http://www.swoopo.com/

Anyone else heard of this site? Its hilarious how much money people are wasting on it.

12/8/2008 12:50:57 PM

asdf

12/8/2008 12:51:31 PM

looks like they are getting good deals to me

whats the drawback?

12/8/2008 12:53:20 PM

^

Quote :

"The ‘last bidder standing’ when the countdown reaches zero, wins the auction – usually at a very low price; winners save, on average, 65% when compared to the recommended retail price.[citation needed] However, the non-winning bidders have also paid money to bid, but do not win anything. By contrast, in more traditional auctions such as eBay, bidders do not have to pay to bid, and thus lose no money if they don't win the auction."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swoopo

What an interesting business model. It's one of those in it to win it, all-in deals. It's more like poker than auctioning.

[Edited on December 8, 2008 at 12:55 PM. Reason : asdf]

12/8/2008 12:54:51 PM

wait. you buy bids. then you bid on an item. if you win you pay for the item too?

12/8/2008 12:54:53 PM

Yeah, a few people are getting good deals but the company is making insane amounts of money. Each time you bid on something it costs .75 cents. Each bid also raises the time left on an item by 15 seconds. So basically while it may look like you are getting a good deal, you are investing money in an item you have a slim chance of winning.

http://www.swoopo.com/auction/sony-vaio-vgn-aw125j-h-18-4-laptop-vista/127237.html

For example: The guy who won it placed 566 bids at 424 dollars on the item. So really he payed like 450$ for a 1300$ laptop, which is a great deal. But what if he had lost the auction, he would be down a ton of money. Not to mention there were 2851 bids on it, so the company basically sold the item for 300$ more then it was worth, just to a large group of people.

12/8/2008 12:56:10 PM

insane business model - i like it

12/8/2008 12:56:23 PM

No you do pay the amount of your winning bid when you end. If the last bid was for 45$, but you placed 100 bids on the item, you would pay 45$ for the item, plus 75$ for your bids.

Looking through all the items its one of those things that you could probably profit off of, but you would have to avoid the big ticket items.

[Edited on December 8, 2008 at 12:58 PM. Reason : a]

12/8/2008 12:57:39 PM

so why would someone pay $570 for 300 free bids?

http://www.swoopo.com/auction/300-freebids-voucher/129217.html

[Edited on December 8, 2008 at 12:59 PM. Reason : n]

12/8/2008 12:59:15 PM

Thats the one that has me the most confused. The only thing I can think is a ton of people have invested more money then they would like to in it, and now want to win it to at least get something back.

12/8/2008 12:59:50 PM

it would make sense for you to not have to pay that cost, just for bids. thus the company will rack up a shit ton, and as long as you don't make $225 in bids, you get something out of it.

12/8/2008 1:01:16 PM

You definitely have to pay the full cost at the end. You buy your bids before hand and use them during auctions, then if you win you pay for the auction. I wish you could see the full bid history but it seems that its the same people bidding over and over again in that one, I think they just have too much invested to not win something, but it seems retarded.


I figured it out - that particular auction was 100% off, so they are paying just their bid cost.

[Edited on December 8, 2008 at 1:04 PM. Reason : a]

12/8/2008 1:03:05 PM

Quote :

"SUNK COST EFFECT"

12/8/2008 1:05:04 PM

^^yeh, that's what I was talking about (paying bidding cost only) for the 300 free bids.

I'm willing to bet that their claims of percentages saved don't include bid costs

[Edited on December 8, 2008 at 1:18 PM. Reason : .]

12/8/2008 1:18:28 PM

They actually do it seems - Looking at the one I posted earlier it includes his bids in his savings.

12/8/2008 1:20:22 PM

maybe so...


this company is making a killing.

12/8/2008 1:24:13 PM

Indeed, those penny auctions get ridiculous.

http://www.swoopo.com/auction/tomtom-go-930t/127491.html

The company profited 900$ off of that sale.

12/8/2008 1:27:11 PM

holy shit. I need a job with this company

and they are including bidding cost in % saved. However, I think their item appraisals are definitely on the high side of things.

I'm not taking away from the company, just trying to figure them out and know what they're really saying

[Edited on December 8, 2008 at 1:32 PM. Reason : .]

12/8/2008 1:29:25 PM

Oh yeah its definitely an illusion. All it is is a lottery.

12/8/2008 1:36:28 PM

I saw an auction for a set price TV (something stupid cheap like 200$ for a 47" 120 hz samsung) net the company close to 30,000$ in profit.

It is INSANE how much money they are making.

Iphone? 1500$ in bids.

12/8/2008 1:40:41 PM

hey guys i got an awesome idea for a website

12/8/2008 2:17:27 PM

http://www.swoopo.com/auction/sony-vaio-vgn-fw140e-16-4-core2duo-vista/128835.html

25 $ looks like an awesome deal.

12/8/2008 2:20:21 PM

LOL, GoldenGirl is exactly the type of sucker that this site lures in

12/8/2008 2:23:45 PM

LOLZ

these guys are geniuses though. fucking bank, mang.

12/8/2008 2:25:24 PM

That makes my head hurt.

12/8/2008 2:25:39 PM

LOLZERS no. I read this thread.

12/8/2008 2:26:07 PM

http://www.swoopo.com/auction/ds-nintendo-ds-lite-crimson-red-and-blac/129562.html

Heres a prime example for you ...

Dude spends 182 bucks in bid costs (243 bids) and the final price is 140.25.

That means he spent 320 bucks on an item deemed to be worth 130 bucks... Not a good deal.

BUT, as you can imagine, he probably started bidding when the price was around 60 dollars ...

And once it got to a point where he had spent 60 bucks in bid costs, and the bid was at $80, he felt stuck... figures, well, I might as well keep bidding, because after a few minutes, it will be over and I will win it, and that is better than going home empty handed after spending so much money...

Just then, a new bidder comes into the picture, who hasnt spent a dime on the auction, and starts bidding ... now that person can bid up until the price is equal to that of the "value" and still not be getting a bad deal ... so the old bidder is now stuck in a terrible position ... and just keeps bidding away


Dude got screwed, if I am reading this bidding thing correctly.

12/8/2008 2:42:50 PM

^tis what I gathered




[Edited on December 8, 2008 at 2:48 PM. Reason : .]

12/8/2008 2:45:23 PM

lol why would you bid before the thing is in the last 2ish seconds?

I'm Big Business and i approved this message.

12/8/2008 2:48:33 PM

^seems like most people wait until then. however, when someone bids, the time goes back to 10 or 20 seconds

12/8/2008 2:49:22 PM

oh, well then that is genius. rofl


i need to get a job for this site

I'm Big Business and i approved this message.

12/8/2008 2:50:06 PM

just watch it for a while. it will amaze you. then calculate how much the company made and hold on to your socks, cause it may knock them off

just noticed something. they don't count 'negative' or zero savings in their average savings not sure how much effect that would have though

[Edited on December 8, 2008 at 2:52 PM. Reason : .]

12/8/2008 2:51:06 PM

fuck this, i'm making one that only charges $0.50

also, this needs a chatbox. "Fuck you bitch, i can sit here all night"

fuck swoopo

I'm Big Business and i approved this message.

[Edited on December 8, 2008 at 2:53 PM. Reason : cents not dollars lol]

12/8/2008 2:52:26 PM

a CB on there would be hilarious

12/8/2008 2:53:40 PM

Quote :

"ZERO SUM GAME"

12/8/2008 3:01:35 PM

I heard they have wii's for 27 bucks.

12/8/2008 5:39:31 PM

yeah they do, go bid on one

I'm Big Business and i approved this message.

12/8/2008 5:49:04 PM

http://www.swoopo.com/auction/apple-macbook-mb466ll-a-13-3-inch-laptop/125869.html

1300$ macbook, one guy pays 769$ for it, everyone else pays a total of 10,835$ for it.


Why didn't I come up with this idea first.

12/9/2008 8:50:27 AM

I still don't really get why they make you pay the winning price or whatever. Since they make all their money on the bids, it seems like they should just fix the price at $0. Seems like more people would just be on there throwing 75cents at the chance to win a tv or some shit. It's more like the lottery than anything else, you are buying the chance to win whatever prize. But maybe they have to charge then, so it's not legally gambling.


Or maybe that's like a raffle?

[Edited on December 9, 2008 at 9:42 AM. Reason : ]

12/9/2008 9:41:24 AM

you pay money to have a chance to pay for an item. genius businessmen, gullible consumers




I'm wdprice3, and I give guns to kitties.


[Edited on December 9, 2008 at 9:54 AM. Reason : .]

12/9/2008 9:54:16 AM

i would kill a man to go back in time and think of this.

12/9/2008 10:03:48 AM

what a brilliant business idea!

Quote :

"I still don't really get why they make you pay the winning price or whatever. Since they make all their money on the bids, it seems like they should just fix the price at $0. Seems like more people would just be on there throwing 75cents at the chance to win a tv or some shit. It's more like the lottery than anything else, you are buying the chance to win whatever prize. But maybe they have to charge then, so it's not legally gambling."

well seems like you have an idea to make a competing site

12/9/2008 10:24:56 AM

Good Christ this is brilliant.

12/9/2008 10:31:21 AM

^^ nah, there has to be a point where people stop or else no one would bid.

12/9/2008 10:32:59 AM

crazy site. A Wii sells for $76 four minutes after one sells for $217.

12/9/2008 11:28:54 AM

and he made about $1800 selling both of them.

unreal.

12/9/2008 11:31:08 AM

a Wii just sold for 20 bucks
simonn was telling me about this earlier
i was signing up and got to the enter credit card info, and just couldnt put my self up to paying $37.50 for only 50 bids

12/9/2008 5:58:38 PM

Sounds to good too be true.

12/9/2008 7:20:24 PM

that's genius

[Edited on December 9, 2008 at 8:19 PM. Reason : exactly how long does it take some of these auctions to end]

12/9/2008 8:18:55 PM

dude that got the 50" Samsung HDTV for $300 is GOLDEN. Best deal I've seen EVER.

12/9/2008 8:26:53 PM