Get out the way, we got a Wootoff!

mustangj17 · Oct 28, 2009

Followed by an iPhone charger. Booo.

mustangj17 · Oct 28, 2009

Trey Beamon said:

Pilot said:

It's $0.60 per bid and every time you use a bid, that money's gone whether or not you win. And you can't "swoop" in at the last second because every new bid adds some time, so it's not over until everyone decides they're no longer interested or runs out of bids.

I'm flat out stunned how terrible and awesome this company is. I need to start up my own version. A TV I was watching yesterday sold for $180. The winner big 450 times. So he spent $180+$270, which was still well below the $800 price for the TV on Amazon. Good deal for that guy. He paid close to half price.

But, the auction went up to $180 from $0 in $0.06 increments. That's 3,000 bids, at $0.60 a piece, or $1,800, plus the $180 the winner paid. So the company made nearly $1,200 pure profit on that one auction and the winner still came away feeling like he got a good deal.

It's such a shitty way of doing business it should be illegal, but man oh man does it make money.
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Yeah, it's really quite brilliant. I'm just wondering if there is a cutoff point for auctions; I mean, the bidding has to end at some point, right?

Whatever the case, I was intrigued enough to plop down $24. Not sure if I'll use bids now or wait for some late night auctions.

Here's an interesting Washington Post story on the site:

Consider the MacBook Pro that Swoopo sold recently for $35.86. Swoopo lists its suggested retail price at $1,799. But then look at what the bidding fee does. For each "bid," the price of the computer goes up by a penny, and Swoopo collects 60 cents. To get up to $35.86, it takes a stunning 3,585 bids -- and Swoopo gets its fee for each. That means that before selling this computer, Swoopo took in $2,151 in bidding fees. Yikes.

In essence, what your 60-cent bidding fee gets you at Swoopo is a ticket to a lottery, with a chance to get a high-end item at a ridiculously low price. With each bid, the auction is extended for a few seconds to keep it going as long as someone in the world is willing to take just one more shot. This can go on for a very, very long time. The winner of the MacBook Pro auction bid more than 750 times, accumulating $469.80 in fees.

What makes Swoopo so fiendishly compelling is the tendency of people to think of the bids that they have already put in as a "sunk cost" -- money that they have already put toward buying the item. This is an illusion. The fact that you have already bid 200 times does not mean that your chance of winning on the 201st bid is any higher than it was at the very beginning. A new bidder can come in at any time and at the cost of a mere 60 cents jump into the auction in which you've already spent more than $100. The money you've put in has gotten you no closer to the goal than a losing raffle ticket.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/07/11/AR2009071100684.html
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High risk, high reward. You could go broke and never win a thing.

Trey Beamon · Oct 28, 2009

At the same time, you can get lucky.

About a half hour ago, someone won a Nokia smart phone (retail price: $699) for about $12.

Another person bought a MacBook Pro for $4, with six bids, last month. Tebow.

2muchcoffeeman · Oct 28, 2009

Auction sites? Who cares? If I decide I want something I'm not getting into a competition over it.

Back to wootoff. Anybody want a queen-size ventilated memory foam mattress?

Diabeetus · Oct 28, 2009

Goodbye, bandolier o carrots.

21 · Oct 28, 2009

Kids Woot has a tin of 600 old cartoon DVDs for 9.99. I think I want it.

21 · Oct 28, 2009

SOLD OUT! DAMMIT!!

Guy_Incognito · Oct 28, 2009

flying monkeys

JakeandElwood · Nov 2, 2009

Just picked up a Wii on swoopo for $53 including auction price, bid price and shipping. Pretty good deal. I'll report back when it comes to make sure it's in good working order when I get it.

Trey Beamon · Nov 2, 2009

JakeandElwood said:

Just picked up a Wii on swoopo for $53 including auction price, bid price and shipping. Pretty good deal. I'll report back when it comes to make sure it's in good working order when I get it.
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Congrats. What was your strategy, Jake?

I spent $45 on the Swoopo last week and came up empty, save for those cheapo USB batteries. I tried both waiting until a second or two was left on the clock and BidButler. In the case of the latter, someone was always piggybacking me.

JakeandElwood · Nov 2, 2009

Good use of BidButler won the Wii. I actually didn't realize I won it at first because I thought I was going to run out of bids and was reloading when I got it. I failed every time I tried to do it manually. The auto system is definitely the way to go.

slappy4428 · Nov 2, 2009

JakeandElwood said:

Just picked up a Wii on swoopo for $53 including auction price, bid price and shipping. Pretty good deal. I'll report back when it comes to make sure it's in good working order when I get it.
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Is this stuff new or refurbished?

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Get out the way, we got a Wootoff!

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