I've been SWOOPOED:

Oh! and 'FREDWEST' you are full of S*%&. Impossible, £50 worth of bids and you have won 3 times and the goods are valued @ £600 ???? You should write a book. Saying that you won't make anything off it as it will be in your 'Terms of employment' with SWOOPO that any royalties go to them. They just keep on winning.

He didn't say that. He said:

"i admit in total ive lost about £50 up to now on items ive lost. but ive saved something like £600 in total with the three items i have won."

I understand you're angry about Swoopo but please read things thoroughly before launching attacks on others.

Its equates to the same thing. I am trying to warn people away from this kind of con, and not fall for the same trap I did, but people can make up their own minds. Obviously you haven't tried SwOOPO, you read my comment thoroughly, it says 'put your money where your mouth is'. Then let hear of all the 'goodies' you have won.

I haven't used Swoopo and have no intention of doing so after reading these forums. I simply didn't agree with the fact that you verbally attacked another user after misunderstanding what he had said, that's all. I have no problem with you complaining about Swoopo.

so mallory

you haven't even used swoopo and you start slating people before you even learn to read

what a muppet you must really be. how can you possibly comment on something you quite obviously know nothing about

I can understand that people are getting VERY upset about losing money on Swoopo but it isn't constructive to attack each other here and isn't going to achieve or solve anything.

I have won a few Swoopo items and not won lots of others. I have not really been inclined to share tips with people as it essentially just decreases my chances of winning but I do feel sorry for others that are struggling so much with the time lag. I experienced the same issues but then realizing the clocks stall quite frequently decided to do things differently:

1) Count down the clock in your head yourself. Count with the clock while it is not stalled and keep pace with it counting down the numbers in your head. You will find you can usually keep pace with it plus/minus a second. So when it stalls you can keep counting.

The other point about bidding last 1-2 seconds is there is usually several people watching waiting for the clock to go that low the same as you are. If you manage to get your bid in it just adds time to the clock and usually entices other people watching to start bidding as well thinking it is going to end soon.

2) Watch all three clocks and pages for the auction. A) Most obvious, you can watch the price and clock on the actual auction page. B) you can also find the auction in the list of "all auction items". Don't click on the item, just watch the clock and price change on that page. C) you can also watch the auction item on it's own category page for example "Laptops & Notebooks".

You will notice that these prices and clocks don't usually stall and update at the same time. Some will update the clock and price faster than others. This would lead most people to believe it is not entirely due to "Internet Lag" as some of their pages are able to keep updating the bidding and clock while others are not. You would think that they should all be the same but some stall for several seconds to a few minutes while the others keep updating with bids coming in.

Strategies:

So just b/c something had sold for a certain price a few times doesn't mean that you can start bidding at that point and expect to win it. It all depends on who is bidding and how many bids they are willing to walk away from or NOT willing to walk away from, as several people have seen when people have spent more than the actual retail value. There is no way to know how far the other person is willing to go and this is why it is a gamble.

You need to decide what you are willing to gamble/spend to TRY and win and be willing to walk away if it doesn't work out. If you keep going after that then you have lost control and are bound to be upset with yourself. Decide before bidding what you are willing to spend and set a limit when you will walk away. Otherwise, if you meet another bidder who isn't willing to walk away the sky is the limit and one of you is eventually going to give up and really be hurting.

I hope these tips help people complaining about "time lag issues" if they plan to TRY again. Good luck.

What's with the ******* namecalling Fred? In case YOU hadn't read, I was actually defending YOU with my initial post.

I didn't like Swoopoed saying you were full of **** after misreading your post, and mentioned it POLITELY to them, that is all.

If you're happy with people verbally attacking you and trying to imply that you work for swoopo, then fair enough. I was just trying to do the decent thing. I wasn't slating anyone, or throwing insults. I don't feel the need to stoop that low.

Next time I see someone having a go at you, I'll just sit here and laugh, ok?

Mallory

i appolagise for my remark and comments i made to you. i must confess i didnt realise you were replying to swoopoed i saw your name and read the reply which lead me to the wrong conclusion. once again i appolagise for my comments made to you

Thats ok, apology accepted :-) I thought it was a little strange!

I am in the USA & find a few things odd:

-You can not view the other bidders profiles

-NO where can you see the "condition" of the items (new, used or asis) you are bidding on

-I don't understand the "clock" on the detail item page, when you put your curser over it tells you " 10 second countdown starts at $38.37", what is it telling you ?

-WHY does the clock countdown 15:23hrs, 2-3 days before the auction is scheduled to end ?

Oh and BTW, you can use your Visa to purchase bids, if you feel you have been scammed, you could dispute the charges & get them refunded ;~}

PJK:

I am in the USA & find a few things odd:

-You can not view the other bidders profiles Intention of swoopo, bad point! As well as only listing the last 10 bidders

-NO where can you see the "condition" of the items (new, used or asis) you are bidding on All new (my own experience)

-I don't understand the "clock" on the detail item page, when you put your curser over it tells you " 10 second countdown starts at $38.37", what is it telling you ? The countdown will switch from the actually ** seconds to 10 seconds when the shown price has been reached

-WHY does the clock countdown 15:23hrs, 2-3 days before the auction is scheduled to end ? "Officially" all auctions end one month later than the day of starting, but no auction really ends later than 2 days after starting

Oh and BTW, you can use your Visa to purchase bids, if you feel you have been scammed, you could dispute the charges & get them refunded ;~} Really working? Did you try that already? Looks like getting big trouble with swoopo

Sorry for my bad English, I'm German :-)

Well I am on their @ the moment, have joined this site which normally wouldn’t bother giving my thoughts think this is important.

There is some thing not quite right about this site been watching it for 4 days now, one guy using bid builder has already bought 1 Nikon D90 @ £169.26 (Phaeton123) whilst using bid builder to bid on another, he/she/it (bot) has already bid way over 50x and is still going, I just sittin here putting a bid on in the last sec n’ watching have been for the last 3hrs lol man they are making their money can’t wait to see the news paper/TV programmes about this “cono” in the next year or so ... you gota laugh they probably let a few people win, man every fair/casino owner known’s that. I suspect that they use bots or employee’s to bid if they are not doing that without dought bots operating on there.

Well the auction is still going let’s see if I win I’m on there as IdarkzacI if I win will let you know.

If you have an additive personality stay well clear!!! If you dumb witha load cash have fun J

darkzac

an additive personality..... is that like an E number or some other artificial additive ?

Addictive Personality:

An addictive personality is a trait, or set of traits, that develops in response to habit-forming drugs/alcohol or compulsive behavior (gambling, overeating/undereating, sex). It is not present prior to an addiction. One cannot predict an individual's predisposition to develop an addiction by looking for an addictive personality.

fredwest your a good example why people like me don’t bother trying to help people like you, we just don’t have the time to waste bothering to reply to stupid questions/remarks, please don’t expect another response to your next blog which I'm sure will pop up pretty soon, trying to reaffirm how clever you are but in fact showing what a nub u are. Stick to swoopo it’s for people like ur self you might even make some friends there. If you don’t understand what I’m saying just cut and paste the words/phrases you’re not sure about into google or ask your guardians to help you.

Take it easy hope this helps

Hi,

Great idea, and I won an itouch relitively cheap.

BUT, I have been waiting for 4 weeks now and still no sign of it (delivery 7 days, told to wait another 3 days before contacting them again). I have tried contacting them daily for the past two weeks, getting what I can only assume is an automated response, only information is wait longer. The customer service is quite literally the worst I have EVER come across... and I have had to deal with Sky Tv! If you're lucky enough to win a cheap item, I just hope you're lucky enough not to have to contact Swoopo for help!

Good luck!

Hi!

ive been trying to find forums that discuss live (penny) auctions. let me tell you, i'm having a hard time.

i found a thread discussing swoopo on this site, so i figured i'd join and try to get some more clarification.

ive noticed theres a fre sites out there, but only found swoopo catering to North America.

are there any others that i can check out?

im in Canada, and most are exclusive to europe.

im a bit of a gambler and have had enoughn of online poker, i need a new vice!!! :)

any help would be appreciated!

thanks!