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"Auction Site" Swoopo got $44800 for a $2500 computer. See comments for explanation

14 points by jimmyrcom 17y ago

The Way swoopo works: Users pay 75 cents per bid to use swoopo. Penny auctions start with a product at $0 then each bid increases the item price by one cent. Bidding at the last second won't help because it resets the timer to 10, 15 or 20. $44800 computer: 58950 bid were placed, at 75 cents each that's $44212.50 + the final price $589.50 for a total of $44802 I researched the site a bit and generated some statistics including the top 20 biggest consumer fails / swoopo wins, the above being the most profit they've made. http://blog.jimmyr.com/Auction_site_Swoopo_a_scam_or_a_bargain__13_2009.php

jimmyrcom 17y ago
The Way swoopo works: Users pay 75 cents per bid to use swoopo. Penny auctions start with a product at $0 then each bid increases the item price by one cent. Bidding at the last second won't help because it resets the timer to 10, 15 or 20. $44800 computer: 58950 bid were placed, at 75 cents each that's $44212.50 + the final price $589.50 for a total of $44802 I researched the site a bit and generated some statistics including the top 20 biggest consumer fails / swoopo wins, the above being the most profit they've made. http://blog.jimmyr.com/Auction_site_Swoopo_a_scam_or_a_bargain__13_2009.php http://blog.jimmyr.com/Auction_site_Swoopo_a_scam_or_a_barga...
- noodle 17y ago
  yeah, this is not the first time swoopo has come up here.
  - patio11 17y ago
    I liked the discussion on "Profitable Until Deemed Illegal": http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=395970 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=395970
jraines 17y ago
What do you think is critical mass for making something like this profitable? And how do you scale something like this that seems to require 1 db call per user per second minimum? Is this something memcached would be good for? (I don't really know much about it yet) I'm interested b/c I made a little clone that I'd like to turn into . . . something, maybe a facebook app: www.dealbattles.com. It's a Ruby/sinatra app right now that uses JQuery .post and .load to display the counters and update based on bids. You can't really use it right now because buying credits is tied to my paypal sandbox acct. If anyone's interested in helping, I'm listening.
- SwellJoe 17y ago
  Do you not have any ethical qualms about taking advantage of the mentally retarded like this? I can't holler at the Swoopo folks about it, since I don't know them. But, you're right here, so I feel compelled to be judgmental. I don't do that very often. Generally speaking, I think just about anything goes (porn, gambling, soft drugs like pot, etc., as long as you're only selling to adults). But taking advantage of the least intelligent and the most desperate to save money is just nasty.
  - omarchowdhury 17y ago
    Well there is obviously a market for it.
  - jraines 17y ago
    I'll be the first to admit that it's one step above gambling (you do actually have control over if you 'win' or not, if you're willing to spend until you do - this is why it's legal and not a raffle). But you just said you're OK with gambling, so I don't get the outrage. Swoopo pushes it as "entertainment shopping", which I think is fair. And if you want to really get cynical, separting the idiotic from their money is a public service insofar as they can't spend it on things with negative externalities, like US Weekly</joke>.
    - SwellJoe 17y ago
      I never said my feeling about this was outrage. But, I do consider it unethical, and it's something I would not take part in. I'm OK with honest gambling...payouts of 85% to 95%, as found in Las Vegas. I'm not OK with lotteries (which are legal, and in fact operated by the government, but I consider them unethical for the same reason...they prey on those least able to understand the odds and the costs, and those who most desperately need money). At least in the case of lotteries it contributes to some sort of common good (states usually say it is for schools; "think of the children!"). Swoopo is contributing to nothing but filling the pockets of the founders.
      - 17y ago
midnightmonster 17y ago
I built a site like this for a client a couple years ago. They were hoping to use it to raise money for charity. They paid me for the work but never operated the site.
- lurker767 17y ago
  i'll pay you for the site again.
  - midnightmonster 17y ago
    If you're serious, I can contact the original client and see about IP. My email is this screen name @gmail.com.
sil3ntmac 17y ago
Looks like the system is guaranteed to make money on at least some items... for example: http://www.swoopo.com/auction.html?cm_re=Homepage-_-Grid-_-1%2f5%2fLink&aid=177443 http://www.swoopo.com/auction.html?cm_re=Homepage-_-Grid-_-1... See the "15" image next to the countdown? Mouseover that, and it tells you that the 10 second countdown for this item will not trigger until the bid has gotten up to $64.70. Doesn't take a genius to figure out that the house will win this one (if not all of them).
gojomo 17y ago
I find this morally dubious for the same reasons as SwellJoe -- it's an awful gamble, even by the standards of slot machines or government lotteries. I hope competition and education can drive their take down to the level of other money-based game operators. For example, what if there were an alternative where the max collected on any item was capped at 2X retail?

14 points by jimmyrcom 17y ago

jimmyrcom 17y ago

noodle 17y ago
yeah, this is not the first time swoopo has come up here.
- patio11 17y ago
  I liked the discussion on "Profitable Until Deemed Illegal": http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=395970 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=395970

jraines 17y ago

What do you think is critical mass for making something like this profitable? And how do you scale something like this that seems to require 1 db call per user per second minimum? Is this something memcached would be good for? (I don't really know much about it yet) I'm interested b/c I made a little clone that I'd like to turn into . . . something, maybe a facebook app: www.dealbattles.com. It's a Ruby/sinatra app right now that uses JQuery .post and .load to display the counters and update based on bids. You can't really use it right now because buying credits is tied to my paypal sandbox acct. If anyone's interested in helping, I'm listening.

SwellJoe 17y ago
Do you not have any ethical qualms about taking advantage of the mentally retarded like this? I can't holler at the Swoopo folks about it, since I don't know them. But, you're right here, so I feel compelled to be judgmental. I don't do that very often. Generally speaking, I think just about anything goes (porn, gambling, soft drugs like pot, etc., as long as you're only selling to adults). But taking advantage of the least intelligent and the most desperate to save money is just nasty.
- omarchowdhury 17y ago
  Well there is obviously a market for it.
- jraines 17y ago
  I'll be the first to admit that it's one step above gambling (you do actually have control over if you 'win' or not, if you're willing to spend until you do - this is why it's legal and not a raffle). But you just said you're OK with gambling, so I don't get the outrage. Swoopo pushes it as "entertainment shopping", which I think is fair. And if you want to really get cynical, separting the idiotic from their money is a public service insofar as they can't spend it on things with negative externalities, like US Weekly</joke>.
  - SwellJoe 17y ago
    I never said my feeling about this was outrage. But, I do consider it unethical, and it's something I would not take part in. I'm OK with honest gambling...payouts of 85% to 95%, as found in Las Vegas. I'm not OK with lotteries (which are legal, and in fact operated by the government, but I consider them unethical for the same reason...they prey on those least able to understand the odds and the costs, and those who most desperately need money). At least in the case of lotteries it contributes to some sort of common good (states usually say it is for schools; "think of the children!"). Swoopo is contributing to nothing but filling the pockets of the founders.
    - 17y ago

midnightmonster 17y ago

I built a site like this for a client a couple years ago. They were hoping to use it to raise money for charity. They paid me for the work but never operated the site.

lurker767 17y ago
i'll pay you for the site again.
- midnightmonster 17y ago
  If you're serious, I can contact the original client and see about IP. My email is this screen name @gmail.com.

sil3ntmac 17y ago

Looks like the system is guaranteed to make money on at least some items... for example: http://www.swoopo.com/auction.html?cm_re=Homepage-_-Grid-_-1%2f5%2fLink&aid=177443 http://www.swoopo.com/auction.html?cm_re=Homepage-_-Grid-_-1... See the "15" image next to the countdown? Mouseover that, and it tells you that the 10 second countdown for this item will not trigger until the bid has gotten up to $64.70. Doesn't take a genius to figure out that the house will win this one (if not all of them).

gojomo 17y ago

I find this morally dubious for the same reasons as SwellJoe -- it's an awful gamble, even by the standards of slot machines or government lotteries. I hope competition and education can drive their take down to the level of other money-based game operators. For example, what if there were an alternative where the max collected on any item was capped at 2X retail?