Top Hatter, located at TopHatter.com, is an online marketplace structured as a versatile auction site. Housing everyday consumer goods with below average price points, Top Hatter has orchestrated an appealing business model to both merchants and consumers alike. To learn whether or not Top Hatter is a legitimate auction site as of 2018 we encourage you to continue reading our comprehensive review.
What is TopHatter?
Top Hatter is an e-commerce platform that functions similar to eBay except for that ongoing auctions last only around 90 seconds while consumers can receive discounted products for up to 80% of retail price. Unlike other auction based sites such as DealDash and QuiBids, Top Hatter is not a penny auction domain and does not charge consumers for placing bids.
How does TopHatter Work?
Entertainment shopping is a common term used in association with Top Hatter since their platform supports fast-paced shopping with a vast volume of different deals on varying products. Among some of the categories of different consumer goods you can bid on would be jewelry, electronics and tech gadgets, fashion & beauty along with home and hobby goods.
While the expanse of consumer goods and products appear to be endless with Top Hatter, it has also been noted that the quality of some of the cheaply purchased consumer goods are not quite up to standards as most would come to suspect. This just means that before you decide to commit and bid on their platform to conduct some external research on your own so you know exactly what you are paying for.
For those who do go on to use TopHatter.com, you can browse their consumer goods or view their Live Now feature which takes you directly into their e-commerce bidding platform. In addition to being able to see the bid price would be the shipping price along with who is actively winning the auction. Going Once, Going Twice and whoever won the bid come into auction towards the last moments of the auctions.
If you win the bid you will be redirected to a payment page where you can purchase your product from the Top Hatter seller for the combined price of the bid total and shipping costs. One advantage of bidding with Top Hatter would be that the consumer goods you do bid for are handled by active sellers and not directly with Top Hatter, which means more a competitive shopping experience for the consumer.
Who is Behind TopHatter?
A Better Business Bureau search will go on to reveal that tophatter.com is acting under the supervision of Tophatter, Inc although according to their site they were funded by leading Silicon Valley venture capital firms, including Goodwater Capital, August Capital and CRV. Reflecting BBB accreditation since August 15th, 2016, TopHatter, Inc was founded on December 1st, 2011 while they have two locations with one being based at 185 Berry St. STE 2400, San Francisco, CA 94107-1750.
For those who need to connect with Top Hatter you can email at help@tophatter.com, call (888) 502-5501 or visit their Facebook, Twitter or Instagram page.
Common TopHatter Goods
- clothing
- watches
- gift cards
- fashion wear
- family board games
- wall decor and art work
- MP3 players and headphones
- digital cameras, labtops & tablets
- chargers, flash drives & memory chips
Popularity
TopHatter.com was a privately acquired domain registered through GoDaddy on December 16th, 2011. According to a market intelligence report, Top Hatter appears to be a relatively popular online auction site ranked 22nd amongst online shopping auctions sites. Supporting over an estimated 3.14 million monthly visitors, Top Hatter reflects a global rank of 18,297 while nearly 30% of their traffic derives from email and display advertisement sources.
Pooling Community Feedback
Top Hatter reflects both positive and negative feedback in large quantities so it is important to analyze relevant feedback from consumer review outlets such as TrustPilot or SiteJabber. Cumulatively both sites combine to account for over 10,000 consumer reviews with the average rating being 4 out of 5 stars.
“It’s okay. Cheap stuff. Fun and easy.”
“Good prices on items that cost more at other places. You can try products without having to spend a fortune. TopHatter stands behind their customers.”
The Better Business Bureau on the other hand reflects an unsatisfactory consumer experience amongst users considering that roughly 35% of customer reviews were negative and that TopHatter Inc has accrued 731 customer complaints within the past few years alone. Below is a segment of the most recently submitted consumer feedback:
“BEWARE!!! If ordering from TOPHATTER website or app, ne very aware that if you order jewelry that states it is “Sterling Silver” , it is NOT sterling silver. It’s a cheap playing that flakes off after a week of wearing…”
Is TopHatter.com a Scam?
TopHatter.com does not appear to be a bonafide scam marketplace according to our research. Their domain is relatively popular supporting over 3 million monthly visitors although market intelligence reports do suggest that their site is losing reputability over the past few months. Perhaps the negative consumer feedback is finally starting to take its toll, we shall see as the upcoming months unravel.
TopHatter.com Review – The Verdict
Top Hatter provides a desirable online platform for consumers who are looking to cash in on some everyday usable goods and products. Supporting a wide variety of consumer products, Top Hatter is a free-to-bid online auction corporation that works with real sellers and have been an active corporation for over 6 years. Due to their reputable track record and transparency we are not blacklisting TopHatter.com.
Outcome: TopHatter should be pursued at your own risk!
Site: TopHatter.com
Do you have any insight or experience to share regarding TopHatter.com?
I “play” on TopHatter a lot. It’s fun, but before I decide to make a purchase I read the comments You don’t get much time to do this, I’m sure that’s on purpose. Don’t rush to hit that BID button, the item will come up again. I also realize that I will get what I paid for. You are not going to get a digital camera of any quality for $5.00! However, when I had an item that simply did not come, they were on top of it. They noticed it before I did! They sent me a couple extended dates and then (as promised) they refunded my money. All without me saying or doing a thing. They sent me several emails keeping me up-to-date. The most important thing is to face facts….You get what you pay for! Don’t expect to get quality items for pennies.
I bought Android tablets from 2 different sellers on TopHatter that were grossly misrepresented in the descriptions. The descriptions said they had excellent hardware specs and ran Android 8, but what I received from both were 7 year old worthless devices with Android 4 and limited hardware. They would not run any currently available Android apps. It took months to receive the tablets, and I must now wait months longer while for the return to China before I get a refund. Even if I do eventually get a refund, it is a scam that should be banned by the TopHatter website. TopHatter allows such fraudulent sellers rather than banning them from the platform, because they charge higher fees to sellers with complaints from customers. Even though buyers can post complaints and bad reviews, the sellers determine which reviews that the public is allowed to view. Posting negative reviews is pointless, since potential victims never get to see them. The TopHatter platform does however benefit from buyer complaints, which are used to charge fraudulent sellers extra fees. The more dishonest a seller is, the more money TopHatter makes.
It is impossible to reach anyone in Customer Service to help with a problem.
Bought a lot of things. Some good deals, some bad, some good quality, some bad. Was willing to take the gambles because of decent prices. That is until this past year. Paid for an item in July 2018, with delivery date of August 2018. The item’s delivery date was extended multiple times. Their Buyer Protection Program does not come into play until 30 or 60 days after shipment date. The delivery dates kept getting extended until August 2019, which meant that the earliest I could claim late delivery was September 2019. Checked the item today and they delivery date had been changed back to August 2018. I inquired about this change and Customer service could not help because it was now past the 180-day policy window. So they change delivery dates to extend the wait, then change it back once outside the limit. So now I am out the purchase price. Very bad customer service and policies. They will never get another order from me. I hope others do not fall into the same trap.
THOPHATTER IS COMPLET SCAM ,
I SOLD $3272.00 ON TOPHATTER , THEY DID NOT PAY ANYTHING TO ME ALL MY SALES WAS TURNED ON FEES ALL ITEMS REFUNDED NEVER RETURN TO ME. TOPHATTER IS COMPLETELY SCAM.
Sales $3,272.00
Fees $3,587.41
Credits $113.21
Net -$202.20
I bought the silver dachshund for $11 and a few days later you run it for $7 i i feel very cheated.