Is paying to buy 'credits' to bid on writing jobs a terrible idea?

I've never heard of this concept until now, but yes, that sounds like a terrible idea. If someone wants to have multiple writers bidding for a job, they're already looking to pay as little as they can get away with. Expecting the writer to pay for the privilege of bidding sounds like a great way of selecting writers who are gullible or desperate enough to put up with even more abuse than freelance writers normally get from clients.

If this is on a freelance site, check out some other sites. Though they almost all now offer this to make more money for themselves, some still give you plenty of free bids.

Thank you for your answers. They were all good. Indeed, paying to try to get a job is ridiculous. I guess I just needed a bit more validation!

Yes

There are all sorts of ways you can give away your writing, so why pay someone to haul it away? If you have to pay for someone to get you work it is nearly always a scam.

Paying for a job makes no sense.