Wednesday, September 24, 2008

Is Swoopo a scam?

Winner's curse? Try winner's and loser's curse. Swoopo is the self-proclaimed "home of exciting, fast-paced auctions on the internet." The prices on the site are significantly lower than on other auctions sites such as eBay, but there is a catch: bids are made in $0.15 increments and cost $1 each.

For example, as you can see in the picture below, an Apple iPod Touch just sold for $95.40, $133 below market price. The winner, Jannlotz, also bid 35 times, which cost him/her an additional $35. So the total savings was about $100. But what about all of the other bidders? According to Swoopo, the auction price for all items starts at $0.15. For a winning price of $95.40, that would mean 635 bids were made on this item (600 of which were NOT by the winner). In a 10 minute span, I saw at least 100 bids placed by bidders that eventually lost the auction. So even though Jannlotz was the auction winner, the real winner was Swoopo ($600 in bids - $100 loss on the item for a total of $500!!). And I'm sure there are situations where the auction winner ends up paying more than the value of the item (because of the sunk cost of bidding). For example, say that you have made 100 bids on an item worth $100. If the price is still below $100, it is worth the $1 marginal bid to buy the item for under market price.

In conclusion, Swoopo is not a scam but rather an auction site for those with very high risk tolerance. Bid wisely...

145 comments:

Chris Bauman said...

*****I work for Swoopo, in Cupertino, CA****

Hi Justin,

I am glad that you were able to come to the real conclusion that "Swoopo is not a scam" as we most assuredly are not a scam.

But, I think it would be interesting for you to know that Swoopo loses money on 70% of our auctions. While those certain examples show us making a killing on a couple of items, we have to gamble that the remaining 30% of the auctions cover the costs of the other products and our overhead.

Unknown said...

It as depends on who is bidding on the bid if the CUSTOMER makes the profit or if Swoopo does.

Unknown said...

Well, can really be a scam if people understand what is going on. Not really dishonest, but definitely original thinking.

Unknown said...

We will see whether Swoopo is a scam. I put $50 for 75 bids in my account and after seeing their tactics... I requested a return on my money (I wasn't stupid enough to bid)
They also have this mystical $15 for registering... but thats only after you win the 1st auction... sounds fishy to you?
I am sure they are not losing money on anything.. actually making 3-5 times the items value... especially now that it has picked up popularity.

Unknown said...

This is hilarious... the 300 free bids ended at $337.95. This means at 15 cents for each increase, this item was bid 2253 times. At $0.75 per bid, Swoopo made $1689.75

Holy bejesus.. I think I need to set up a similar shenanigans type website... it is only lucrative till others jump on the bandwagon.. right?

Unknown said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Unknown said...

"[snip] If the price is still below $100, it is worth the $1 marginal bid to buy the item for under market price."

HUH? I dont understand this statement, but there is NO FUCKING WAY I'm gonna pay for my bids on an auction that I lost!! That's not bidding, that's gambling!! If I want to lose money, I'll go to Vegas...at least THEY have booze and hookers!!

Bob P said...

I took the plunge and bought 100 bid package. I big on a Tom Tom. The 10 second timer started when the dollar amount was met. I started to bid. But the bidding continued. I find the help files very vague. I belive its a scam! BP

Natron said...

It's possible to get some good deals, just don't be stupid. It sucks up a lot of time so factor in the values of your time spent babysitting items you want. You'll see your timer fluxuate ALL day. But, hey, if your patient and bid a few times when the # of biders is wearing down, you can end up with some great bargains. The $800 SLR Rebel camera has sold for $38. Even if the winner bid 100 times, that's still a fantastic deal. You needs sites like Swoop out there to try new ideas. Smart people will make them work for them. If idiots want to bid 1000 times on an item and not pay attention to their total investment, that's their loss. Thanks for the article Justin!

Unknown said...

http://www.swoopo-scam.com

Hardly an original URL, but I was irked enough to go through the motions and warn people.

I can't believe it runs loose.

Kathleen said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
M said...

"But, I think it would be interesting for you to know that Swoopo loses money on 70% of our auctions. While those certain examples show us making a killing on a couple of items, we have to gamble that the remaining 30% of the auctions cover the costs of the other products and our overhead."

While I'm not here to say that Swoopo is a fraud, I would like to address Chris Bauman's point.

Bauman is trying to downplay what Swoopo is making from its auctions by quoting percentages at the people reading this blog.

That Swoopo loses money on 70% of their auctions says nothing of how much money that is, nor does it indicate just how much profit Swoopo makes from the other auctions.

The profitable 30% may very well be composed of items for which people would be competitive, like the iPod Touch mentioned in this blog, which would mean substantially greater bids.

Obviously this is speculation, but it would stand to reason that this is a profitable enough operation for that 70% in losses to be negligible compared to the 30% of auctions covering costs; note that Bauman entirely fails to address profit.

I like the point raised here

http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/archives/001196.html

about the endowment effect:

"There's something else at work here, though, and it's almost an exploit of human nature itself. Once you've bid on something a few times, you now have a vested financial interest in that product, a product someone else could end up winning, rendering your investment moot."

Chris Bauman said...

***Disclaimer - I work for Swoopo***

@mellifera - While I am not intentionally trying to downplay how our business model works, I am trying to refute the examples that everyone quotes that show Swoopo making huge gains. That is not always the case. Here is an example:

http://www.swoopo.com/ended-auction.html?aid=128842

As a penny auction, you can quickly see that 151 bids were placed totaling $113.25 in bid revenue (151 x $0.75). Swoopo lost a considerable amount of money on this item ($1,149.99 - $113.25 = $1036.74).

We win some, we lose some. But, we have been able to stay in business. We do make money but not nearly in the amounts that everyone seems to think that we do.

Darsen said...

Here is one of those auctions where you made a killing

http://www.swoopo.com/auction/samsung-sgh-i900-omnia/133184.html

7,344 bids @ $1 = the winning bid of $1101.60 ($234 over retail) for a profit of ($8,445.60 - $729.99) = $7,715.61 for a $700 item I'd say your margins are border line fraud. Additionally when you post the winning bids you only post the high bidder bids...very misleading...

Kasem said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
KyanWan said...

Yeah, That's a good one Chris. What do you take us for, fools?

No business would be in business if they didn't make money.

The exception to the rule is your example? Sure, you take a loss on a couple - but what about the others?

I'm sure you're making quite a tidy profit.

I'm just jealous I didn't think of this first. Oh wait, I don't steal from people. Nevermind.

I guess it's all a game of chance - on whether or not the people you're ripping off run out of bid money or not.

Hey! I wonder if the FTC has anything to say about your "business model". I've already filed MY complaint.

Now, Just in case Swoopo decides to remove their street address from their website ... and switch to a PO box for convenience reasons - I'll just leave this here (After all, the FTC is interested in physical locations):

Entertainment Shopping, Inc.
20400 Stevens Creek Blvd, Suite 750
Cupertino, CA 95014

---

Yeah. Tell your management to take their scams back to Germany. We do not need more crooks here in the USA.

BY THE WAY.

I wonder. Why don't you have a respectable US host like, Rackspace for example? Why is the bulk of the operation outside of the US?

Why? Because Swoopo knows what they are doing is potentially illegal. This is why their webservers are OUTSIDE OF THE UNITED STATES.

www.swoopo.com [213.183.7.213]

inetnum: 213.183.7.192 - 213.183.7.255
netname: NPT_213-183-7-192_26
descr: Swoopo Hosting
descr: Entertainment Shopping AG
country: DE
remarks: *****************************************************************
address: netplace Telematic GmbH
address: Marsstrasse 26
address: 80335 Muenchen
address: Germany
phone: +49 89 551805-0
fax-no: +49 89 551805-24


Why outside the US? Just like the other criminals out there - outside of the US = US law does not apply! Scot Free!

However I'm guessing that the company made the foolish move of that US office there.

At least it might be a thorn in your sides.

Sure - you're not a scam - you send out items.

You just rip people off HARD in the process. I think we here in the US have already gotten ripped off good enough in the past 8 years, thank you very much.

Unknown said...

Hey Chris Bauman Swoopo stole 100 bids from my account under a name Kunto kundigung.I have been going round and round with customer support about this.You can see this plan as day in bid history.Also it is funny how all auctions end with bid butler.How do we know if swoopo has something to do with that.If swoopo won all auctions with bid butler under many account names that would be a scam.

Unknown said...

Swoopo is the WORST thing for the internet and the BEST thing for swoopo investors. This site is the seemingly legitimate form of a pyramid club, where everyone constantly pitches in and only one lucky moron wins. I just discovered swoopo today... what a scam!! I did not register or bid and I'm now advising everyone I know to stay away, it's truly evil corporate greed at work here !!
Added: biddingmadness.com and many others just like it are also just as evil, stay away.

Unknown said...

Swoopo is the WORST thing for the internet and the BEST thing for swoopo investors. This site is the seemingly legitimate form of a pyramid club, where everyone constantly pitches in and only one lucky moron wins. I just discovered swoopo today... what a scam!! I did not register or bid and I'm now advising everyone I know to stay away, it's truly evil corporate greed at work here !!
Added: biddingmadness.com and many others just like it are also just as evil, stay away.

KyanWan said...

But of course! You think an auction site where you can't leave comments is legit? Heck no.

I'd like to see ONE person here who DOESN'T work for swoopo who actually got something.

From what I've seen all over the place, these guys are pure thieves.

Remember that old saying: "If it is too good to be true, it probably is."

Well let's update it a little:

"If it's too good to be true, it is."

You deal with these people you get what you deserve: ripped off.

Unknown said...

I just did a one month analysis of an Apple Macbook on Swoopo. I found that Swoopo is profiting about 200% of the value of items delivered. This was only a small field for comparison - based solely on 1 month (December) of auctions for the same brand/model laptop. My findings were that on one item, in 49 auctions, Swoopo pocketed more than $127,000.

There were some interesting finds, such that they only come out ahead on roughly 50% of all auctions. However, those auctions they profit on include several that earned over 20x the wholesale value of the actual computer. On said Macbooks, the bids on the auction only need to reach $12.83 for them to make one penny. Everything beyond that is pure profit. The average value I found was $51.90. This meant that they grossed and average $3894.15 from all the bids placed (@.75 each) plus the $51.90 average ending price. That brings the average gross to $3946.05, and once you take out the cost of the item at Retail Value ($1299) they netted about $2647.08.

Further example, one auction sold for $0.92. This combined with the profit from bids brought the gross to $69.92. Factor in the cost of the laptop, and Swoopo LOST $1228.92. However, this is completely offset by the auctions such as the one ended on 12.01.08. This auction finished at 248.03, which means they stood to gross over 18602.25 (@.75 each)from bidding alone. Then add in the final value of the computer, 248.03, and you have a gross of 18850.28. Factor in the Retail value of the computer, and they netted a $17,551.28 profit.

I think it is pretty clear they are not losing money, however there is a chance to win a laptop at an extremely low value. The lowest I found was the winner of the $0.92 auction. When it was all said and done, shipping included, he had a 1299 dollar laptop for about $26.14. Just don't be like user Deafdlg and actually bid so high that the cost of bids are 200 more than the actual value of the computer.

If you would like to see more of my findings, and a complete table showing said findings, please view the pdf I published. Not all values are perfect, I already noticed an error in one field after I published the file, however most of them are spot on.

http://www.hotlinkfiles.com/files/2184751_j4kfy/Swoopo.pdf]Swoopo.pdf

Unknown said...

If you are reading this you probably know that Swoopo is a well designed scam. I don't think the government can shut down the site, but you can certainly do something by sending emails to Paypal not to do business with swoopo.

Anonymous said...

Is Swoopo a scam??? The American Hertiage Dictionary of the English Language defines scam:

n. A fraudulent business scheme; a swindle

I've looked at Swoopo in depth and I'd read their FAQ section very closely. Someone said the Help section was vague. Either the help section has been changed or that person was illiterate.

First off, Swoopo *could* be a scam, but only if they are using truly fraudulent methods such as company-controlled bid butlers and rigged auction timers. That much is obvious, and I'll leave those things to someone better qualified than I.

However, the huge majority of comments I've read about Swoopo being a "scam" simply decry its methods as outlined in their very clear help and explanation sections. The way the system works is very simple and very well explained. There is nothing vague or misleading about it whatsoever. These people are up front about what they are doing, and I for one applaud them for the idea. If there are that many people out there that can't understand what is clearly explained and/or understand it and want to do it anyway, I say more power to them all. If someone tries to sell me a car and the price is too high... I don't buy it.

Gambling? Maybe by the textbook definition, but fitting the legal definition is chancy at best. But guess what? Gambling is voluntary also. No one is making these people do this. It's also legal, for those throwing around the FTC letters. As someone pointed out, their servers are outside the US so US law does not apply, any more than online poker sites based in the Cayman Islands. Again, the key word here is *voluntary*. Look that one up if you need to.

Kudos to the people that came up with Swoopo, I say. Yes, that is jealousy you see dripping off of that comment. Many posts here have accused them of making huge profits, and I believe it. Since when was that a bad thing? Every cent was given to them freely. Again, always assuming the lack of true fraud (as mentioned above), this it the finest example of capitalism I have ever seen. Nature allows for exploitation. I will never understand the bleeding hearts who somehow blame places like this and gambling casinos for what happens to the people who use them.

And for the record, if these people DO engage in actual fraud, they are absolutely stupid. This whole thing is a HUGE gold mine even without introducing cheating. Human nature ensures their continued success.

Chris Bauman said...

***Disclaimer - I work for Swoopo***

@blueonblack, et al,

While our servers currently are based in Germany (as that is where our company was founded) we are 100% subject to US law. We do have an office in Cupertino, CA, thus we are subject to all of the laws of the US and the state of California. In fact, if anyone is in the SF Bay Area, feel free to drop by for a visit - http://www.swoopo.com/contact.html

Unknown said...
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Unknown said...
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Unknown said...
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Unknown said...

I myself wasn't foolish enough to wager money (it's betting, not bidding) on these. I will agree to both sides -- it does appear to be fraudulent, or a scam -- I don't personally believe that you can ever actually WIN the items they show. Why?

Because, just as someone else mentioned, once you've spent 20 or 50 bucks on it, you want to get it.

At the margins this company -could- be making, it makes sense that they could employ a few people in a few different places to up the bids on free money or a company-funded account.

Also, as I think many people will agree, bidding is fun. It is very similar to gambling, and putting bids out for an item you think you'll receive stimulates the pleasure centers in the brain, similar to smoking crack cocaine. Yes, that's a bit of a stretch, but it doesn't matter whether it's women, drugs, bids, feet, it's all about hitting those pleasure centers, and Swoopo does, big time.

Is it possible to get a cheap item? I don't really think so. Do some of them fall through the cracks? Probably.

That being said, I live in the SF bay area.

See ya soon, Chris.

--removed, then edited.--

Oh look. According to Google Maps, there *is* nothing called 'Entertainment Shopping' at that address, though there are several other offices, like Autodesk, MySQL, a Morgan Stanley office, and several tech companies.

Oh look, also interesting. If you google the address, you will find a domain registrant for 'gbox.com', located at that exact address, shown here:

Registrant:
gBox Inc.
20400 Stevens Creek Blvd.
Suite 750
Cupertino, California 95014
United States

Some fella named Michael Smiley, technical contact and employee? Owner? of Navio Systems, INC., a company selling 'AV content', or apparently, content rights. Interesting.

Where is it, you ask?

Conveniently, Navio Systems, INC is found at (you guessed it!):

20400 Stevens Creek Blvd.
Suite 750
Cupertino, California 95014
United States

But the domain registrant information for navio.com is not located there... It's owned by some company called 'DomainsByProxy.com' . . . .

Private information.

You know, if I ran some sort of business in this area, I'd want to be sure that I was listed on Google properly... Oh wait. My business is, and I've gotten calls from Google to be sure their information is accurate.

It wasn't actually said by PT Barnum, though it is attributed to him. We all know the quote.

Screw what I said before. I posted that comment, then removed, edited, and added a new one, and then did so again.

Seems like a bunch of smoke and mirrors to me. Don't get parted.

4th time's the charm. I deleted this post and redid it 4 times, because either a) there is no 'edit' button or I'm a bloody fool.

Either way, last piece of info:

Michael J Smiley

3239 Agate Dr.

Santa Clara, CA, 95051

408-605-2810

smiley@zo.com

Apparently no longer part of the company, he's still the domain registrar... But from 1996? If they updated it from then, why haven't they updated it in his absence?

Smells fishy.

Chris Bauman said...

***Disclaimer - I work for Swoopo***

@The Frugal - We do work out of the Navio office - It's called a sublease. There are 6 of us in the US office.

But, as you live in the Bay Area, I welcome you to come by. 7th floor. I'll make sure to put the coffee on.

KyanWan said...

Yeah, defending your meal ticket is always a good idea. With this economy and all. You'd hate for the FTC to get all down and dirty with swoopo and put you out of work, wouldn't you Mr Bauman.

Anyways - just like the old "numbers racket".

The mafia is always friendly and cheerful when you place your bets.

Get on the wrong side of things - and they'll break your kneecaps real fast.

Nobody's in it for losses. Well, except for the people you "sell" to. Swoopo's Just a big old ponzi/pyramid scheme wearing a mask, or should we say a template of an "auction" site. Give it up. Let the FTC decide what you people are.

File your FTC complaint like I did. Swoopo's BS. The more of us who complain - the more likely nobody else gets screwed.

Kathleen said...

I agree. I won 300 bids and when I used the bidbutler instead of using the bids one at a time the thing took the whole amount and did not even show up in the bidbutler! I emailed the customer care over four times to try to get the bids back and no response. I for one am done with this site as you are not really getting great deals. After putting in over 100 dollars on one item that costs 200 and having to pay the closing cost, not worth it. I will let you all know if they decide to give me back my 300 bids they stole from me.

Travis Chance Photography said...

Very interesting commentary on both sides. I ran across Swoopo today and thought it was too good to be true. I watched a 37" Samsung LCD 1080P TV sell for around $37 a second ago. If you have any common sense, you'd end your bidding once you see there are multiple people bidding on it. Common sense tells me to wait until the bids are few & far between to make a move. Whether you call it a scam or not, be smart about your actions. I also watched a 40" Samsung recieved bid after bid after bid a few minutes ago. If you look into the future bids section, you'll notice that there are several of the same models available....just wait for one of those.

Unknown said...

Just imagine that you are the owner of swoopo.com. Now, what would stop you from having your buddies make bids? NOTHING! Have them bid FOR FREE! (how can people beat bidders who has unlimited free bids?) And after making thousands of dollars, it is mostlikely that one of your buddies have won the big screen TV, which then goes right back on the auction.

Before talking about whether it is a scam or not, or whether or not you can prove. Just think about what the owner can do to ensure his/her profit. The odds of you winning is worse than lottery system because swoopo.com has nobody regulating it.

jay said...

I just wanted everyone to know you might be bidding on a apple laptop in the usa, but in spain the same auction is going on and your bidding on a nec laptop there. I think this is a crock of sh*t. They should make every site its own seperate site. Not combining them into one with different items. Look for yourself.
usa http://www.swoopo.com/auction/hp-2133-kx868at-8-9-inch-mini-note-pc-vi/139905.html
spain http://www.swoopo.es/subasta/asus-eee-pc-1000h/139905.html
germany http://www.swoopo.de/auktion/netbook-fujitsu-siemens-amilo-mini-ui352/139905.html
uk http://www.swoopo.co.uk/auction/samsung-nc10-10-2-netbook/139905.html

If they were legit why would be people all over the worl be bidding on different items but all adding onto the same bid total. TOTAL BULLSH*T

jay said...

P.S. Why don' they tell you any of this anywhere on the site.

Unknown said...

You know... I find it absolutely amazing that out of some 30 comments (excluding, of course the comments made by the Swoopo employee), there were only one or two people who've shown themselves as having any common sense regarding this Swoopo nonsense. I almost feel like applauding them, but that would only further highlight the sad state of everyone else who've felt the unfortunate need to comment...

Regardless of which way one cuts it... The vast majority of these comments are just that - sad. I find it hard to believe that so many people are simply that, well... dimwitted to not grasp this situation. So what is it? Bitterness that you gambled and lost? Jealousy that you hadn't thought of this idea first?

Really what is it?

Because frankly... All of these cries of scams, frauds, letters to the FTC, etc. are flat out absurd. The most humorous had to be the mention of a "ponzi" scheme... Really? Do you even know what a ponzi scheme is? I'm guessing not since you felt the need to compare this to such... I'm also going to go out on a limb here and say you've never even heard of such before the recent revelation of the Madoff scandal.

Either way... any such cries are unwarranted and just plain pathetic. Just because you neither like, nor agree with the particular business model used here, doesn't make it illegal, nor fraudulent. I looked at the site and the entire process is spelled out clearly.

If someone has the wherewithal to complete the sign up process and subsequently make a bid, then they should also be able to fully understand how the service works. If not, then there's much bigger issues here that have more to do with the respective end-user than the site itself.

This Swoopo is no more a scam than any dime a dozen, raffle, lottery, etc.. It's a gamble and like any gamble - if you don't have the fortitude to handle such things, you shouldn't be doing it in the first place.

The bottom line is... Many of you need to grow a pair and get things together. No one is forcing you, nor anyone else to sign up, nor put money into this site. If you're going to warn of anything, you should be warning people against themselves and their inherent weaknesses, not the site.

If one is truly that "vanilla" of person, then you might want to stick to eBay... Actually, if one's personality is really that bland, then eBay might be too much for you as well. In which case... Just stick to Macy's and most importantly - keep your whining to yourself.

Unknown said...

What is sad is that someone feels the need to write that much to show off his false sense of superiority. Maybe he wanted to use a word "wherewithal."

Amgoff thinks that Swoopo is like lottery. Amgoff thinks that someone (well, other than those on Swoopo payroll)actually wins the items. Amgoff thinks that Swoopo is really an auction. WRONG WRONG WRONG.

In any given night at a casino, the casion makes money and it gives some money to some lucky gambler. In Swoopo, Swoopo keeps all the money. They have their own bidders who have unlimited free bids. Can I prove it? Can you prove it? No. Is it hard for a swoopo to set that system up? No. Swoopo is scam and they victimized many people who maybe are at fault of not reading every single small print word.

M said...

AMGoff: I know that at least I didn't make any claims that Swoopo was illegal, a scam, or a fraud: what I wanted to illustrate was more that Bauman's downplaying of Swoopo's profit was unnecessary misdirection. From several other comments here you may have neglected to read, you can see others have taken the time to analyze individual auctions or aggregations thereof to quantify Swoopo's alleged profits. I find these analyses more interesting than whatever rubbish you reduced the thread to before you told people here to "grow a pair," which I must say didn't serve as much of a testament to your "wherewithal."

That said, I do agree that people ought to consider the consequences of participating on a site like Swoopo -- just like any other -- but that doesn't speak to any kind of "ought to" on Swoopo's part.

We are all adults, and are all responsible for how we act, but we know at this point that people are not the rational agents standard models in economics would have us believe we are. Does this afford Swoopo the right to capitalize on that irrationality? Perhaps (though I did previously argue that I didn't think so). I'm not certain. I just feel like it's a more interesting question to ask than whether the FTC cares.

Finally, I would like to call attention to how silly it is for you to whine about people's whining and then call for them to suppress it in the comments section of a blog post about whether Swoopo is a scam of all places. No one's invited themselves into your living room for tea and a "dimwitted" bitchfest; posturing like they did so is at best comical and at worst a waste of your time.

Unknown said...

A woman strolls in a city park alone at night and ends up getting raped. No, she is not the smartest person. But that doesn't mean the rapist should not be prosecuted.

I spent $35 on Swoopo. I was naive. But that doesn't mean that Swoopo scammers were entitled to that money.

Most people here are trying to alert other people from making the same mistake. So, stop bitching at these people. Are you reading this Amgoff, you wherewithal idiot?

Ron Gross said...

Wow Sean, you must have been really impressed by the use of "wherewithal". True, it is not commonly used in written English, but it is not that uncommon a word.

Now as for AMGoff, he is basically correct. Even if Swoopo makes a LOT of money (say, $10,000 per laptop even) that does not make it a scam. Someone gets stuff cheap, and lots of people bid some and gamble on getting stuff cheap and lose whatever they chose to wager. How is this not just like a casino? Are Vegas Casino's a scam? No. In the short term some people win and most lose. If you gamble a lot you will lose in the long run. No big revelation, or scam there.

Now Sean, you make the accusation that Swoopo might being employing a lot of shill bids to fix the bidding. If that is the case you definitely have a scam, but that is a pretty major claim to make with NO EVIDENCE.

Personally I doubt it is rigged. Why would they. There is plenty of money to be made by running it legitimately. Again, just like Vegas. No need to rig the game and kill the golden goose. They might, but it would make more sense to play it straight and enjoy the paycheck.

Unknown said...

I just stumbled on to a swoopo-like page http://www.bidonetwo.com has any of you been there or know something about it?

Unknown said...

I got sucked in by Swoopo and I have won two auctions only I have not seen my products. I worte to customer service three times so far and they have not written me back. I am at your website to see if anyone else complained. My first win was Dec 23 and my second one was about two weeks later. If I actually get my items I will break even with all of the bids that I have place and maybe be ahead $100. I think that this is a novel idea. At least I will have broke even. IF I GET MY ITEMS!

Brent H said...

Just watched a Wii go for $265, and it looks like the "winner" had $200 worth of bids as well. From what I can tell, they made something like 5x profit on that Wii. I can't figure out why online gambling is illegal, but this isn't. Who's to say the "winner" isn't a bot anyways?

ShawnBronald said...

Chris Bauman or anyone else, explain this one to me and I'll be very greatful. If I can make some sense out of this, I'll be more inclined to sip the Swoopo Kool-Aid.

http://www.swoopo.com/auction/-1-000-cash-/144316.html

Chris Bauman said...

****Disclaimer - I work for Swoopo ****

@ShawnBronald - Honestly, I can't figure that one out either. Perhaps someone drank spiked kool-aid.

All I can think of is that the user that did win, had invested enough bids to equal the value of the cash, but then was out-bid. At that point, I can fathom that instead of losing $1000, it is better to bid over the value to win, and thus lose $650. Perhaps that user was trying to reduce their loses. I am just speculating, of course.

Unknown said...

What as far as I can see has been missed by the most of the comments here is that there are a core of Swoopo users who we can term PowerSellers (i.e. they may be re-selling their won products on ebay) who are prepared to stake sums way above the average punters with pre set "Bid Butler" bids.

Yesterday 29/01/09 users adfero and MadViking each won a couple of cameras, MadViking spent, if he/she is in UK, £535.40 on bids to get these wins. A quick google reveals not MadVikings first winnings http://www.google.com/search?q=swoopo+MadViking&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8

if you check http://auktionenwahn.wordpress.com/statistiken/ you will see in the conclusion there that in the period these statistics were gathered, 545 cameras from swoopo went to 336 people, and from these just 27 winners got 154 of cameras

here is a provisional list of other "Power" users found by me and other people all of whom I think show up in google searches, you'll notice they hardly ever do anything other than "Bid Butler" bids

Corburn, MadViking, adfero, Czesi, Vroos, 2l8m1, Skyway7777, Norden47, Mike8523, Lumix999, CaCO3, Springmist, schnups07, Achlph (6), Big100 (6), Biggibig (6), Corsanico (6), Dartfan180 (6), Erikbloodaxe (6), F4646 (7), Fellcroft (7), Flash Fire (10), Garnier (9), Heysuz (6), HH0812 (7), holzfaeller (6), Imhavingthis (6), Komander01 (7), Madviking (8), Moocky21030 (12), PitBull 01 (6), Rocket400 (6), Schlumpf6 (7), Jeanne (6), Taylererni (11), Teufel2010 (7), Thoma221267 (6), Toertchen (7), Volodja (7), wurmi2 (7), Xopex (6), Medienhexe, Mediadisplay, Jehola, 2000bis2099, audt, Nakose, Kiam2008, Vlaush, Onkelheli, Darabber, Bluemchen15, zibel72, Rzarda, Vamacho2007, heitsch123, Sterntaler26, rumpel79, deLuxe10, Theduell, Ty8011, 1975stefan, Anbundy12, Katze1960, Schlumpf01, Omamachma, lyle, Bieter1225, Pflegestufe3, Helgolando, Bossxxl usw

a couple deserve special mention, this user repeatedly changes name and or has multiple accounts - variously Omamackma, OBAMA,
Omamachma, ElSc48 as can be seen by comparing swoopo's record of a winning here http://www.swoopo.de/auktion/canon-eos-450d-schwarz-objektiv-18-55mm/119497.html with google's cache example http://74.125.77.132/search?q=cache:4bQk7CO69wsJ:www.swoopo.de/auktion/canon-eos-450d-schwarz-objektiv-18-55mm/119497.html+Omamachma+swoopo

this user nathan1994 has been seen to use unreal enormous numbers of Free Bids

Clearly the average swoopo user is not aware that they are betting/bidding in many swoopo auctions against a group of determined deep-pocketed professionals. The Swoopo website provides no way to look up the history of users as of course ebay does, though one assumes swoopo can access this information.

It clearly states in Swoopo's terms and conditions here http://www.swoopo.com/terms.html that "Swoopo’s products and services are offered exclusively to private users and not to commercial or partly-commercial resellers." but clearly they are doing nothing to make this come true.

Of course some might speculate that these "Power" users are in reality the "house" (Swoopo) bidding up prices, that these "Power" users may not be turning a profit as individuals since its very hard to estimate their spending on auctions they didn't win.

Since swoopo has been running longer in Germany more research into Swoopo activity is recorded, there is a particular issue in Germany of whether German "Power" users are declaring their profits for tax - check here http://forum.chip.de/schnaeppchen/powerseller-swoopo-1092020.html

For anybody who still fancies their chances on Swoopo I strongly suggest you google the people you are bidding against, especially "Bid Butler" users

yours
atty

PS
there are some cases where particular auctions are conducted with different products showing on their us/uk/es/de/at sites e.g. http://www.swoopo.com/auktion/141855.html and http://www.swoopo.co.uk/auktion/141855.html so one is bidding against other users but not for the same value product

Unknown said...

ps

re. Swoopo Terms and Conditions viz. "Swoopo’s products and services are offered exclusively to private users and not to commercial or partly-commercial resellers."

Swoopo user heitschi123 "won" at least 12 coffee machines during the second half of 2008 - and didn't even bother to win any coffee to go in them. How can Swoopo possibly miss something like that if they are the slightest bit serious about this "Condition" of using their website?

ken.uk said...

hello,i am another one who has dipped his toe in the water and got soaked.i do not understand how bidders can see the repetitive winners names we all know and then carry on throwing money at swoopo.if i see audt or imhavingthis etc it is pointless starting to bid,it is almost certain you will lose.they nearly always use Bid Butlers and almost comically bidders fill the space after that bid and it is certain the Bid Bultler will be back.almost as certain that night will follow day,it is repeated and repeated.it would be great if everybody when they see these names did not bid at all and swoopo would not collect the revenue these names suck in.i use the title names because i like a lot of others do not know and cannot find out if these names are actually people or ghosts.has Chris Bauman or anyone fromm swoopo ever answered any question about these names who only ever win.from 17/10/09 heitschi123 has won 8 coffee machines if you go back ended auction in that section you will see same names over and over.i live in redditch u.k. so there are idiots all over the worldd and i am very good at playing the part of an idiot.if you could ask my mates.all the best fellow sufferer who have tried but never conquered.ken

hajurba said...

can't it be like :

people from swoopo themselves bidding on products to make winner pay high price ?

Unknown said...

Somebody mentioned that Swoopo is such a profitable business they wouldn't risk their reputation by using their own people to run up the bids. I agree except that for Swoopo's getting away with that is very easy. All casino slot machines are rigged. Everybody knows that. It's completely upto the Casino how much payout and how many people would win. Yes, everyone knows that yet that doesn't stop poeple from going there to gamble. If you think that Swoopo does not control the bidding prices,you are naive.

Unknown said...

Stay away from Swoopo!! I bid on a Canon camera a few weeks ago on Swoopo. As it was getting late, I created a BidButler (a device to place bids automatically for you up to a specified number of bids and a specified price). I authorized 200 bids, at 1 cent ber bid. My BidButler promptly bid all of the bids that I authorized, PLUS ANOTHER 20 BIDS! Not only that, but the bid price on the camera went up only about $1.80 - since the BidButler bid 220 times for me, the bid price should have gone up at least by $4.40 (my 220 bids plus the bids from the person(s) against whom I was ostensibly bidding). Not realizing what had happened, I authorized another 100 bids. This time, it used up all of 100 bids almost instantaneously, but the bid price went up only 1 cent.

When I reported what had happened to Swoopo customer service (a misnomer if ever there was one), they basically said that everything went just peachy and it was too bad that I didn't win.

I don't know if there is a deliberate attempt to defraud customers, or if their bidding algorithm is just seriously flawed, but I would not spend your hard-earned money on Swoopo.

Nadodude said...

Try going to WWW.Radicalbuy.com they will give you a commission if you sell someone else's item. There are widget for facebook and other applications. This is one of Mark Cuban's companies.

iluvgr8tdeals said...

It is a scam because;
a) They (Swoopo) represent themselves as an auction site, while they are actually a gambling site. Gambling is betting on an uncertain outcome, staking something on a contingency, or playing a game for money (freebids, cash, bids themselves) or property. (the item listed) Even the all-knowing AMGoff agrees to this. Online gambling is illegal in the US.
b) They post numerous items of a similar nature/type in various countries, which are invariably won by one bidder. For example, the same bidder has won a sony viao laptop computer in the US and an acer laptop in the UK. This 'bidder' is most likely a 'swoopo bot' that hyperinflates the prices of items, making 'real' bidders fall by the wayside, with swoopo thus pocketing all the change. Too many other examples to list here.
c) If you check closely, you shall see that the majority of winners seem to have won in majority of the other bids (just google the names of the winners and see) and even spend more than the retail price for the product. Some bloggers are terming them powersellers, but if you look closely, they are 'swoopo bots', ghost winners!
d)Bidbutler/s? Please. Just another way to explain away the scam! For those familiar with bidbutler, you pick a start and end amount, say between $10 and $20, and place a certain number of bids you want to place when the bid falls within these amounts. Just watch the auctions and see how two bidders under bidbutler shall be pit against each other, and in just a few seconds, have their valuable 'bids' gobbled up, just to introduce another group of bidders, who fight like gladiators, and inflict mortal wounds to each other, all the while while swoopo (the nefarious emperor) cheers on, giving the thumbs down. The ghost bidders, obviously on bidbutlers, pick up the bodies, and prepare the arena for yet another bloodbath! Entertainment for Swoopo (they call it 'entertainment shopping') but a no win situation for the gladiatorial bidders (also called gambling, which is illegal, I repeat)
e) Scams always depend on public gullibility, misrepresentation about the issue in question, a smokescreen to pacify initial disgruntlement (I guess some real people actually win $10 HDTVs or $2 iphones!) and the inevitable escape route! AMGoff, if it walks and talks like a ponzi scheme, it is most likely a ponzi scheme. If not a Ponzi scheme, a pyramid scheme. AMGoff, are you saying that the people burnt by the Madoff scheme were 'dumb' and did not fully understand how his investment options worked? Are you telling us that Madoff did not explain to his clients 'how the process' worked. He did, but he misrepresented the process, just like Swoopo is doing here.
This site shall go down later due to legal reasons and/or bidder fatigue (previously gullible public). The misrepresentation shall be questioned both legally, and more and more by regular Joes who shall have spent money and not won anything. At this time, even posting pictures and videos of 'winners' shall not matter. The site shall go down. The escape route? They are making piles of money, which shall insulate them against the inevitable lawsuits, a cost of doing business! Remember, even snakeoil had its supporters, and people like AMGoff who wondered what the big deal was 'since everybody knew snakeoil to be a placebo '; not everybody knew, and the snakeoil salesmen (ala 'Chris Bauman') misrepresented the oil as having true medicinal value. It is the same with the swoopo scam. Please keep off swoopo, send the letters to the FTC, and warn all others to avoid spending their money on this modern snakeoil!

The Dark Knight said...

Swoopo sux, no big words or Swoopo employees can change that fact.

Tony1973 said...

Has anyone noticed not one person has wrote that they won and recieved their product!!!

Not one person!!!

ionelungurean said...

yep,i have spend £45 already before finding these comments,i dont usually give up so easily when we talk about money,but this time i was f***t up and it is too late for me to cry,i think all we can do people,is to let our friends know about swoopo before they may jump in and start spend money,f***ing A.What can i say!!!!!

Unknown said...

I’ve been to many reverse auction websites, like Swoopo, Rockybid.com, Bidstick.com, I tried many of them, and they are pretty much the same except for what happens to the used bids. (These sites make you pay for bids somewhere in the 75 cent to a dollar range, but in return you can bid & win name brand items like Nintendo system and TV’s for a fraction of the cost.) If you ask me I would pick Rockybid.com for 3 reasons, 1. You can use your losing bids to purchase won auctions, 2. You actually get reward points like a credit card, 3. They have the coolest items, opening day Yankee tickets, and a cool Michael Jackson package for his first show.
www.rockybid.com

Unknown said...

The theory of swoopo's site seems strange almost the same as madbid but the we found a new site "zoopit.co.uk" ints in its embrionic stage but would appear to be a lot fairer to the average punter.

Johna123 said...

I just checked out that site "Rockybid.com" very cool.. nice auctions.. looks like the first auctions will be ending this Sunday. I'll be there watching, Maybe even Bidding. (will see)

GOLDEN FULL MOON said...

R

Bruce said...

Here's something for everyone to consider:
After registering and placing 3 bids, the next day I got an email from another user informing me that he somehow got logged into my account by "accident" and placed a bid before realizing it so he filed a complaint with them and sent me an email too.
Naturally I closed my account realizing someone else had gotten access to my private information! They would only refund the remaining bids not used on my account and did not care that someone else was able to use my bids.
In one of their completed auctions:
http://www.swoopo.com/auction/samsung-ln40a650-40-inch-1080p-120hz-lcd/158444.html
a TV supposedly worth $1899 "high retail value" went for $163.61 after the winning bidder had placed 629 bids on it totaling to $471.75 so in the end, he got it for $635.36 which may not be a bad price for him but this is a 1 cent auction which means for the final price to be $163.61, there were 16361 bids at $.75 each, Swoopo made $12,270.75 from the bidders plus $163.61 on top of that so they actually made $12,434.36 on a TV worth $1899! That’s the most incredible thing I've seen in a long time and looks a lot like a Pyramid scheme where everyone chips in but in the end the auction house is the real winner. How do they come up with this stuff!
I would strongly suggest not to waist your money making them rich.
Bruce

Bruce said...

Here's something for everyone to consider:
After registering and placing 3 bids, the next day I got an email from another user informing me that he somehow got logged into my account by "accident" and placed a bid before realizing it so he filed a complaint with them and sent me an email too.
Naturally I closed my account realizing someone else had gotten access to my private information! They would only refund the remaining bids not used on my account and did not care that someone else was able to use my bids.
In one of their completed auctions:
http://www.swoopo.com/auction/samsung-ln40a650-40-inch-1080p-120hz-lcd/158444.html
a TV supposedly worth $1899 "high retail value" went for $163.61 after the winning bidder had placed 629 bids on it totaling to $471.75 so in the end, he got it for $635.36 which may not be a bad price for him but this is a 1 cent auction which means for the final price to be $163.61, there were 16361 bids at $.75 each, Swoopo made $12,270.75 from the bidders plus $163.61 on top of that so they actually made $12,434.36 on a TV worth $1899! That’s the most incredible thing I've seen in a long time and looks a lot like a Pyramid scheme where everyone chips in but in the end the auction house is the real winner. How do they come up with this stuff!
I would strongly suggest not to waist your money making them rich.
Bruce

Unknown said...

The ONLY WAY this is a scam is if someone can PROVE that Swoopo and CEO Chris Bauman set up robotic ("in house") BidButlers. This in my opinion would be a STUPID move on their part since the business model is almost fool proofing their ability to make tons of cash. There is NO motive whatsoever for them to cheat. There were several posts explaining that there were some idiotic people (or robots) who made bids that actually cost more than the item's MSRP. Bauman would have to explain or give a theory as to why someone would waste 100 bids ($75) on an item that really cost $30. Maybe it was a computer virus or something or maybe the person(s) set up a stupid bid butler without the correct parameters.

At this time however I don't see the site as a scam. It's an auction site that requires incredible patience on large items (like HDTVs) and moderate patience on smaller items. Even Ebay doesn't have fool proof auctions. On Ebay you could get screwed by some guy halfway around the world who you pay and never hear from again or you could lose an item within the last 3 seconds. If you win a Swoopo auction then you know you'll be getting a product from a company with tons of capital. The auctions require a bit of skill and know how. If you decide to try an auction it might not be a bad idea to do so on a weekend where you can babysit the auction for at least 2 days straight if necessary. It might not be a bad idea to auction in shifts with a buddy or family member. It makes no sense to bid with over 20 seconds left on the clock. It's probably a good idea to watch a few auctions to see how much certain items are going for. For example you watch an ipod go for around 9.50+ 3 times in a row then it might not be a bad idea to not start bidding on the 4th ipod until the cost of the item reaches 9 bucks. There's definitely a strategy to it and I suspect that the folks who are screaming about lawsuits went into Swoopo with an EBAY mentality. On Swoopo you have to think "outside the box" since the whole thing is an outside the box type of creation that I wish I could have thought of first. Just my opinion.

Unknown said...

Hey Chris Bauman, I really want to give you the benefit of the doubt but I'd really like to know why an item with an MSRP of $1899 would go to a winning bidder that made over 3200 bids valued at $2,454.00. It just doesn't make sense especially if it happens often as some in this blog have said. The winning bidder could have gone to BestBuy and bought the item and a PS3 for less than what he/she bid and paid for the item $2454 and $132. What kind of idiot spends $2,586 on something they can get for $1899? I won't be filing lawsuits or anything but your take on how this could keep happening would be nice.

Unknown said...

re comment from Dwight

I think its pretty clear how these grossly inflated prices could be paid by some punters, by the time they have booked enormous quantities of "bid butler" bets at the high end of possible price (where they hope ordinary joe punters will give up) they can't afford to loose, the only way to minimize their losses against re-sale value is to make sure they win.

But these minimized losses (however large) need to be balanced against their overall margin since all the google etc. evidence is that a core of professional "super-sellers/bidders" on Swoopo are bidding on (and winning) multiple items. Their overall profit margins don't have to be so big as long as they make a living - and Swoopo makes super-profits out of ordinary joes trying to compete with them without a clue what they are up against.

All supposing Swoopo is not deploying bidding bots - but they hardly need to, they just need to NOT enforce their stated rule banning professional resellers/bidders and sit back and let the "super-sellers" con the ordinary joes for them.

Kathleen said...

AMEN to that!

Sakthi said...

What does Chris Bauman has to say about these 2 auctions

2 Different products in 2
Different countries
But same auction id. Both won by the same guy for the same equivalent price. See, the bidders are also the same.

http://www.swoopo.co.uk/auction/sony-vct-r100-lightweight-tripod/167468.html

http://www.swoopo.com/auction/digital-concepts-tr-60n-camera-tripod/167468.html

Chris Bauman said...

*****I work for Swoopo, in Cupertino, CA****

@sloopy, this is a common occurance, as I have outlined before, that all of our auctions are global. However, the same exact product may not be available in every country, so we try to match the product based upon specs and retail price. The auction id is the same for both, 167468. In fact, here is that same auction from our German site - http://www.swoopo.de/auction/167468.html

Hope that makes sense.

Sakthi said...

More hard evidence
http://loopyweb.blogspot.com/2009/04/proof-that-swoopo-is-scam.html

Sakthi said...

Chris,
If they were the same auctions, are you saying that UK bidders were bidding for a Sony tripod whereas US bidders were bidding for a Digital Concepts tripod?

So the same auction happened and 5:18 GMT which is also 9:18 PDT? None of it makes sense...

Sakthi said...

What do you say for my other evidence where a bidbutler raised a bid even before the time ran out?

Are you going to claim I doctored that image? Well! That very same auction is happening right now... go and check yourself.

Skuljagger said...

It's only scam if no one is getting their won items.it is a enhanced form of gambling,but i can't prove it's a scam.I think if you"Swoopo",lower your bid cost to .25 cents .you would hear less complaints.Now for an observation I would appreciate Chris or any Swoopo reps help in clearing up."As a penny auction, you can quickly see that 151 bids were placed totaling $113.25 in bid revenue (151 x $0.75). Swoopo lost a considerable amount of money on this item ($1,149.99 - $113.25 = $1036.74)". Now according to my math it should have read "on a penny auction that ended at $113.35 from 151 bids would be 11335 x .75 = #8501.25" the 151 bids doesn't seem possible.did you mean bidders? anyway as the saying goes ,"let the buyer beware" no scam just a very high risk/loss potential auction service.

Unknown said...

hi Chris Bauman,

I have still not seen any response from you why "super-sellers/bidders" are allowed to participate on Swoopo using enormous bid-butler bookings to hammer regular joe bidders and taking losses on items that are only possible if they have plenty of $ to play with and are prepared to work for a low margin across multiple auctions.

Your terms and conditions state "Swoopo’s products and services are offered exclusively to private users and not to commercial or partly-commercial resellers." but clearly you make no effort to enforce this as these "super sellers/bidders" are easy to google and turn up multiple wins of same products etc against them.

Its fairly evident that its not in your interest to enforce this condition but then why mislead users by writing this in your terms and conditions and why not show the previous bidding histories of item winners like in ebay so that bidders can find out who they are up against on an item?

yours
atty

Chris Bauman said...

*****I work for Swoopo, in Cupertino, CA****

@sloopy - "If they were the same auctions, are you saying that UK bidders were bidding for a Sony tripod whereas US bidders were bidding for a Digital Concepts tripod?" - YES

"So the same auction happened and 5:18 GMT which is also 9:18 PDT?" - YES - 5:18pm GMT is the same as 9:18am PDT. Those 2 time zones are 8 hours apart.

@Jeff - no, that posting was correct. Only 151 bids were placed. Here's that auction again - http://www.swoopo.com/ended-auction.html?aid=128842
See? The final price was $1.51. That winner, Lodame21, got a phenomenal deal!

@atty - we do enforce our Terms & Conditions, and take it very seriously. No commercial reseller may bid. Some of our bidders win more frequently than others, as I am guessing that they have chosen a bidding strategy that works for them.
Oh, and we do show the last 10 bids that were placed, with the usernames, so you do know who is 'in the room' bidding on that auction.

Unknown said...

quote Chris Bauman

"@atty - we do enforce our Terms & Conditions, and take it very seriously. No commercial reseller may bid. Some of our bidders win more frequently than others, as I am guessing that they have chosen a bidding strategy that works for them."

you must be kidding! a quick google for Bernd4545 http://www.google.com/search?q=Bernd4545 currently bidding on a Sony VAIO FW21Z 16" Laptop (Vista) instantly reveals Bernd4545 has many laptops from Swoopo already, and this is only the scatter gun results from Google - I am sure you must have access to full records. This kind of instance of a bidder winning multiple identical or similar items, many too many for personal use, is totally prevalent on Swoopo. Clearly these bidders must be re-selling. Please read earlier posts from myself and others on this subject.

quote Chris Bauman
"Oh, and we do show the last 10 bids that were placed, with the usernames, so you do know who is 'in the room' bidding on that auction."

apart from asking why only show the last 10 bids instead of complete auction history (as happens on ebay) this is not nearly the same as making available the previously won items and bidding history of a bidder (as happens on ebay). If this was done then the "super sellers/bidders" would instantly be visible to all. Currently the only sensible policy for user is to google the name of any bidder on an item that occurs more than once and this is by no means fail safe as there are documented examples of regular bidders/winners changing name.

yours
atty

Sakthi said...

Chris,

What do you have to say about bidbutlers (of 'frequent' bidders) going crazy and bidding thus raising the price and time of a product when there is so much time left in the auction & it is not the last few seconds. And no, it is NOT a mutiple bidbutler scenario.

See this for proof - http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_RDdjtfZUPHQ/Sd7imJoAl5I/AAAAAAAADqk/DcMenSM_2ac/s1600-h/swoopo+scam.jpg

Just a single bidbutler bidding at $0.12 when there is still 3hrs to go... it is just a penny, still isn't it a strong violation of how a bidbutler should behave, isnt it? Raises many questions about bidbutlers and the people that use them!!!

Is the owner of that strange bidbutler "Jackass67" frequent Swoopo? Oh yes!
See this: http://www.google.com/search?q=swoopo+jackass67

Chris Bauman said...

*****I work for Swoopo, in Cupertino, CA****

@sloopy - My team is investigating that specific instance of the BidButler. Thank you for bringing it to my attention. However, the people that use them are completely justified in using the BidButler to act as their bidding proxy. Imagine bidding on a Nintendo Wii, but you need to...go to the can... The BidButler can relieve you, as you relieve yourself.

(come on...that was funny!)

Unknown said...

quote Chris Bauman

"The BidButler can relieve you, as you relieve yourself.

(come on...that was funny!)"

really, its funny how much money Swoopo can relieve ordinary joe punters of, herded by lurking "bid butler" pros, making probably minimal profits for themselves but mega bucks for Swoopo.

assuming these "bid butler" pros aren't company bid bots in which case ...

address the questions Chris, why not expose to all the bid/win history of bidders "in the room". Of course you must have this data. Or is it just a case of the house always wins, big time.

yours
atty

ps
seems to me there could be good honest business model for the pay per bid style auction, just the sheer unmitigated avarice of Swoopo that leads them into not enforcing their own stated terms and conditions that is queering the pitch and wrecking this style of auction's reputation

Chris Bauman said...

*****I work for Swoopo, in Cupertino, CA****

@atty - why do we not choose to show all of the previous bids that have been placed? User Interface decision made long ago. If you, or anyone were to watch the auction from beginning to end, you would see every single bid that is placed, and by whom. But rather than clutter the screen with historical bids, when the auction interface was designed, the decision was made to show the 10 most recent bids and bidders. But, I will bring this suggestion to my product manager and allow them to determine the best way to approach this. perhaps there is a way to allow access to all of the bidding information for that auction and package it in a good UI.

Unknown said...

i wonder if i could buy shares in them?????????
think about it
supose i own 1%of all their shares
1% of some of the bids shown above here would be about 10$ a time!!!!!!

Unknown said...

Use whatever words you choose, swoopo is a rip-off, deceptive, scamming online site. Currently, the majority of the world is suffering greatly financially. To take advantage of people trying to stretch their money as far as they can and then imply or state they are "idiots" is cruel, unethical, immoral lunacy.
The only “positive” comments I read are from swoopo employees – interesting…and quite illuminating.
Yes, you scammed me, no, I could not afford to be ripped-off, yes, I have filed complaints with swoopo, my credit card co. and will file with the FCC. I will find every place possible to file a complaint and to alert the rest of us “idiots” just trying to survive about the thievery.
Karma folks, I wish you all the worst and the most severe consequences possible for your disgusting actions.

Unknown said...

Ok, I have read every comment here and thought I would post my experience.

I came across Swoopo and read most of the comments about it prior to deciding to give it a try. You see I am a small business person and have two laptops that are at the end of their useful life and need replacements. The opportunity to replace them at a lower cost was very appealing, even though I knew there was risk involved.

Once I decided to try, I watched a number of auctions and decided on a strategy. With that, I purchased $300 worth of "bids" to go after a laptop with, figuring that the most I wanted to spend was $500. Bear in mind we are a Mac shop, so my replacement cost via retail channels was about $1000-$1200 even if I went refurbished. I was hoping for a bargin.

Long story short: I selected an auction, and a time of day to bid, used 200 bids right away to get my bidbutler as the active one and then anxiously waited. After about 30-40 min, I went back to the page and was surprised to see the message "You Won". Total cost was $248.95 (for bids+final price). Real total cost was around $350 when you factor in unspent bids that were only purchased with this item in mind. (although I suppose I might be able to get something else for them). Not too shabby for a $1,200 laptop.

Here is the link to the auction: http://www.swoopo.com/auction/apple-macbook-mb466ll-a-13-3-inch-laptop/169788.html

Now comes the interesting part. I was asked to verify my auction and pay for the goods. I, of course, did that right away. So far communication with Swoopo was good.

Now the question is: Will I get the laptop?

Swoopo indicated that it takes about 14 days for merchandise to ship. Either way (if it ships or if I have problems) I will post an update here so you all can know what happens.Although I won't post my personal information here, I am happy to have anyone that wishes to verify I'm a "real person", and in no way associated with Swoopo, contact me directly at: mttcrt@aol.com.

Chris Bauman: Time to put your money (or laptop) where your mouth is! :-)

Chris Bauman said...

*****I work for Swoopo, in Cupertino, CA****

@mlobel - Nice Win! Congratulations!

I wanted to let you know that your MacBook is on its way. Please feel free to post again once you receive it.

Enjoy your new MacBook!

Matt Lobel said...

Wow. That is all I can say.

I honestly expected to receive the laptop because, as others had pointed out, the business model should be strong enough that to not deliver on the goods would simply be foolish.

I did not, however, expect this kind of turn around. Not only did the laptop ship the same day as the win, it arrived today via UPS overnight.

Folks, you can think what you want about the business model and determine if you like it or not. But I will say this. They do deliver what is auctioned. My office manager now has a brand new MacBook sitting on her desk.

I don't think this site is for everyone, because of the risk involved, but it is certainly an option for me.

Thank you Chris, and Swoopo.

Irock12 said...

I looked at this website for five minutes and i went to the auctions about to end sections and my theory was right... the auction timers are rigged!!! They would say a few seconds left... then at 0 they would start over!!! explain that Chris Bauman you Jackass!!!!!

Chris Bauman said...

*****I work for Swoopo, in Cupertino, CA****

@Irock12 - I can understand at first glance that our auction timers may seem to work differently, but as I am sure you took the time to read up on how are auctions work, clearly stated in the "How It Works" portion of our website (http://www.swoopo.com/new.html) we show that as the auction nears the end, if another bid is received before the timer hits 00:00:00, that time will be added back to the clock, allowing every bidder the opportunity to get in a bid.
I hope this clears it up for you.

Dr. Prasad, B.V.L.S. said...

Okay, I heard about Swoopo a month ago. I am a scientist - wanted to check how this works. I got into this by buying two 50 bids.
My Final Conclusion is : Its SCAM / CHEATING. We can NAIL them down. All of us have been only complaining all the time. If there are some Legal Attorneys out there, they may find some thing to Sue them forever and CLOSE this SHOP.

Here is why they are cheating and here is how it is very easy to write such a Program: The World is shrinking to BOXED world - a WORLD restricted to PC. When the PC World is shown on a BIG screen it becomes a VIRTUAL world.

Swoopo's Algorithm is based on - some thing like Creating a Virtual Hotel and how to convince the customer/user/us/human that the Virtual Hotel is a REAL Hotel. On Average a human will believe if he can see around couple of other humans. If the program can create few HUMANBOTS, the HUMAN is trapped psychologically. This is exactly what they are doing in Swoopo.

They have ONLY THREE types of HUMANBOTS - SingleBid robots, BidButler Robots and Fresh Bidder robot. The advantage of Virtual World is :
a) It can Replicated according to the Programmer's Whims and Fancies.
b) Every thing is an Object in the Virtual World.
c) Every Object Parameter can be altered to our benefit.

So, SingleBid robots, BidButler robots and Fresh Bidder can be controlled, created, altered at will by SWOOPO's Technical Head - the Algorithm Fella.

With these HumanBots SWOOPO creates a live environment for a HUMAN/us. Creates a sense of Competition, Fight and frustration - Basically its Simulating the Real World where the HUMAN gets trapped to his/her emotional aspects and SUCKED/EXTRACT our BUCKs.

If you see the rules are simple:
a) First timer should WIN.
b) Second timer should Loose. (Introduce Humanbots and frustrate the User - which 95% psychologically, instigates the HUMAN to buy and get addicted).
c) and we can go on - after all its just replicating the objects, changing the parameters randomly and the past of the HUMAN BIDDER.

The Simple Way to nail them down is: Ask for the Records where we have LOST our BIDDING and go and check for the LEGALITY/REALITY of ALL the BIDDERs in that BID.

I have made a PPT of all the users in my BIDDING. I bet they are NOT REAL and are HUMANBOTS.

That could be one reason why their Servers are in Germany NOT in US. They can TWEAK every thing and any thing. However some information may not be changed, I suppose.

IT's NOT GOOD to EXPLOIT (in what ever form). We can create a Fair and Really Entertaining Shopping which Swoopo Claims but, at the least, they are NOT CLEAN. PERIOD.

If needed we can Nail them down - an Attorney can help us get back some compensation for our Frustration and Exploitation.

Thank you

Kathleen said...

I am up with that.

Dr. Prasad, B.V.L.S. said...

The interesting consequence of this Virtual World Concept is:

The Whole Virtual Bidding Universe of SWOOPO is almost self contained and self Controlled/Adjusting based on Profit Margin as a single Parameter which needs to be given as input. Thats it. If they have not reached this stage, their team will be working towards that goal.

The present situation is:
a) They have already successfully simulated the whole process of BIDDING just using HUMANBOTs on an item - their first pilot project.

So, even if one HUMAN gets tempted to enter bidding, its PROFIT for them. I hope you can imagine: Whats meant by MINTING MONEY. This is it.

b) For the Winners: Its a CARROT or BAIT - as simple as that.

c) User Data cannot be changed: The reason is NOT what they say: Security and BULL****. Its just that user information is part of the Knowledge used to weigh the Next Success for the BIDDER. Come On!! This should tell why some body mentioned: TIME Is RIGGED.

So, if they user is allowed to change the Data, the Algorithm will go haywire and unpredictable- which is RISK. You see. Simple.

d) The time the BitButler bids is automated and random: This is also BULL**** reason. Again, this is a Psychological parameter which simulates the REAL WORLD anxiety, curiosity, frustration, competitiveness and other emotional feelings of a HUMAN.

The Bottom Line: THEY ARE CHEATING.

So, What is considered CHEATING/SCAM by me:
a) Creating FAKE USERS/HUMANBOTS for driving the Profits is CHEATING. Let the fight be seriously between HUMANS. As some one mentioned, they can just enjoy as well as make money even through FAIR Algorithm.

b) ofcourse they have all other ways of tampering and manipulating to make BIG MONEY mentioned else where.

I bet Chris Bauman, acting Smart all this TIME will NOT have a word to tell against this story. He is Bus. Executive who will NOT be revealed about the algorithmic/technical details. So Pity him too. He is bound by his job description to Market and SELL SWOOPO AUCTIONING.

One more observation: If a HUMAN has BID once. He will make +VE remarks since he was FAVORED a WIN, which is absolutely different from claiming: HE WON.

Whoever WON till now have been FAVORED. No Body won on their own.
All this is part of the algorithm rules to make it or look more REALISTIC.

Mind you: Every damn parameter thinkable is under the Programmers Control. So - You decide - Do you have a say.

Every aspect is STAGE Managed.
Bye.
Be happy, Enjoy Life.
Prasad

Chris Bauman said...

****Disclaimer, I work for Swoopo****

Hi Dr. Prasad.

Swoopo does not use bots. All of the bidders on Swoopo are real people, none of which work for Swoopo. The BidButlers are set by these same bidders.
We have created an environment where real human people bid against real human people.

Oh, and the whole server argument - we have a server farm in New York City, too.

"I bet Chris Bauman, acting Smart all this TIME will NOT have a word to tell against this story. He is Bus. Executive who will NOT be revealed about the algorithmic/technical details. So Pity him too. He is bound by his job description to Market and SELL SWOOPO AUCTIONING."

Thanks for the compliment about being smart. I appreciate it. But to answer your question, you are right. I can't tell you anything about "algorithmic/technical details" because they do not exist. Swoopo does not rig or manipulate the auctions.

Oh, and I am not bound by my job description. I am a free thinking human being, able to make my own decisions. I work at Swoopo because I want to. I think that the pay-per-bid style of auction is great way to change how e-commerce is approached. Surely you can appreciate a little thinking outside of the box.

Dr. Prasad said...

I am sorry Chris Bauman, You tried your Best.

I have personally experienced how and why BIDs shoot up, how they are manipulated in real time and how I was stopped from taking my shot my rigging the time.

I can understand your desperation to reply: This is for the record to 'even' the discussion to the NEW comers who are curious to know.(Psychologically speaking - right ).

Anyway, its NOT about thinking out of the BOX , its thinking inside the BOX of SWOOPO. All is there where MINTING is going on. So one has to think about that BOX. Thats exactly what I did and reveal the truth. Give me one example which doesnt fall into my description of rules of your Virtual Bidding Program.

At least the response you have given to me has NO TRUTH, what so ever.

The Bottom line: There is manipulations and exploitation and lot more to come I suppose.

I am also a business man - but I always look for HAPPY MONEY or Happy Returns not those with Customers' Curses associated with it.

Enjoy Life, Be happy till all this ticks and you make your buck.

I remain,
I have given my perspective and understanding of how these take place on a PC/BOX/WWW whatever.

My target audience is:
a) Those who want to know why they failed.
b) Those who want to know whats happening inside the BOX
c) Those who want to decide whether to take a chance @swoopo and if so whats the RISK involved.

Come on!! Will any body on earth believe that there is NO algorithm involved behind SWOOPO...Come on!!

Try some thing else.

Enjoy Life, Be Happy.
Prasad.

Mike said...

I see no reason for Swoopo to have an algorithm or other to influence their bidding process. for every 15 cents the price goes up, they recover 75 cents in bidding fees. Why then, would they raise the price by having bots or others bid on the product when they're losing the potential for that 75 cents per bid? At a price so low, someone will buy it. If a product does not receive sufficient bids, as a part of the laws of supply and demand, swoopo has the option of offering that product less, so there will be enough people to keep the bidding going and ensure their margins are safe. Given the risks as mentioned before of faulty business practices, it truly does not make sense that Swoopo would engage in such practices. (Of course there is always some degree of room for doubt, but I'm sure anyone crunching the numbers who has a knowledge of business and economics can see that the model can easily work without the use of any legally questionable tactics.

Matt Lobel said...

I agree. The business model is so solid, they shouldn't have any reason to use bots.

Chris, I will say however that your customer service team is horrible.

As those who read this blog know, I did a "test case" by bidding on and winning a laptop, then posting the results. It was actually excellent. I received the laptop the very next day.

I am having a very different result with another auction. (http://www.swoopo.com/auction/garmin-gps-forerunner-305/175519.html). As you can see I won the auction 17 days ago. Well, on the 14th day (which is how long Swoopo tells you it can take), I emailed customer support and asked if they had an update on the status.

No reply, outside of an automated "we received your note".

I have since followed up, twice. Neither note has received a response. Not even a "we're working on it". This makes such little sense to me. I know you guys farm out your delivery to others, but at the margins you make can't you afford to hire a customer service team?

How about a little help here Chris. It will save your group's credibility in my eyes and will avoid other action. Heck, I didn't even want to post a negative note, but your group's lack of action forced me.

Matt

Chris Bauman said...

@Matt - I took a look at your auction win, and I saw that your item is on its way. Their was a delivery glitch that slipped thorugh our normal tracking process. Your item has an estimated delivery date of 5/27. I am terribly sorry for the long delay.

I do appreciate the open and honest comments, as this brings to attention several areas for us to fix.

Enjoy the Garmin!

admin said...

I haven't tried swoopo but it looks like they have a ton of people on there so chances of winning aren't always that great...
Check this one out http://iloveyottabid.blogspot.com/ so far I've won and have received items from them. It's a new startup.

Unknown said...

I think Swoopo is too hard to win on because people that have bid a lot on an item aren't willing to lose because they have already put so much money into it. When www.GottaNabit.com launches it will be a waaaaaay better place to win items at cheap prices. At least 40-80% off every item and you dont pay per bid.

Unknown said...

I think Swoopo has employees working to outbid the online customers. They must have, otherwise how else can you explain someone getting outbid EVERY SINGLE TIME. THIS MUST BE A SCAM. THEY ARE MAKING OUT LIKE A BANDIT HERE. Good idea, but failure to see how it looks in the eyes of the customer.

Chris Bauman said...

*****I work for Swoopo****

@Mehul - No employees are allowed to bid on Swoopo auctions. And, we do not have anyone in a room, closet, bunker or submarine placing bids to try and outbid any users. Bidders play against other Bidders. Remember that most all of our auctions are global, so you may have real Bidders in DE, ES, AT, UK and US.

Unknown said...

Chris - shove it where the sun don't shine. Until you remove the spamming, non-human bidders that drive up the number of bids, the site is a scam. Numerous examples of auctions where the number of bids by a certain bidder that will remain nameless exceeds the street price in terms of what it cost the bidder to bid.

And don't give us the "we're losing money" BS. That just proves that you have no credibility and no honesty. You're company isn't losing money or you'd close it down. Please. You're not fooling anyone.

Chris Bauman said...

*****I work for Swoopo****

@jo_jo - thanks for the kind words. I think I do need to clarify, that I never said that we are losing money. I did say, as you can see from the very first comment on this blog, that "Swoopo loses money on 70% of our auctions." I have also admitted that we are a profitable company.

Also, as said 100% of the time before, and it still remains true, Swoopo does not Spam, nor do we have/use/employee bots or other people to artificially drive up the bidding. Those actions would be cheating, de-frauding, and are very much against the law.

I take the integrity of my employees and my company very, very seriously.

Matt Lobel said...

Hi Chris,

The product did not arrive yesterday. Do you have a tracking number? You can provide it to me offline (mlobel@sparrowia.com) or have customer service send it to me. Either way is fine, I'm looking forward to the Garmin and will post up here when it arrives.

-- Matt

Matt Lobel said...

Just an update, as I promised. The Garmin did arrive (finally!). It seems it was sent to an incorrect zip code initially. No harm done, just a bit more of a delay than I had hoped for.

Thanks for the help in getting this "unstuck" Chris!

[Dani] said...

Guys... I just read Chris Bauman comment on a different site. Everything is almost the same, words by words.
http://www.thegoont.com/swoopo-scam-alerts-are-ringing/

Unknown said...

They're giving away Freebids here.
http://twitter.com/SwoopoUK
Don't think you have to give any money to win- I'm following them anyway- may as well try it out

M said...

http://www.thebigmoney.com/articles/money-trail/2009/07/07/crack-cocaine-auction-sites?page=0,0

"What makes Swoopo so fiendishly addictive is the tendency of people to think of the bids that they have already put in as a 'sunk cost'—money that they have already put toward buying the item.

This is an illusion. The fact that you have already bid 200 times does not mean that your chance of winning on the 201st bid is any higher than it was at the very beginning. A new bidder can come in at any time and at the cost of a mere 60 cents jump into the auction in which you've already spent more than 100 bucks. The money you've put in has gotten you no closer to the goal than a losing raffle ticket."

rtw said...

Does swoopo ever auction blocks of bids? If they do, they create two classes of bidders, those who spend a few pennies per bid (winners of the auctioned bids) and those who spend 60 -75 cents per auction. The winners of the bid auctions will quickly become the shills, bots, etc.

Nostradamus said...

Whether Swoopo is a scam or not, and whether the STUPID bidders are real people or internal Swoopo accounts I will never know. If the bidders are real bidders, they are incredibly stupid by keeping on bidding, essentially against themselves by jacking the price and making the time longer and longer!!!

Unknown said...

I gambled away $56.00 essentially since I walked away with nothing. I honestly don't believe that Swoopo is not making tons of cash here. Instead of wasting money here go spend it in Vegas!!!!

buckeye0108 said...

Swoopo sucks and it is a terrible site. It is impossible to even win anything on there. Not to mention that they have there own employees bidding on the items to drive up the prices to meet there profit margins.

The best penny auction site out there is SwipeItUp.com.

I won a Nintendo Wii on swipeitup for $4.87 USD and received the product less than two weeks later. Check out all the ended auctions to see even more amazing deals.

Anonymous said...

Wow, can you all say "whiny pussies"? Nobody EVER EVER forced any of you to try swoopo. How can you call this a scam if you don't know any better? Call the fucking BBB instead of whining about it on a blog. I mean really I wish I would have thought of this first. Let me make money hand over fist and laugh at all of you bitching about my site being a scam. IF it is a scam, they'll get theirs just by having a US base. IF not(and it's more than likely a legit business) they just hit the fucking jackpot. Boo hoo....pussies

Unknown said...

Hey Chris Bauman
Chris maybe you can get me my watch that I won on July 3rd 2009Unfortunately your customer service is an automated email and your company phone number is to a cancer center. No addresses are consistant anywhere for your headquarters. It seems strange that Swoopo has no correct phone numbers or addresses. I just want the watch I won. It seems even when you win you lose. I agree with your statement about losing money, but not when the item is even bought? At this point I believe Swoopo is a scam. I won a auction, but have yet to receive it. No correct phone number. No correct address. Automated emails. What would you think if you were me?

Rothenschild Eclipse Chronograph (#191783)

A trendy watch from Rothenschild, crafted to the highest specification and features a particularly eye-catching design
$13.20 13:20 PDT
07-03-2009 Confirmed

Unknown said...

Hey Chris Bauman
Chris maybe you can get me my watch that I won on July 3rd 2009Unfortunately your customer service is an automated email and your company phone number is to a cancer center. No addresses are consistant anywhere for your headquarters. It seems strange that Swoopo has no correct phone numbers or addresses. I just want the watch I won. It seems even when you win you lose. I agree with your statement about losing money, but not when the item is even bought? At this point I believe Swoopo is a scam. I won a auction, but have yet to receive it. No correct phone number. No correct address. Automated emails. What would you think if you were me?

Rothenschild Eclipse Chronograph (#191783)

A trendy watch from Rothenschild, crafted to the highest specification and features a particularly eye-catching design
$13.20 13:20 PDT
07-03-2009 Confirmed

Unknown said...

Chris,
Here is the automated response from customer service if you haven't seen it.


Hi there,

This message is just to let you know that we have received your email and we will respond to you during our normal business hours, Monday through Friday from 9 AM to 5 PM PT. We know you will be waiting anxiously for our reply, so we'll do our best to respond as soon as possible.

Your reference number for your email is: 2009082010003884 should you need to refer to it in future.

If you need to follow-up to this question, please make sure to reply to this email or any of our replies - don't send a new email as this is likely to mean that there will be a delay in getting back to you.

If you have any new questions, it's best to submit these via http://www.swoopo.com/feedback.html - this will help to get your question answered more quickly.

Don't forget that there's lots of helpful information on some of our most common questions at http://www.swoopo.com/help.html

All the best,

Your Swoopo Team

Unknown said...

Never heard back from Jenna. It has only been 3 weeks, although she said the next morning in her email.


Swoopo US Customer Service to me
show details Jul 30 Reply




Hi Jamison,


Thanks for taking the time to get in touch.

I am sorry for the delayed response. We are currently waiting to hear back from
the manufacture for a tracking number. You should receive this item fairly soon.
As soon as we get a tracking number I will pass it on to you. You should hear from
me tomorrow morning.

I will also place 25 freebids in your account for goodwill.

We thank you for your patience.

Regards,


-Jenna


Swoopo customer support

Unknown said...

I recently stumbled upon this new site, www.BIDZONE.com. Basic concept, everytime you place a "bid" on an item the product price actually REDUCES rather than increasing. The price per bid ONLY 50cents and the amount the price reduces 50cents. This is the first site I've seen do this!!

Not only that BUT they offer FREE registration and for a limited time 5 free bids just for signing up - something like a trail period, I guess..??

If anyone else has heard of BidZone - comment below because I'd love to learn more!

Anonymous said...

Swoopo is not a scam, precisely because it doesn't need to be. Unfortunately the vast majority of new sites set up every day are just scams (check out pennyauctionwatch.com). Typically the ones that survive are ones that are honest as they manage to get repeat business. The trick is to find an early stage one of those (with less competition than Swoopo) to get some real bargains. I'd say www.jingobid.com fits into that category, but there may be others!

ptworker said...

This is a new site like swoopo that opens tomorrow. Chance to get some sweet deals.

http://www.theauctionsquirrel.com/users/register/sgillmore

Unknown said...

So even if you lose you still have to pay for all the bids that you placed. Wow. The person (or people) who made this site must be really smart. I think I will stick to Ebay.

Atticus said...

Hi,

Nice blog. Like you, I have analyzed the swoopo "scam" in detail and totally agree with your findings. Swoopo is definitely not a scam in the sense that people think- they dont cheat you explicitly. But it is definitely a scam in the sense that they are passing off a lottery website as an "auction website".

There are some key differences between a lottery and an auction: the major one being the absence of element of luck in the latter. When you bid in an auction, as long as your bid is the highest you are SURE you will win it. But in a lottery, its all chance.

Looking at swoopos business model, it is clear that its much more a lottery than an auction website. The winner is not the highest bidder but the last bidder, and thats smth you can never control, and involves a pretty big element of luck.

Overlooking the fact that the site’s business model is arguably ethically wrong, my point is that it should be classified as a lottery and not as a retailer/ auction website. Lotteries have their own regulators etc (they need to have far more disclaimers and information) and I dont see why Swoopo shouldnt be under that tight regulation too.

Apart from that, there is the matter of their misleading ad claims: you are not spending 30% of the price, after taking into account your bids you are spending far far more, which they do not mention in their eye-catching ads.

coolnews said...

O.k Here is what I don't understand. Everybody who plays on Swoopo (atleast in the US and Canda can also use Rockybid.com) But why are they mostly using Swoopo when you have almost no chance to win. (rockybid has more than 50% of their items end up under $1. ) So whats the deal is rockybid legit? they do have 500 testimonials, pictures, videos, even gave away a car for $1.24. Or should I stick my dollars to Swoopo.? (I already played Swoopo, several times and lost, (less than $500 tough)) Then again swoopo has more high end items. But again little chance of winning. (rockybid has about 6 a day(and another 30 smaller items)) I am willing to invest(or gamble) another $500 of my hard earned money; I am looking for feedback. Do I go to Rockybid or Swoopo! thanks.

Compking said...

what you should do rather than go to either is take another $500 in small bills, cut them up into confetti, and light it on fire. You'll get the same result.

Unknown said...

how is swoopo deciding WHEN an auction is ending??? Seams to me that is a scam, leaving aside the bids/sell money issue..it happend that i placed a single bid in the last second..and ...conveniently..the timer freezed..then i foud that the auction ended..funny, no??

Unknown said...

I have won auctions and I have lost some. the complaints I have is the late delivery and slow response. I have several won/bought items not arrived yet after one month. I have kept emailing them for the last 3 weeks and still didn't get a clear response. I will keep the status updated.

sendmeforwards said...

I don't know if its a scam or not but if you are in doubt use this free penny auction site http://www.freebidee.com/ where you earn bids for free.

Tim said...

Got a phone number if anyone wants to try it to see if their item is coming or not:

650-567-9667

it came from here:
http://www.lead411.com/company_EntertainmentShoppingInc_Piening_372083.html

Tim said...

missing the 'ml' on the end of that web address... sorry.

Tim said...

FYI: I hadn't seen any updates on here, but I did win and receive a Nintendo DSi. It took 19 days and absolutely NO communication from Swoopo on the item--I'd even filed a formal complaint with PayPal since my emails went unanswered.

The item was dropped-shipped from Amazon.com... funny huh? They don't have a 'supplier' the just order it for you from a major retail outlet. But hey, at least if you won something here's one testimonial that has gotten what they 'won'

btw, this was my one and only foray into Swoopo.

Penny Auction Watch said...

4,800 bids to penny auctions, an iPod, gift card, t-shirts to be won in the http://PennyAuctionWatch.com giveaway! Ends March 1st, enter today!

charleskassalo said...

HI! I CAME TO YOU TO GET SOME HELP.
I AM MR CHARLES KASSALO. I BEEN SCAMMED BY (WWW.SWOOPO.CO.UK).
THIS SITE IS AN AUCTION SITE WHERE YOU BID IN SPECIFIED ITEMS,YOU WILL NEVER WIN.
I BID ON THE 18-03-2010 ONE ITEM(NO:296251).WAS 300 BIDS AT £150 REAL COST SWOOPO UK SAY THAT ON THEY SITE.
I WAS EXCITED ABOUT,I TELL MY SELF IF I WIN THIS I COULD USE TO BID ON ONE OF THEY LAPTOP.
I START WITH £60 PAY VIA PAYPAL CONNECT TO MY BANK ACCOUNT.AFTER FEW MINUTE MY £60 WAS RUNNING OUT,I TOP UP AGAIN £35.THE AUCTION BIDING WAS STRESS FULL AND SCARE TO LOOSE MY MONEY AND THE BIDING.
WHEN I REALIZE WHAT IS GO ON , I WAS AT £190 SPEND FROM MY ACCOUNT.IN THAT,ALL MY BODY AND MY MIND WAS FROZEN DEAD .I REALIZE I LOST EVERYTHING AND I REALIZE I BEEN SCAM AND CONED BY SWOOPO.UK!
WHY I USE SCAM AND CON WORD,BECAUSE BEFORE START BIDING,THE INFORMATION SWOOPO GIVE ME ABOUT THE HISTORY OF THE ITEM SAY! THIS VOUCHER USE TO BE SOLD AT £3 OR £7 ! OR WHAT THIS SCAM AUCTION DON'T TELL US,TO REACH THIS AMOUNT HOW MUCH YOU MUST SPEND?
BECAUSE I REALIZE THE SYSTEM SHOW I SPEND £190 TO REACH £19.79 AUCTION PRICE .TELL ME IF THIS ARE NOT SCAM OR CON?
I CONTACT THEM A READY ABOUT REFUND MY MONEY,THE CUSTOMER SERVICES DON'T GIVE MONKEY.
NOW ,I AM WRITHING TO YOU TO HELP ME AND HELP ALL OTHER INNOCENT GOOD CITIZEN WHO ARE VICTIM OF THIS MUST BIG CON AND SCAM ONLINE AUCTION SITE IN (UK).
THANK YOU.

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Software said...

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Online Best Penny Bidding Auction

Unknown said...

It's not a scam at all, its just Swoopo isnt the best site for and it is entertainment shopping for a reason..

Sites like www.winila.com (same concept) provide you with the option to buy the product if you didnt win in bidding, ultimately allowing you to regain 90% of your loss, because there might be a 10% markup on the "buyitnow" price which is usual even on Ebay. This would prevent the situation from the UK buyer who claimed it was a scam. With fewer competitors, using alternative sites will really allow you to get incredible deals with very few people competing against you. Swoopo is overloaded with people and it's harder to win.

and

gregd2790 said...

Kind of starting to think Swoopo and other auction sites are rigged. First experience, got a super great deal, won an item worth $160 for 8 cents... okay, I'm hooked, start playing the game... Then the thing I notice is that no matter what I do, the bidding is just out of reach...if I miss a Bid click for an item at 1.04, the winner gets it at 1.04.... the same exact item, I feel like playing, just keep bidding, it gets up to $12.00.... same thing. Just after I stop, oops, auction ended again.... I even tried one extreme exampel, call me stupid, but the 8 cent item I won, I bid on another the same, spent $90, and finally gave up...seconds later...auction ended... I think they have bots or several people entering...they would have access to the computer info for your BidButler and know how high you're prepared to go. I'll exhaust my cache of bids, then I think I'm done with this...wasted enough time and money...

Penny Auction Watch said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Penny Auction Watch said...

Just deleted last comment I was addressing greg, and thought it was Justin my mistake.

Greg- It's hard to say whether some penny auctions are shill bidding, but I think you should check out Swoopo's credentials, they're backed by venture investors & have pretty high traffic. However, unfortunately, there are penny auction sites that we do believe are shill bidding. Just today we posted on one, Bidfireworks.com and our findings are pretty interesting. Check it out: http://www.pennyauctionwatch.com/2010/06/bidfireworks-shill-bidding-is-penny-auction-legit/ Also, join our penny auction forum
Http://www.PennyAuctionForum.com

Unknown said...

Visit http://freeswoopostrategy.blogspot.com to learn how to beat Swoopo for free! This blog reveals strategies you would have to pay for at other sites absolutely FREE!

Unknown said...

I used to be an avid user of swoopo.com. I won many great auctions and spent less than retail. I would say off the top of my head that I earned a 55% savings for my entire time there. I own a store in Tennessee and every time I won I placed the item on my shelves. One day I was talking to a developer and I asked a question that would begin my journey as a penny auction site owner. We teamed up and made the site possible.

Yes, I do make a great profit and no I do not do anything illegal at all. I have too much of a heart for that crap! I make enough money to buy more items to list and to keep my wife happy but I also donate a lot of my profits to charity. We are starting this new program where the users can decide where the charity money goes by voting. Should be finished within the next couple weeks. Anyway, I do not think that swoopo is a scam but a rather snazzy way to make money and save people money. Yes people do lose money bidding but they should offer a page dedicated to people who do not know when to quit like we did. There are limits and users should know them limits.

I have a page that pretty much warns you and reminds you that you should monitor your spending. Each bid cost .75 cents and you could bid one time and win the auction. You just have to be strategic when you bid!

My site is www.midpenny.com and we are new but growing rather fast. I guess the world wide web needed a good, honest and dependable penny auction site. We are that and plan to keep it that way. I will be making some great changes to be announced at a later time that you would want to hear about. We are giving away items and ....????.... Cant tell you now. See the site news and twitter for the updates.

I hope that you guys learn a little respect for my competitor as they are just trying to keep food on the table and live thir comfortable lives like we all are.

Nothing wrong with wanting to be a successful business owner. I am ok with them until they rip someone off or really get greedy.

Good Luck Swoopo (Chris Bauman) I really with you all the best of luck. It is nice to have an honest competitor. Shoot me a message sometime. Support@midpenny.com

I would love to pick your brain and have a good chat with you!

Thanks guys,
Jonathan S
www.midpenny.com

Unknown said...

You should check out our new site Bids4LessStore.com . We sell brand new, brand name products for up to 99 % off their retail price. Come check us out at Bids4LessStore.com to get your 4 free bids. Check us out on twitter, facebook, or youtube also.

Anonymous said...

Chris Bauman: I have family that has worked many sales Jobs, Cutco, Kirby, and even been involved in Pyramids, This is the worst one yet. Just another way to exploit on people's weakness's. You know it(Deep down anyways)but your making lots of money, and your in it to win it. So put on that Charm, Keep on your game face and keep ripping people off.

You can't honestly deny this isn't about gambling, are you saying this is a way for one lucky person to get a great Deal? What about the other 100 people who placed a bid and Totally Lost out? Tell me of Another "Auction" that takes 60% on the dollar from Every bidder...!? LOL IT"S LUDICROUS! You have to be based party in the U.S. to try and maintain your honesty and keep this going for as long as you can. You will eventually be shut down, it's just a matter of time, but you know this day will come, and I'm sure you're prepared.

Havamia said...

Call it however you want, do the math, this place is a scam!!! don't fall like I did. Contacting my credit card company. Making sure they don't take another penny out of my pocket!

Jordan Dove said...

Swoopo is down.. However, you can read other reviews over at Top Penny Auctions. Thanks for the information however!

Unknown said...

Here, take this one and take it hard.
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Unknown said...

About 75 people still there, including some in a tree
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Unknown said...

all it however you want, do the math, this place is a scam!!! don't fall like I did. Contacting my credit card company. Making sure they don't take another penny out of my pocket!
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