crazzyyfool Posted May 30, 2010 Share Posted May 30, 2010 Does anyone here use/have used or won anything from Swoopo.co.uk? Basically it's an auction site where you purchase a quantity of Bids then use those bids on items in the auctions. Lots of high value items go for silly money. Just wondering is this is legit or a well-constructed scam. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tanoru Posted May 30, 2010 Share Posted May 30, 2010 Ive seen that website before a few months back if that helps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kenji Posted May 30, 2010 Share Posted May 30, 2010 well constructed scam. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phenom II Posted May 30, 2010 Share Posted May 30, 2010 Its was advertised on TV here, but only ever saw one or two adverts for it before it was pulled, told my boss about it, he bought £10 worth of bids and won nothing. I guess if you are prepared to buy £50 worth of bids, and keep bidding on the same item until it has doubled its retail price you may win something, but I very much doubt you will get any bargains Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stoshrocket Posted May 30, 2010 Share Posted May 30, 2010 It could be legit thinking about the business plan.. You have to buy bids, each bid costs £0.50. Take the iphone on the front page, that's currently going for £29.72, with it being increased by a penny each time... Wait, so that would mean that swoopo have profited 2972 * 0.5 = £1485.5 Someone please tell me my maths is wrong... lol. Plus, the bidding time goes back up each time a bid is added, so effectively on high demand items the bid never ends Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phenom II Posted May 30, 2010 Share Posted May 30, 2010 Yea you have the correct workings out, that is If the item started at ?0.00 They have a pretty damn good idea going there, and on top of all the 0.50p's they are getting, they also get the final bidding price And if you think you are only bidding against other people, think again, it will all be very automated until it reaches 100x the price they bought it for Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dodzey Posted May 30, 2010 Share Posted May 30, 2010 They must be making an absolute fortune. I wonder just how many of those "users" are bots. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xplatinum Posted May 30, 2010 Share Posted May 30, 2010 Same kind of bidding site here in Quebec. http://www.bidou.ca/ Basically, each one cent bid costs you 1$. Let's say you see an LCD screen worth 1200$ and think to yourself Wow! It's only at 53.42$ !, well the site has already made 4132$ of profit out of it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phenom II Posted May 30, 2010 Share Posted May 30, 2010 If you look at the expensive items, they are all near the end of the bidding time, counting down from 9 seconds, then just at the last second they jump back up to 9 seconds and go up a penny with a new bid Yea right, thats just to make you think... OOoh Quick BID BID BID! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xplatinum Posted May 30, 2010 Share Posted May 30, 2010 If you look at the expensive items, they are all near the end of the bidding time, counting down from 9 seconds, then just at the last second they jump back up to 9 seconds and go up a penny with a new bid Yea right, thats just to make you think... OOoh Quick BID BID BID! I have a friend at work that loves this site. I always tell myself that he's incredibly na?ve. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phenom II Posted May 30, 2010 Share Posted May 30, 2010 I have a friend at work that loves this site. I always tell myself that he's incredibly na?ve. He ever won anything from there ? lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xplatinum Posted May 30, 2010 Share Posted May 30, 2010 He ever won anything from there ? lol Not that I know of. But he thinks all of this is very profitable, you just need a good strategy. Yea right. How can you compete with automated bots. At one dollar per bid it can go VERY fast. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phenom II Posted May 30, 2010 Share Posted May 30, 2010 Not that I know of. But he thinks all of this is very profitable, you just need a good strategy. Yea right. How can you compete with automated bots. At one dollar per bid it can go VERY fast. Yup, I kick myself whenever a site like this pops up, I always think what a simple idea to make millions, why didnt I think of that For example, the Milliondollarhomepage - 1 Page, $1m per year, every year Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DDStriker Posted May 30, 2010 Share Posted May 30, 2010 Yup, I kick myself whenever a site like this pops up, I always think what a simple idea to make millions, why didnt I think of that For example, the Milliondollarhomepage - 1 Page, $1m per year, every year Yeah can't believe that actually took off although it was just $1 million as he only did it once (there were clones out there) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RoomKid Posted May 30, 2010 Share Posted May 30, 2010 I feel its fake. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fish Posted May 30, 2010 Share Posted May 30, 2010 I get the impression it works like a fruit machine. You will something, eventually, but only once the machine is full. You may be lucky; buy a pint, put a quid in and win a tenner. But chances are you won't. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian M. Veteran Posted May 30, 2010 Veteran Share Posted May 30, 2010 It's ridiculous - there's lobby groups trying to get them shut down. For example, take this: http://www.swoopo.co.uk/auction/apple-ipad-64gb-wifi/312561.html ?71.81 at 50p/bid means they got ?3590 in bid fees, + the ?71.81 + ?4.95 for postage. This means they effectively sold an iPad for ?3666.76. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheElite Posted May 30, 2010 Share Posted May 30, 2010 There's many sites out there like this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phenom II Posted May 30, 2010 Share Posted May 30, 2010 Yeah can't believe that actually took off although it was just $1 million as he only did it once (there were clones out there) If it had been my idea, I would have charged $1 per year per pixel Never ending millionaire lifestyle :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cooky560 Veteran Posted May 30, 2010 Veteran Share Posted May 30, 2010 This site is identical to madbid and many others Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hotdog666al Posted May 30, 2010 Share Posted May 30, 2010 I'm pretty sure a guy I work with used a site like this, might have been this one? He got a really expensive TV for about ?30, none of us could believe it. I wouldn't try it myself though, must be a catch. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheElite Posted May 31, 2010 Share Posted May 31, 2010 I'm pretty sure a guy I work with used a site like this, might have been this one? He got a really expensive TV for about ?30, none of us could believe it. I wouldn't try it myself though, must be a catch. It's all luck. MSN News had a report on top "lucky catches". Some guy managed to get a ?15k Mini Cooper for under ?100 and a sat nav device for a few pounds. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
what Posted May 31, 2010 Share Posted May 31, 2010 It's ridiculous - there's lobby groups trying to get them shut down. For example, take this: http://www.swoopo.co.uk/auction/apple-ipad-64gb-wifi/312561.html ?71.81 at 50p/bid means they got ?3590 in bid fees, + the ?71.81 + ?4.95 for postage. This means they effectively sold an iPad for ?3666.76. So why do they need to be shut down? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cooky560 Veteran Posted May 31, 2010 Veteran Share Posted May 31, 2010 I think less to do with it being a scam and more to do with the way they advertise to people, since they make the customer think that they are getting a bargain, when in reality... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TCA Posted June 1, 2010 Share Posted June 1, 2010 i've heard of this too. registered i think in 2009 but never actually did any bidding i'll stick with ebay. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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