On Superbowl Sunday, I was at a friend’s house when I noticed a big box full of “stuff.” I was told that the homeowner had paid $12 for the box and now everything in the box was hers. She said if anything in the box was of interest, it was mine to keep. I dug in. Lots of stuff, some in packages, some not. I found a box wrapped in plastic containing a small brand new scented candle–-I have two dogs and have lost most of my sense of smell, so I like scented candles. It was mine.

Conversation followed. It seems the homeowner and her two sisters had found something called “MAC.BID,” two big discount stores in the Las Vegas Valley that opened fairly recently. One of the stores is in Henderson, NV, the other is in North Las Vegas. In Henderson, a former Kmart store is now a huge MAC.BID store welcoming shoppers who can shop from home online for auction items (items that are returned or overstocked from local retailers. Shoppers have three days to pick up their winning items after the end of the online auction.) Or individuals can shop in-person paying, depending on the day, from $12 each (Saturday) to 50 cents each (Friday) for items purchased. In-person shopping starts at Noon unless you are a $9.99 a month “standard member” which means you can start shopping at 10 a.m.

I visited the Henderson MAC.BID store at 732 S. Racetrack Road. The shopping area is huge. In the back of the warehouse are the shelves for the auction items. You can bid online for everything from motorcycles and coffee makers to toilets and strollers. All of the items for bid are available for inspection. (One of the sisters “thought” she had bought a chair for $7 and later, when she went to take a look, it was just a slipcover. She did not take her auction item, lost her $7 and learned to inspect the item before bidding or at least look at the picture and read the description more carefully. This same sister did, however, buy one of those big boxes of items for $12 and found, inside, an Apple iPhone with a value, she said, of over $700!)

The owners of MAC.BID are two men from Philadelphia, Kellen Campbell and Shawn Allen. Their company, Mac Discount, LLC, was founded in 2018 and now they have 24 MAC.BID stores across the country.

One interesting thing about MAC.BID is that no cash is allowed. Buyers must be registered with MAC.BID and pay with their registered credit cards.

There are lots of rules regarding prices and purchases of auction items, but we did learn that, following the rules, items can be returned.

Because the items on sale are sometimes in very good shape, some shoppers look for bargains that they can then re-sell. Others shop just for fun. Still more are quite serious and make sure they are making the best use of a limited income.

Like to shop? Have some energy? (no chairs are provided). Go online to MAC.BID, register and, hopefully, eventually enjoy some “new” products.