Swoopo



  • An odd lotterybid site; you can get a good explanation of how it works here

     

    Essentially, you pay $1 for each "bid", which also raises the price of the item $0.15 (and extends the auction for 20 seconds).  If you get the last bid, you can buy the item for whatever the final price is.  If you don't get the last bid, all the money you spent on bidding is wasted.  The setup encourages bidding wars where people get emotionally attached to the auction -- after all, if you come in second, you've wasted all the money on bidding, haven't you, when for just $1 more, you'd be in first again...

    How bad can this be?  Take a look:

    Swoopo screenshot



  • I can't believe that site made a $10,893 profit selling $1000USD.



  • You know, everytime I believe that my faith in humanity can't sink any lower, thedailywtf.com hands me a shovel and asks me to start digging.



  • Although I must say I pitty the idiots that bid for buying 1000$ credit for 1500$, I must say that the guy who invented this concept is a genius. Immagine that: he just made 15'000$ selling basically nothing. They even have penny auctions, where you pay 1$ for raising the price 0.01 dollars. That's 15 times more money for the website owner...

    This has to be illegal somewhere...


    Edit: Hmm... by looking further into it, it seems the price here doesn't actually have to be paid by the person who wins the auction (that's their 100% off deal, and the "fixed price" is set to 0.00). So basically, it's "the last one who bids wins 1000$".



  • @LordOfThePigs said:

    Edit: Hmm... by looking further into it, it seems the price here doesn't actually have to be paid by the person who wins the auction (that's their 100% off deal, and the "fixed price" is set to 0.00). So basically, it's "the last one who bids wins 1000$".

    Yes, at least the winner in that 'auction' actually made a profit - unlike the guy who just spent $300 on an $80 router!

     



  • @morbiusvvilters said:

    Blah blah blah mug.  Have I mentioned that I have no sense of humor? 

    What the--!?!  I don't remember saying that!

     

    But there it is, written in indelible pixels.

     

    *eyes bottle of vodka suspiciously* 



  •  About a year (maybe two) back, there was this duo from Finland who came up with this, though they moved the business to the UK to avoid legal issues. You paid €0,01 for a bid, then, but I guess the €0,15 is better, though. Actually a lot better.

     They call it 'cent auction', I guess the American term would be 'nickel-and-dime auction', unless there's a word for $0,15. Farthing?

     Anyway, it's brilliant. Hats off to those guys. I wish I'd come up with that, as do you all ;)



  • @Ren said:

    They call it 'cent auction', I guess the American term would be 'nickel-and-dime auction', unless there's a word for $0,15. Farthing?

    Farthing?  Wat??  Stop making up words.  I believe the proper term for $0.15 in the United States is "Mortgage-Backed Security". 



  • @morbiuswilters said:

    @morbiusvvilters said:

    Blah blah blah mug.  Have I mentioned that I have no sense of humor? 

    What the--!?!  I don't remember saying that!

     

    But there it is, written in indelible pixels.

     

    *eyes bottle of vodka suspiciously* 

    In Soviet Russia, forum posts you!


  • @morbiuswilters said:

    What the--!?!  I don't remember saying that!

    But there it is, written in indelible pixels

    *eyes bottle of vodka suspiciously* 

    Oh dear, you back on the meth?

    .@morbiuswilters said:

    Farthing?  Wat??  Stop making up words.  I believe the proper term for $0.15 in the United States is "Mortgage-Backed Security". 

    Actually these days we have modern terms for this - a BradfordAndBingley, a HBOS, a FannieMae etc etc...



  •  Manipulating game theory to tap stupidity, the greatest resource on this planet... This is so beautiful it brings a tear to my eye. 

    On a side note I see they call it "entertainment shopping ". I'm sure watching the bids must be the most entertaining thing the owners have done in their lives.



  • @morbiuswilters said:

    @Ren said:

    They call it 'cent auction', I guess the American term would be 'nickel-and-dime auction', unless there's a word for $0,15. Farthing?

    Farthing?  Wat??  Stop making up words.  I believe the proper term for $0.15 in the United States is "Mortgage-Backed Security". 

     

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Farthing_(British_coin) 

    [url]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Farthing_(Irish_coin)[/url]

    As for the original post, the Real WTF (tm) is that people are stupid enough to take part in these things.  But then again, a lot of people sink their money in other forms of gambling too...



  • @tdb said:

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Farthing_(British_coin) 

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Farthing_(Irish_coin)

     

    *speaks more loudly* 

    <font size="5">I'M SORRY I'M FROM AMERICA AND I CAN'T UNDERSTAND YOU DO YOU SPEAK ENGLISH I'M TRYING TO FIND A BENNIGAN'S OR KFC!</font>



  • @morbiuswilters said:

    Farthing?  Wat??  Stop making up words.

    I believe a "farthing" is what is emitted after a finger is pulled.



  • @morbiuswilters said:

    <FONT size=5>I'M SORRY </FONT>
    @morbiuswilters said:
    <FONT size=5>I'M FROM AMERICA</FONT>

    I sense some inconsistency here.



  • @Spectre said:

    @morbiuswilters said:
    <font size="5">I'M SORRY </font>
    @morbiuswilters said:
    <font size="5">I'M FROM AMERICA</font>

    I sense some inconsistency here.

    Well, I'm not actually sorry for being from America, I'm sorry that there are other people who aren't from America who have difficulty communicating with me properly. 



  • @morbiuswilters said:

    I believe the proper term for $0.15 in the United States is "Mortgage-Backed Security". 

    Perfect. 



  •  Reminds me of a Star Trek novel where somebody built this "super weapon" and decided to auction it off, and they used a very similar auction scheme... Heh, that was a fun read - I won't spoil the ending... now if I could remember the title of the book... it was one from "The Next Generation", that's all I can remember :P



  •  ARGH, a word copy-pasting spamming thread-necromancer! That like 4 of the 7 signs of internet apocalypse in one!

    We're doomed!


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