prove is going on. All 3 WiFi routers, 1 to Florida, 2 to Utah, all sports wear to California. I’ve even complained to the BBB. They gave my money back, but what’s really going on and it does not seem that they care to check. I’m advising people to stay away from the site and if not, you’ve been warned. Either a thief is working there and diverting merchandise or the sellers have gotten GREEDY.
Bought 4 items , 3 i received were junk if ask , me . The 4th never received wont answer why and no refund . Going luck with them .
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I’ve been on Tophatter and downloaded the app…there was one complaint I had. The first time I bid on an item and won it was the wrong item. So I had to go and cancel the bid. When I did so I was told I couldn’t bid because I had cancelled more then once. Which was wrong because that was the first item I’d bid on and won. So I saw what item I had supposedly cancelled and it was some gold ring and I know I didn’t bid on it because I had never bid on anything until the day I had cancelled the bid due it being the wrong one. I did send an email explaining this to Tophatter and never received a response. I’m glad I did read your review, otherwise I planned to never bid on there site again.
I agree with you as I bid on King 6 piece Sheet Set and I won the Bid but upon checking out the only Colors available were Navy Blue, Light Grey and Dark Grey. I cancelled my order because I wanted White, Ivory or Purple. Sure enough I got BAND from bidding for 8 Days. I’ve sent 4 Emails to Customer Service with pictures showing they were advertising ALL Colors with NO REPLY ….
It’s been 3 days since I have paid for items but they still haven’t shipped. FYI The phone # .
405-242-5339 is a Fax # and the Customer Service # I found online 650-251-4424 is an automated line that says the call cannot be answered because it wasn’t online at the moment!
I can’t wait to see my items if they ever get here, what a horrible way to treat people for having a legitimate reason for CANCELING Orders!!
If you think false advertising is a scam then TopHatter is a scam. I have purchased several items that said “18K gold filled” or “Sterling Silver” and neither was true.. The gold filled items, 95% of the time, are Gold Plated and peel of the first few times you wear it….then try sending it back to an address in China! I wrote several letters to TopHatter because they advertise they do not sell knock offs or allow their sellers to print “false adds”, that is a joke and I never heard back from them.
A little advice to the person who decides to bid any way, be sure you examine the item as soon as you get it because almost everything I have received does not have directions, and if it does it is in Chinese! Also be prepared to wait 3 to 4 weeks for your item. Actually, your best bet is go to Aliexpress.com, or DHGate.com the prices are much better and free shipping.
It’s people like this that keep QVC in business. Go to a jewelry store and buy a real ring and stop being a cheap ass
I agree that if you want quality, you should pay for quality. but I do think that if they advertise 18k gold that it should be real 18k gold. there is no reason to be misleading unless you are trying to scam someone.
They never send my drone!
Everything is cheap crap!!
Don’t!!!!
When I get my money ( and I better)
I’m done with them!
Gold filled jewelry is jewelry made of a base metal which is covered with a thin layer of gold. Sounds like you got what was advertised.
Actually, gold-filled jewelry must be at least 20% gold. I have gold filled jewelry that is 35 years old and still looks great. Gold-plating, gold -washed, are basically temporary. There is a huge difference.
I jut ordere a bunch of stuff from there I haven’t got it yet .I wish Im would have read this . .If the stuff is bad I’ll cancel on my credit card and get my money from back and let my credit card company deal with them.
I have just bought stuff on this site today before I read these comments …. could anyone tell me if they have ever bought anything electrical or a hand held Mario games console containing 250 games …. I live in Ireland and I bought these for my grandson never thinking they could be fake … the electrical item is a lamp which when switched on show the STAR WARS DEATH STAR ….. they are supposed to come from the US will all I pay is the delivery fee I;ve been charged
The stuff comes from China. Ships from China.
These people should be brought up on charges for deception & illegal false advertising practices. Piece of crap isn’t worth 2 cents.
I bought the mini Nintendo with the installed 500 games it works good. Have only played a few games so far.
The 500 games is junk. The controllers are the flimsiest of plastic product. One of the games is a toy story game. Why would a movie that came out in the early 2000’s have a game with horrible graphics.
Yes I’ve bought the Mario hand held game. Junk
My 11 year old grandson also says it’s junk.
thanks for the info…I was thinking of getting it.
Download the Wish App…less complicated. And the stuff still ships from China
Don’t do business with Wish. I have had nothing but trouble with them. When trying to get a refund, they run you round and round in a circle and you never get anything accomplished.
I agree with you about Wish. I had some good results, but when it went bad, it was very bad. I placed a couple of fairly large (for me) orders. Shipping date kept getting moved back, and when it never arrived, I was told that it was beyond the date when I could get any assistance from Customer Service for the orders, even though at the time, we were still within the delivery period. Never again!
The so called retail price is absolutely RIDICULOUS – the savings rendered, ie 93% off – is also RIDICULOUS
Ive been tracking the ‘sellers listed price’ against the vague descriptions for items and each time the price listed is incorrect.
For eg. A remote control drone marked at $920 discounted by 97%! Hogwash. They retail for the tiny 37cm ones at between $35-45.
I won this particular item but cancelled it just to see how easy it would be. Refunded straight away. I’ve seen laptops unbranded listed at over $3000.
I guarantee sometimes the seller makes a buck or two when they are selling tens of thousands of that item. But they are not discounted because they were won at auction.
As for people buying rings… probably read the description in more detail. It probsbly has the clarity there, like night vision lense. In the description it says— will not help you see at night, only low light. Lollllll
You get refunded only one or twice, after that you have to return at your expense. 50% of the items I have received are defective (like memory cards) – camera on drone), totally different ( Roman coin from different era than advertised – cheaper era and barely viewable – picture showed awesome), incomplete (stereo Bluetooth ear buds with chagrining case – Got one bud, no charger different color/type) and so on.
They require you return an item with tracking at your expense (even though fake which they say is no go) and to China the post office DOES NOT offer tracking and the shipping cost is MORE than then paid.
I have written (& written) and they keep responding with something about a ‘threshold’ for buyers that “allows” free returns or refunds (one or two and from there on you are responsible).
STAY AWAY. You will only waste money. We need to start a class action suit to stop this and I am working on it. Contact me.
I sell on tophatter and could not agree with you more. Most of the stuff on there is junk, I am not sure if junk is even low enough. After you return a couple of products then their money back guarantee only works if you pay tracked shipping back even if the item is deflective. As a seller, I try to sell quality, real sterling silver, real collectible coins etc; but today broke the camel’s back so to speak tophatter in a so-called experiment in which only they make money and sold them below my cost price and threatened me with barring if I don’t ship the orders. Today, they also cut the prices on almost all my items to where I am selling them at a loss. I am disabled and have a hard time making ends meet so I thought I would try tophatter. A bad mistake since In my experience the fees are over 33% of what the item sells and ships for so on a 1000 total sales 2 weeks they take almost 400 then I have to pay shipping and cost of products so I am lucky to net 200 for the two week period. I would love to join the suit
What sort of items do you sell? If you have another site, I would love to look at your products. Thanks!
Do you sell somewhere else? I would like to look at your items.
God bless you.
Patty
someone should start a FB post that gets sent around telling peeps to AVOID. I have not received my stuff, as of today, but now I am getting worried about all these negative reviews. Glad to know NOT to attempt to sell on there, also.
if you start a FB I will join, the gold and silver are all fake, the other stuff just trash
My wife got into the Tophatter frenzy and spent over $2000. Its all junk and not worth re-selling. We are willing to join any class action law suit that is working to make Tophatter change the deceptive practices.
I took a $1,500 loan to buy cosmetics supposed name brands, I re-sold them on ebay and my seller rating dropped because everything was a fake. I would love to sue them, I dont know how their BBB rating is high, maybe we should all eport them to BBB, all junk!!!!
Cosmetics have caused skin discoloration as well
Why would you take out a loan for cosmetics and then why would you try to resell them without doing an inspection first?
Class Action yes. I’ll join in as a co-plaintiff.
Please let me know on class action lawsuit.Thank you for your warning
KEEP ME IN THE LOOP. I MAY NEED TO JOIN THE SUIT. BOUGHT A BUNCH OF STUFF AND WAITING FOR ITS ARRIVAL. ONCE I CHECK THEM OUT I WILL SEE HOW TO GO FROM THERE.
You still starting a law suit? They are not giving me a refund on a gaming chair that I won cheap. It was always selling for around 90 dollars and o won it for 45. They sent me another persons tracking number and that package only weighed 5 pounds. It was delivered to that person so I emailed tophatter to tell them and all they say is the tracking shows delivered. They took my money and are not sending me the chair
I have spent about$500 on silver items. Not more than one or two is marked 925. The quality of the jewelry is junk and no where near silver. They are scam and they cheat you to buy fake items.
I would join you on a class action!! How do I contact you?
It’s a gamble, a good rule is to never bid above $10, that way if you do get a junk item then its not a huge loss. I’ve got about 15 items from auctioning and about 4 of them was basically junk and not worth the amount I paid during auction.
The thing is, I see a lot people commenting that the app/website is a scam and that they only provide junk, not true. Top Hatter is just a tool for vendors to sell their clearance items (JUNK). So for now if there is a problem with what you received from the auction, then the majority of your complaint should be directed at the ones manufacturing/selling the items in the first place. To use an analogy: you dont SUE the manufacturer of the car for running over your pet, you SUE the DRIVER. I would like to believe that the people that run Tophatter realize the issue and are doing the best to separate the good vendors from the bad, but to do this we need to write reviews and other stuff on the app or website about the items they received, when they get enough poor/bad reviews then they ban or blacklist the vendor from selling junk. Unfortunately, the majority of the people here don’t have the patience to go through that process.
The best advice I can offer is: Use some common sense when making a bid, if it is something you dont really need then don’t bid and even if you do need it, don’t go over $10. I got my Fiance a couple of Lior Paris Gold Night and Day cream for less than $10 total and the retail value for both were about $50 (I looked online and compared prices)
Most that i got is cheap Chinese junk. You get what you pay for is the saying and very true with this. Want something cheap ? this is the place to get your Chinese junk sent directly from China.
Wished i would have read reviews before bidding.My first win was an alarm clock,needless to say it came from China.It was in a flimsy little box,no padding and cheap crap.So dissapointed it wasn’t nothing like the picture and it wasn’t worth sending it back for refund.Then stupid me bid on a drone that came from China in a broken up styro foam mold,it too looked like cheap junk .It should have been in a box with Pics on it and Company that manufactured it.No info of any kind.Drone was also damaged .Instruction manual a joke.No model or company info just a few drawings on how to control it and install batteries.A third item was a bluetooth headphone set.It was very cheap made(crap)Kind of like the headphones you get on an Airplane.These were X-mas presents for my Daughter.I just lost my job of 8 years (couldn’t get unemployment because I was considered selfemployed) and thought of tophatter as a blessing,I didn’t expect top dollar stuff for near to nothing but what I got was far from decent and I could have purchased a drone for less in a store and then I would have at least had a company name and info on getting spare parts.Other than getting what You pay for it’s like Donald Goodman said Chinese Junk from China.
I joined TopHatter and within seconds I was placing my Bid(s), I unexpectedly won a smartwatch. Funny Listing price was something like $2599.00. Now, why would anybody sell anything like that for $8.00? I have not received the watch yet but for 8 dollars I’m not expecting an Apple iWatch
Even the most expensive series three watch details at a lot less than that
I purchased several items over about a 6 week period. I wish that I had just purchased one or two and waited for delivery to check their quality. That would have been the end of any further purchases. I purchased items as Christmas gifts having not used the site before. Items purchased included a leather women’s purse, a set of woodworking chisels, a drone, some jewelry, and some clothing items. Without exception everything I purchased was terrible quality. The purse arrived with stains on the inside, a broken zipper on the outside, and had a very bad smell. The set of woodworking chisels were just toys. I suppose you could use them on clay, but they would not last for more than a few strikes of a wood mallet on even the softest woods. The drone was maybe 4″ across, would not charge properly, and never worked. The jewelry was very cheap costume jewelry at best, and the clothing would not have fit a size 4, evern though it was ordered as a woman’s large. I will NEVER EVER waste my time on their website again. After hearing how impossible it is to return anything it is all going straight into the trashl Lesson learned.