Wow what a money making scheme

[Newbian]

Originally posted by: 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?

925 * .12 = 111

 

[JS80]

Originally posted by: Newbian

Originally posted by: 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?

925 * .12 = 111

lol duh

 

[dud]

Originally posted by: 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.

Oh, well that explains it.

It's a great idea ... until the village idiots figure it out.

 

[JTsyo]

Originally posted by: 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.

yea but if you wait until it's already at the $100 mark, you didn't waste your bids when it was $10-100. Though some do end before $100. This guy got his for $12.

From my calcs, as long as it sells for above $50, they'll make a profit. Now if everyone uses the swoop it now option they would be screwed but I think you can only do that while the auction is going on.

 

[TurtleCrusher]

I can almost assure you, the final buyer is ALSO the seller.

Scam motherfuckers.

 

[Firebot]

I've been watching this ghostbusters auction for the past 15 min while reading this, it was at 3$ and 15 seconds left, it's now 17.00$ with 16 seconds left. Every bid adds 12 cents and you get charged. Every bid costs you 60 cents. Why would anyone try at the 1-10$ mark i have no idea (well I do, but that's how the site makes money).

 

[Newbian]

Originally posted by: Scholzpdx
I can almost assure you, the final buyer is ALSO the seller.

Scam motherfuckers.

So the site is buying all their crap back to resell and make a ton more then it's worth...

Sounds like a genius who was able to trick a buch of idiots and he gets paid for it. :thumbsup:

 

[TurtleCrusher]

Originally posted by: Newbian

Originally posted by: Scholzpdx
I can almost assure you, the final buyer is ALSO the seller.

Scam motherfuckers.

So the site is buying all their crap back to resell and make a ton more then it's worth...

Sounds like a genius who was able to trick a buch of idiots and he gets paid for it. :thumbsup:

Hell they aren't even buying! Just make another relisting and pwn the fuckers!

 

[TurtleCrusher]

I just watched an auction. I literally saw the price go DOWN and the timer go UP!

Fake.

 

[JTsyo]

Originally posted by: Scholzpdx
I can almost assure you, the final buyer is ALSO the seller.

Scam motherfuckers.

But they don't need to scam. They are making a ton of money anyway. They got 100% more than the retail price in the PS3 example.

 

[sdifox]

Originally posted by: dud

Originally posted by: 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.

Oh, well that explains it.

It's a great idea ... until the village idiots figure it out.

They'll be in fortune 500 before that happens. Coming soon to your cable tv, the informercial :laugh:

 

[BeauJangles]

Originally posted by: Scholzpdx
I can almost assure you, the final buyer is ALSO the seller.

Scam motherfuckers.

No way. Why actually defraud people when you can pray on their stupidity and make millions?

 

[oogabooga]

Originally posted by: BeauJangles

Originally posted by: Scholzpdx
I can almost assure you, the final buyer is ALSO the seller.

Scam motherfuckers.

No way. Why actually defraud people when you can pray on their stupidity and make millions?

It doesn't seem like too bad of a deal if you're willing to go through the effort. You could in theory pay a lot less for an item while the seller makes a killing on the item. Of course all the other suckers get screwed but as long as you're not one of them...

But even then - since they're the seller and I think I read you can apply unwon bids towards your final purchase - worst case you pay MSRP? Unless you can't apply those bids to the MSRP and GolGatha was wrong.

I would consider it.

 

[Unmoosical]

What is even more genius is that they are selling bids! So they don't even need to invest in a product. They can just say here is 300 bids and people will keep pushing the price up.