Full FeedGadgetell interview: Swoopo speaks
In case you missed it, my post on Swoopo.com has generated a lot of interest and comments. One of the comment leavers was Swoopo.com’s Senior Manager of Business Development, Chris Bauman.
Swoopo.com is an auction site unlike the traditional auctions you know and has taken a few lumps from readers of Gadgetell. Chris works for the US arm of Swoopo.com (formerly Telebid.com) and has taken the time to answer my questions and fill us in on what the company is thinking.
The idea behind Swoopo.com is somewhat simple: users buy bids (they cost $1 each) then use those bids in an auction. Swoopo’s hope is that enough bids are used to cover the cost of the product (usually high end electronics, DVDs, watches and in some auctions: cash). Sounds simple right?
Maybe too simple, as many folks finding the site via some apparently effective Gmail advertising were quickly scared off. Here are just some of the comments they left on our site:
We at Gadgetell believe we are most effective when we can give both the readers and the companies a place to resolve issues and get all the facts on the table. Chris, to his and Swoopo’s credit, has been actively answering comments here and other places on the web. He was happy to discuss the issues I brought up. Let’s get right to it, shall we?
- Luckily I never trusted it
- It should be (and will be) shut down by regulatory authorities
- If it looks too good to be true, it probably is
- look(s) like a scam
- slimy bastards, but brilliant nonetheless
- STAY FAR AWAY!!
Surely, all can’t be mad at Swoopo?
JG: Why are some people are getting really pissed off at Swoopo? Chris Bauman: It is unfortunate that an auction has just one winner. It is the nature of the beast. People that don’t win are going to be mad, even regretful sometimes, but those very same feelings happen on other auctions like eBay too. JG: Can you give us some perspective on Swoopo? Chris Bauman: Sure, back in 2005 telebid.de a German site started and quickly became popular. The site morphed little by little. In early ‘07, they opened London co.uk; earlier this year Spain .es, live in USA .com just a couple of weeks ago and now we are going live in Austria. JG: I have not found Europeans getting as upset over the site as they have for the US version. Are we Americans just more likely to speak up or is there a culture difference that is manifesting in the feelings we seem to have about Swoopo? Chris Bauman: It may be a different mentality in Europe vs. US users. Back when Telebid started, blogging, comments and the internet wasn’t as big as it was today. We’ve got a lot more access (and willingness) to express our feelings today than we did even three years ago. The fact is people don’t like to be losers. Our CEO, Gunnar, was surprised on how many mixed reviews we’ve gotten. JG: How are you trying to educate users on the differences in your model vs. a traditional auction? Chris Bauman: Our about page is very simple explanation about how it works and has sufficed, but can be clearer. We are looking to expand it. We are also looking to do videos as well. The thing that really sets us apart is allowing users to purchase bids and then bid with those. It is definitely not a try before you buy.Battling globally vs locally
JG: One comment on our site was about a laptop. This laptop was offered for bidding in various countries and you’d deliver a similar version wherever the winner was. Are the bidders battling just those in their country or all the Swoopo sites globally? Chris Bauman: The auctions can be set up to be just within countries or global. There are some products we can only sell in certain countries so those are limited, as much as we can anyway. I mean, anyone can log onto any of our localized sites from a different country. For example: we have watches that we can sell in the US only. Germany auctioned off a Fiat 500 car in Germany only. JG: How are bidders made aware of who they are bidding against? Chris Bauman: We do not make them aware. We don’t say which bidders you are bidding against simply because we are not assured of the outcome. Our business model says the more bidders we can open an auction to, the more likely we’ll cover costs, which doesn’t happen 70% of the time.Money for nothing? Chicks for free?
JG: Ok, Chris, for me a big red flag are your auctions for $1,000 in cash. You call it a 100% off auction where you bid, but don’t have to pay the final bid price (Swoopo hopes to have more than 1,000 people bid and thus, cover their costs). To me. it just feels icky. . Feels gimmicky. Chris Bauman: We see this like a promotion. The same principles apply and we have a cost just like say an auction for an iPod. Only we wire transfer the money instead of ship it. We hadn’t got this kind of comment before. Would it make a difference if it were a $1000 gift card to say, Best Buy? JG: Yes, it would, but I can’t explain why. Giving away cash just seems snarky. Chris Bauman: That might be something we change. We don’t want to give the perception of our site is up to no good. We want people to win and I want to help people win as much as I can. JG: Are you concerned about being viewed as gambling? Chris Bauman: Gunnar, our CEO has been keeping an eye on the auctions for years and has not seen people bid outrageous and not won. Typically been when you come to the site, you came there for a product. We’ve not seen a lot of people go nuts. We try to encourage safe bidding in newsletters, and realize we are introducing a new auction style. There is a skill to Swoopo.How to win
JG: What does it take to win on Swoopo? Chris Bauman: Winning takes two things: money and patience. Every person has a strategy. I interviewed three new winners in US, all three said, “be patient.” My advice would be start small. Go to the site and start with a DVD. People will learn a skill and bid accordingly. JG: Any last thoughts? Chris Bauman: We are legit, we want people to win and they want to help them. We want to be as transparent as possible. JG: Thanks for your time and efforts responding to our readers. Chris Bauman: No problem.Final thoughts
Chris was very open on the phone and seemed genuine in his desire to help users. Some issues about global bidding seem a bit odd and giving away cash just seems, well, odd. Maybe that is just me. In all, I detected no “snake oil salesmanship” and enjoyed speaking with Chris. Swoopo definitely isn’t something I’d go into blindfolded, but, in hoping to catch one of those items on the cheap, it seems reasonable one could do so. At the end of the day, will I be bidding on Swoopo? No. I don’t believe I am lucky or bright enough to stay ahead of the curve and not get taken in by the heat of the moment. How about you?Keep up with the latest gadget goodness! - 
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Dennis,
If you have 10 auctions and in 7 of them you sell the item for 90% of what it costs you and in 3 of them you sell the item for double what it costs you then you have lost money 70% of the time yet made a decent profit overall.
Again this goes back to the lost leader method of marketing. Stores will sell you something at or below cost to get you in the door and you buy a $1 bottle of shampoo for $17.
As I mentioned before I am not going to purchase any bids or try the site but my neighbor (who travels to Vegas on a regular basis to gamble) has and has won two auctions and recieved the merchindise. Both items he got for a fraction of what it would sell for (including his bids). He realizes that over time, just like the lottery, he will spend more on bids in losing auctions than he will in winning ones, but he is also smart enough not to go overboard.
And to hit a key point again… This has been around long enough that if people were winning auctions and never getting the product there would be legal complaints, web based reports, and news stories.
It may not be for me (or you) but it is a valid business.
on April 16, 2009 at 05:09 PM - LINKSometimes it amazes me how clueless people are.
@danterinium - “What idiot would bid 100 times and then pay the sale price on this unit?”
Because paying 100 bids plus the sale price and getting something is better than paying 99 bids and getting nothing.
@Sloopy: “What does Chris Bauman has to say about these 2 auctions”
If you had bothered to read the article you are commenting on, you would have seen him say that the same auctions run in different countries with slightly different products based on whats available in the country. That way they can have more bidders.
Yo! idiots. You aren’t playing against Swoopo. You are playing against other people. There is no “house”. They provide a game that pits users against each other and take a commission. Is it gambling? Hell yeah it is. Do they cheat? No, they don’t need to. Because idiots like you who dont read the rules, and dont understand whats going on will pay them off. You only have yourselves to blame.
on April 24, 2009 at 03:45 AM - LINKIt is only a matter of time before the u.s. attorney general comes across this site and shuts it downn. It is not a real auction site, it is a game of chance aka a gambling site. Online gambling is illegal in the u.s. It’s only a matter of time before uncle sam steps in and offers some good old fashioned Obama style change.
on May 27, 2009 at 04:31 PM - LINKObama style change? That would be they would do nothing.. Just like the gas prices which will be at $3.00 a gallon in a few weeks, Closing Gitmo, Ending the Patroit Act, Ending the war in Iraq, fixing the economy. Just spend money.
on May 27, 2009 at 05:13 PM - LINKAnd fixing health care.. Looks like now we are out of money to fix health care.. Obama gets an F- for his Change. Only change I will get is change missing from my pocket from GW Obama.. Bush=Obama.. Same person.. Same idiot.
on May 27, 2009 at 05:23 PM - LINKI sense a thread hijacking…
It should be obvious that anything that has happened thus far in Obama’s term is strictly due to the failure of GB. We’re in the state we’re in right now because of GB, who, if you want to take about spending, took a surplus when he came into office and turned it into a $10 trillion deficit. Not that I agree with Obama’s spending.. Im just sayin.
on May 27, 2009 at 05:31 PM - LINKYeah you are correct.. I agree Obama has a mess to clean up. But I am afraid he might be making more messes that we will have to clean up for many generations. Its scary.. We didn’t have many choices to pick from in this election. Really McCain would have done the same. He probably wouldn’t have spent as much money but he would be making about the same decisions..
Now getting back to the topic.. Isn’t Swoopo a company from Europe? I think they have offices here in the United States.. but the servers, and the actual site might be in Europe.. So if the Feds shut them down as a “Gambling site”.. They probably would only be able to close the offices in the United States.. I think Swapoo could still operate.
on May 27, 2009 at 05:39 PM - LINKYeah I bought some bids to “play” will see how it goes… it does feel like gambling…. dang it!!
on June 10, 2009 at 11:03 AM - LINKSwoopo means “Sure Lose” in Chinese! Ask your Chinese friend!
on July 9, 2009 at 02:32 AM - LINKActually, Jeff from Los Angeles, it is you who need to reread that posting by Sloopy.
The significant part of that is that the exact same screen name won the same article for the same price in two different countries.
The chances of that are astronomically small! The fact that this evidence exists shows that, clearly, Swoopo is a scam, and that there is indeed a “House” at play here.
on July 18, 2009 at 07:40 PM - LINKLook Jeff from NC..
It is the same auction. The same bidders, the same everything. But the products differ based on region and availability.
So in the USA, the screen says the product is X, and in Europe the screen says the product is Y.
If someone from USA wins, they ship out product X, if someone from Europe wins, they ship out product Y.
Its really not that difficult of a concept
on July 18, 2009 at 08:30 PM - LINKI see what you mean about that. Thank you for pointing that out.
However, I still maintain with several others here that Swoopo is, in fact, a scam.
It is not a scam in that it is possible to get good deals on an item. It IS a scam in referring to itself as an auction site. While it does go through the motions, the site is set up to bilk patrons of their money in a very sneaky and unethical fashion.
In an auction there is generally a set ending time. If bidding is active that time may be delayed by a few minutes, but you will never see a legitimate auction that suddenly adds 10, 20 even 50 minutes back onto the auction time simply because there is some interest. This move is calculated to sucker people into spending more and more.
There will be some thoughtful users who will plan ahead of time, and carefully bid. Many of those will be quickly frustrated as the auctions plainly become un-winable short of spending a large amount of money.
The more common patron, and the one that Swoopo counts on, is the bidder who gets invested emotionally in the auction and bids and bids until the end. These folks will find themselves spending far more than they expected, and often will spend more than they could have bought the item for at normal retail prices. Plainly, this is an unethical practice.
If Swoopo would set a time for the auction to actually end and stick to that, or simply end the auction within seconds of the last bid their results of their auctions would be much more ethical, and satisfactory for the users.
on July 19, 2009 at 03:13 PM - LINKChris Bauman on Swoopo Gambling… this cracks me up.
JG: Are you concerned about being viewed as gambling?
Chris Bauman: Gunnar, our CEO ... There is a skill to Swoopo.
Then later…
JG: What does it take to win on Swoopo?
Chris Bauman: People will learn a skill and bid accordingly.
on July 22, 2009 at 12:30 PM - LINKWhy would you have to learn a skill to win if it’s not a skill game
You can always look for newer sites that don’t have as many users. The chances of winning are MUCH higher and the items generally go for a lot less.. I.E. a site like bidfire.com has had the same few winners win ALL the auctions..
on July 29, 2009 at 04:16 AM - LINKI agree with you.
on August 3, 2009 at 07:19 PM - LINKThere are a lot of website like that but I found another one called “for10cents” but where you can bid for as low as 10 cents: http://www.for10cents.com . So it gives you chipper possibility to play and buy items.
Sites like Swoopo are more for fun than for people actually looking for a bargain. I suggest you look around at the other auction sites similar to Swoopo. Hasteno.com is a new one that I’ve been playing on and I’ve actually won a couple things. Playstation 3 games going for $.08 (2 bids!) and a Nintendo Wii going for $2.16 is ridiculous. Before you completely discount the idea, you should check them out.
on August 17, 2009 at 12:37 PM - LINKI think the important take away from this conversation is not that swoopo is good or bad but that is has a certain purpose with a certain group of people and that purpose is not deal hunting but entertainment shopping. If you want to compete against people and employ some strategies you’ve devised along the way then swoopo or other penny auction sites might be fun for you. But if you want to cut some coupons or browse around the web for a good deal and save a few bucks, swoopo is not for you. I blog about such matters at http:www.penny-auction-insider.blogspot.com
on August 31, 2009 at 01:12 PM - LINKI follow penny auctions at Penny Auction Insider my penny auction blog
on August 31, 2009 at 01:27 PM - LINKSwoopo is expencive, use muulu
http://muulu.com
50 cents per bid, second pack you buy is like 30 cents. Plus free shipping and 1 in 4 bids give you an extra bid. Find that anywhere else.
http://muulu.com/auctions/view/408
Apple® - MacBook® Air with 13.3” Display - $7.11
Beat That
on September 8, 2009 at 12:23 PM - LINK