Quasi-multipliers for a Hilbert C * -bimodule V were introduced by L. G. Brown, J. A. Mingo, as a certain subset of the Banach bidual module V * * . We give another (equivalent) definition of quasi-multipliers for Hilbert C * -bimodules using the centralizer approach and then show that quasi-multipliers are, in fact, universal (maximal) objects of a certain category. We also introduce quasi-multipliers for bimodules in Kasparov's sense and even for Banach bimodules over C * -algebras, provided these C * -algebras act non-degenerately. A topological picture of quasimultipliers via the quasi-strict topology is given. Finally, we describe quasi-multipliers in two main situations: for the standard Hilbert bimodule l 2 (A) and for bimodules of sections of Hilbert C * -bimodule bundles over locally compact spaces.