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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Es un website muy barato y su productos son de muy Baja calidad te recomiendo que compres en otrolado. Ordene unos guegos para mi hijo let funciono por in dia Al otro dia ya no servia
For those of you that refer to BBB rating for Tophatter, I own a business. A pretty successful one at that. With BBB, you can buy a better rating as long as you buy their endorsement. They have a 60% positive rating and still have an A+ rating? No, not a scam at all. Just about everything now is a scam, in one way or another. I can almost guarantee Tophatter has either employees, or a reputation company posting positive reviews for them all over the web to boost any rating artificially. I have been approached by at least 10 “companies” usually overseas, who guaranteed I would see an almost immediate boost in my online ratings, as long as I paid for it. I have used tophatter for about a week or two. Good concept, bad execution. All products are chinese knockoffs, even if they ship from within the USA. All are pretty much junk, unless looking for some costume jewelry. All of the electronic products ordered either did not work or stopped working within a week. All other items were so cheap, they went into the trash immediately. Do not waste your time or money on this garbage. Be American, buy American. Just about the only place left that takes quality seriously anymore.
Site sucks my husband ordered a few items I d I’d know about until it arrived it is junk today he got bonsai seeds no instructions. What a joke I would be dead before this crap would even grow. Buyers be ware
Tophatter has become the ULTIMATE RIPOFF. 95% of what I have won has been absolute junk. I have spent well over enough money as have my roommates as well, it’s embarrassing. I have won items that never made it to my address, some were immediately cancelled without me knowing until I went to track the item. Other items got lost in the mail and one particular said it was delivered and it wasn’t , so Tophatter told me it wasn’t their problem and to contact the seller. I have had items that were shipped to the other side of UNITED STATES, I live in California and items where instead delivered to N Dakota , New Jersey, and I asked how the phuck does that happen? So I realized this is how I can get my money back with out having to pay to ship item back.
I took a picture of (Amethyst Crystal Ball) that actually was a size if a larger marble, they refunded my money and said to keep the marble.
I took a picture of (Exquisite sterling silver mermaid ring) the ring is so beyond ugly and you can’t maker out where the mermaid is and when you do she looks hideous. They refunded my money and said keep the ring. The only thing the wont refund is the cost of shipping. I won a tablet and payed so much for it that when I got it I laughed so hard, I’m not into getting ph%^$ in the A%% but Tophatter really gave it to me good this time and they didn’t even spit on it first. So I’m definitely in if there is a lawsuit!
I have ordered 16 items from Tophatter, of those 4 items were lost during shipping . Tophatter has however refunded 1 of those items automatically. They are late to refund the others so far, but are supposed to do it automatically.
The items can be deceptively cheap. Read the details carefully and have a good look at the pictures. More or less I have gotten what I expected (cheap things).
i have won several things from top hatters, however, keep in mind most items come from China. extended shipping times i did order a ring and quality was so not up to par as the picture could have gotten better from a gumball machine. but for the price and most items, i have won i can’t complain. don’t expect it in a hurry and also check shipping prices. great place to get them knock-offs that look authentic for kids gifts they know now wiser.got some great nightwear for the wifey not at them 50 to 100 dollar name brand stores neither that i usually just rip off lol.
I bought several items from this site and everything was garbage. Hoodies were thin MATERAL HAD NO LINING, The purse combo was VERY POORLY MADE it had holes punched where the straps were woven thru, and quality of material was CHEAP. The picture on the other hand was of a very well manufactured items. I am very disappointed now christmas will be short.
I have only bought jewlLery on Tophatter- of course at the price Ibid it had to be junk but I love the rings anyway-so what it is glass. The only objection is that the copper or nickel comes through after about ten wears the plating could be better. This the first time I ever commented!
“If it sounds to good to be true…” 90 secouds OK, but you can not compare to other sites. Photos are deceptive. Some show what appears to be a $1,000 top of the line drone, but in reality it should be in a box of cracker jacks. Coins, while usually discribed, are a suckers bet to ANYONE who is a coin collector. A “silver dollar” is plated, and looks real, but can’t be unless they got dies from the mint and struck copper. I will avoid them like th ePlague
Scam!!!!!!!!!!!!! I have never been to this site and I have 4 or 5 charges from them. Never received anything from them either.
Somebody needs to investigate this company because they changed my name and address on a credit card that I gave them to make a purchase and now they won’t refund my money. I never received the package from them but they won’t tell me where it went to.
Everything I got was horrible junk. Everything, I mean everything went to the trash. 8 items I could not use. Never ever will I go to that site again.