View Full Version : an alternative to ebay?
tinpants
16-01-10, 12:33 PM
Just found this site www.swoopo.co.uk (http://www.swoopo.co.uk) that seems to be selling electrical stuff, games consoles and games etc for bargain prices. You have to buy bids (at 50p each) and the things are going amazingly cheaply - a brand new Nintendo DSi has just sold for £38.40!
Any one heard of this site? What's it like, is it a con we should avoid or what?!
Please tell me almightly org!:thumbsup:
warrenhewitt10
16-01-10, 12:52 PM
i used one like this a while ago, complete scam, people have programs that bid for them so they win, u just end up spending lots of money for no reason
A con, because you have to pay for your bids, so it's nothing to do with the wining price but how many bids you buy.
Warthog
16-01-10, 01:21 PM
Total con!
Just ask yourself: is it too good to be true? If it is, then it isn't true :)
Graciepants
16-01-10, 02:13 PM
its incredibly clever:)
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/17/technology/internet/17shop.html?_r=1
Just found this site www.swoopo.co.uk (http://www.swoopo.co.uk) that seems to be selling electrical stuff, games consoles and games etc for bargain prices. You have to buy bids (at 50p each) and the things are going amazingly cheaply - a brand new Nintendo DSi has just sold for £38.40!
Any one heard of this site? What's it like, is it a con we should avoid or what?!
Please tell me almightly org!:thumbsup:
It didn't actualy sell for that price, that was just the amount it stopped bidding up to. The sellers would have got over £300 if fees for that item and if you were on the losing side it could have cost you a fortune in losing bids. Avoid it as its a big gamble if you win or not.
yerp.. total con... avoid like the plague.
the_lone_wolf
16-01-10, 05:52 PM
an alternative to ebay?
http://binx101.files.wordpress.com/2008/07/445_burning_money.jpg
Lol if you thought that was a good website! Massive con! :)
SoulKiss
16-01-10, 06:23 PM
Its NOT a con, its just very clever - exactly like madbid.com (http://forums.sv650.org/showthread.php?t=140194&highlight=madbid) which came after it, and has already been discussed on here (and swoopo was mentioned in that thread, giving this one a slightly Germanic Taint).
Its not a con, because at the end of the day, the person who (using made up numbers) bids to buy a PS3 for £100, gets a PS3 for £1000, it doesnt matter that to get to £100, £500 pounds of bids needed to be placed, but as long as the person winning spent less than £100 of that, they still get a PS3 at a saving.
I wish I had thought of it.
tinpants
16-01-10, 06:27 PM
Sorry, but I don't see what the con is. If you're stupid enough to get carried away and bid 150 times @ 50p a go on an item thats only worth 40 quid then you deserve to get ripped off. But surely if you keep an eye on how many times you bid then, unless I'm missing something, I don't see a problem.
How many of those of you that have added to the thread have actually used the site? I'm not having a pop at anyone here, but a lot of so-called informed discussion on here consists of nothing but hearsay and those that just want to post something.
I'm after first-hand experience of the site please.
Ta muchly.
Edit: Beaten to it by SK. And I never thought I'd say it but... Soulkiss is the voice of reason!!!
metalangel
16-01-10, 06:35 PM
Soulkiss is right. If the bidding site sells the PS3 for £100, they've still had morons place £1000 worth of bids (1p increases to the item's price but at 50p per 'bid') which more than covers their expenses.
Oh sure, one person is very happy with the PS3 for £100 (unless they've spent a fortune bidding trying to get it) but everyone else gets nothing. Except the bidding site, who get a LOT. Hell, if you could get the traffic, you could start one of these sites yourself.
It is a con because the chances of actually winning something are slimmer than slim.
SK is right in the sense that you can buy a limited number of bids and possible win something for cheaper than what you'd personally need to pay for it from a regular shop, but that chance is pretty close to zero.
You'd be better off putting your money in a fruit machine to be honest; better than feeding those sorts of websites.
In case anyone didn't get the maths. An item on that website showing as £109.51 (penny auction) actually means that 10951 bids have been placed at 50p a pop, so they have already made about £5k before anyone even buys the product.
so its basically a raffle
so its basically a raffle
Not really...because with this you have to be the last bidder which is quite hard to do.
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