I Bid You Not.

Auction anyone?! Swoopo, derived in Germany and established in 2005, is an online auction site that is frequented by gadget seekers, recession bidders and first-timers looking to wheel and deal for that ultimate gadget. Swoopo debuted in the US in September 2008.

With a revenue of approximately $29 million, Swoopo is slowly becoming more popular in the United States due to economic hardships. “We are just following a very simple business model, one of the oldest in the book, we sell and buy quality products for low prices. It’s just like Wal-Mart, only our customers have more control of what and how they spend their money…”, says Iris Ostermaier, CFO of Swoopo, Inc.

So what should one expect when visiting Swoopo.com?
Here’s how it works, but beware, for first-timer auction users it can be overwhelming:

1. You find the item you want.

2. You load your PayPal, Debit or Credit Card with bid money.
You can buy BidPacks in the values of 40, 75, 150, 400 or 1000.

3. You bid on your item. This will cost you $.60 each time you bid.

Things to remember:
- Each time you bid, the price of the item goes up $.12 and the clock winds up 20 more seconds.
- The auction is timed and when the clock runs out the last-standing bidder wins the item at that price.

There’s Proof in the Pudding

A cool thing about Swoopo is that you can look at ended auctions. This allows you to see how long the auction took place and what the customer was able to purchase and the final price. Usually it is anywhere from 20% to 65% less than the “Worth Up To” price.

Above: This bidder purchased a Nintendo Wii Game Console for less than $100.




Above: Once those clocks run out, the lucky winners can purchase those items at those low prices.

The Neatest Thing
There is a feature on Swoopo called “Swoop It Now”. It’s an option to buy while the auction is still going. The costs of your item is finalized according to how many bids you have placed and the retail value of the item.

For example:
Item: iPod Touch 32GB Retail Value
Item’s Recommended Retail Price: $200.00
Bids placed by you: 100 ($.60 each)
Discount off according to # of Bids: 100 x $0.60 = $60.00
Swoop it Now price: $140.00 plus delivery

Swoopo is easy bait for online bargain shoppers and deal “swoopers”. However, as with anything, there are some naysayers. MSN Money has deemed Swoopo as the “gambling, hustling version of eBay”, implying that the company jacks up the retail prices and the shipping prices to suffice for low price listings.

The Word from this Bird
I say go and check it out for yourself. Who knows? You might spend $100 on a 42" Plasma! On the other hand, you might get Swooped!