Wow what a money making scheme

[JTsyo]

So I ran into Swoopo.com from a bing link for shopping. You buy bids at $.6 each. Each time you place a bid, the price goes up $.12 and the time the auction ends goes up. So how do they make money, look at this example of a PS3 auction. The guy got it for $111, that's awesome right? But what really happens is that everyone else that bid on it subsidized his purchase. It took about 925 bids to get to that price. That's $555 in bids plus the $111 the guy pays. So the site gets $666 for a PS3 slim, that's just evil.

Now you can milk the system by just getting in the last bid. I'm tempted to buy 25 bids and just start bidding on a PS3 once it hits $110 or so. Though some auctions have gone to $155. Maybe do it on a late night auction that will have fewer people on it. The guy who won the auction paid about $160 total, nto bad for a PS3. Though we don't know how many he lost before he won one.

 

[SunnyD]

This is common in charity-style auctions.

 

[cheezy321]

Sounds Scamtastic batman!

 

[isekii]

So if you get outbid you lost the bids you purchased ?

 

[JTsyo]

Originally posted by: isekii
So if you get outbid you lost the bids you purchased ?

yup, each time you bid, you lose 60 cents. The trick is that each bid only raises the price by 12 cents. So it's not like you can put in a bid for $120.

 

[BeauJangles]

Yeah, as long as that website continues to get visitors and bidders, it will basically mint money.

 

[AstroManLuca]

Why would anyone sell there? They must give sellers some incentive or a small cut of the profits because otherwise they're making a lot less money on each item.

EDIT: Unless the website owners themselves are the sellers.

 

[JTsyo]

Originally posted by: AstroManLuca
Why would anyone sell there? They must give sellers some incentive or a small cut of the profits because otherwise they're making a lot less money on each item.

EDIT: Unless the website owners themselves are the sellers.

Bingo.

I noticed their slogan: "Entertainment Shopping"

 

[Born2bwire]

Ugggg... I do not have the time for this. All the auctions wait until about a minute left before the bidding really starts. I'm looking at a plasma TV right now, less than a miute to go and it is at around $28, each bid adds $0.02. The last TV sold for $62.12, you can imagine how long you have to sit here to play this game. Some bids I have seen will add a minute or more to the time.

 

[Gunslinger08]

Found this a while back. Not worth my time.

 

[ViviTheMage]

Originally posted by: BeauJangles
Yeah, as long as that website continues to get visitors and bidders, it will basically mint money.

Yeah, that's easy profit...

 

[Newbian]

Why would anyone pay for loosing bids like that?

 

[purbeast0]

wow that is fucking genius.

i'm watching a wii sports resort now and i noticed if you mouse over the clock icon, it says a 10 second count down starts at $21.60 so the time can't go back up.

that is 180 bids, which is $108 lol.

then on top of that it goes for $21.60.

it shows a recent one went at $15.

so that is $15 / $.12 = 125

125 * .60 = $75

$75 + 15 = $90

they are making $90 on a what, $40 game?

 

[Golgatha]

Originally posted by: cheezy321
Sounds Scamtastic batman!

Actually, if you were in the market for the item anyway, you can apply your bids to the MSRP price if you don't win the auction. Sounds like a way to potentially save some money if you've got the time to invest.

 

[Born2bwire]

Originally posted by: purbeast0
wow that is fucking genius.

i'm watching a wii sports resort now and i noticed if you mouse over the clock icon, it says a 10 second count down starts at $21.60 so the time can't go back up.

that is 180 bids, which is $108 lol.

then on top of that it goes for $21.60.

it shows a recent one went at $15.

so that is $15 / $.12 = 125

125 * .60 = $75

$75 + 15 = $90

they are making $90 on a what, $40 game?

Yeah, seriously, why couldn't I have thought of that?

 

[BeauJangles]

Originally posted by: Newbian
Why would anyone pay for loosing bids like that?

Because people are stupid and see the winning price and think, "man, I can save a lot of money."

 

[imported_inspire]

Originally posted by: JTsyo
So I ran into Swoopo.com from a bing link for shopping. You buy bids at $.6 each. Each time you place a bid, the price goes up $.12 and the time the auction ends goes up. So how do they make money, look at this example of a PS3 auction. The guy got it for $111, that's awesome right? But what really happens is that everyone else that bid on it subsidized his purchase. It took about 925 bids to get to that price. That's $555 in bids plus the $111 the guy pays. So the site gets $666 for a PS3 slim, that's just evil.

Now you can milk the system by just getting in the last bid. I'm tempted to buy 25 bids and just start bidding on a PS3 once it hits $110 or so. Though some auctions have gone to $155. Maybe do it on a late night auction that will have fewer people on it. The guy who won the auction paid about $160 total, nto bad for a PS3. Though we don't know how many he lost before he won one.

No, you can't milk the system by getting in the last bid - because every bid increases the time left on the auction. There is no sniping on Swoopo.

 

[SP33Demon]

If you market anything well enough you will find a sucker that will pay.

 

[Gibson486]

Originally posted by: purbeast0
wow that is fucking genius.

i'm watching a wii sports resort now and i noticed if you mouse over the clock icon, it says a 10 second count down starts at $21.60 so the time can't go back up.

that is 180 bids, which is $108 lol.

then on top of that it goes for $21.60.

it shows a recent one went at $15.

so that is $15 / $.12 = 125

125 * .60 = $75

$75 + 15 = $90

they are making $90 on a what, $40 game?

LOL...that is pretty slick...man...sometimes I feel like i waste my brain power on non money making schemes (such as work ).

 

[dud]

You pay your money for "entertainment" shopping. Damn, these days people will even pay to shop.

I watched an auction for another item and every time the clock went down to 5 seconds someone would bid and restart the clock to 15 seconds. This makes no sense for the seller but good sense for the site and the guy who ends up winning.

 

[JS80]

What the hell is "swoop it now"?

 

[JS80]

Originally posted by: JTsyo
So I ran into Swoopo.com from a bing link for shopping. You buy bids at $.6 each. Each time you place a bid, the price goes up $.12 and the time the auction ends goes up. So how do they make money, look at this example of a PS3 auction. The guy got it for $111, that's awesome right? But what really happens is that everyone else that bid on it subsidized his purchase. It took about 925 bids to get to that price. That's $555 in bids plus the $111 the guy pays. So the site gets $666 for a PS3 slim, that's just evil.

Now you can milk the system by just getting in the last bid. I'm tempted to buy 25 bids and just start bidding on a PS3 once it hits $110 or so. Though some auctions have gone to $155. Maybe do it on a late night auction that will have fewer people on it. The guy who won the auction paid about $160 total, nto bad for a PS3. Though we don't know how many he lost before he won one.

How do you know it took 925 bids?

 

[James Bond]

I saw another site just like this. Really cool idea, imo.

 

[Auryg]

They've been around for a while. I can't believe people are stupid enough that they'll beat the system.

 

[ElFenix]

Originally posted by: dud
You pay your money for "entertainment" shopping. Damn, these days people will even pay to shop.

I watched an auction for another item and every time the clock went down to 5 seconds someone would bid and restart the clock to 15 seconds. This makes no sense for the seller but good sense for the site and the guy who ends up winning.

the site is the seller.