Vicesus, a multi-level marketing penny auction platform, announced its indefinite postponement on October 13th, less than two months after its official launch. The company cited "low activity" as the primary reason for halting operations, shifting its focus to a new customer-driven model.
The platform first appeared in the months following the Zeek Rewards Ponzi collapse, aiming to capitalize on the then-active MLM penny auction market. An initial review in January 2013 identified a core issue in Vicesus's revenue sharing. Though it offered retail bids, the compensation plan's affiliate-funded "Ponzi points" component clearly targeted former Zeek Rewards participants seeking a new opportunity.
Despite the compensation plan becoming public in January, Vicesus was not ready for immediate operation. Its official launch did not occur until the end of August, seven months later. The platform then closed its doors less than two months after opening.
An email sent to affiliates on October 13th stated, "We are sorry to announce that the Grand Opening will be postponing. The Main reason is the low activity. We have now tried to do it with affiliates as the main driving force to get customers to the auction, this hasn't worked so we now have to build bidwith.me with our own customers." The company admitted it was not prepared with its own customer campaign to drive auction traffic.
Vicesus confirmed its new focus would be on developing BidWithMe with its own customer base before a relaunch. The company apologized for the decision, calling it "the only right thing to do." For existing affiliates, Vicesus announced a halt to all expiration dates, ensuring active members would retain their status once operations resumed. A specific launch date for www.bidwith.me was promised for the following week, with assurances it would be "durable" due to the new customer-centric approach.
The company's plan involves freezing affiliate points until BidWithMe generates enough revenue to provide affiliates a return exceeding 100% on their investment. This return must occur within a 90-day window, or the points will expire.
Vicesus's initial reliance on an affiliate-funded compensation model proved unsustainable. Since the Zeek Rewards shutdown, the MLM industry has seen numerous penny auctions launch and collapse. All of them tried to profit from affiliate-funded ROI pools. Even the few that attempted a customer-oriented model, such as Bidify and BidXCel, failed quickly. The rapid demise of Vicesus, following a long line of similar ventures, confirms the multi-level marketing penny auction niche is no longer viable.