4 ms·
The really shady thing is how Swoopo shows the same auctions to people bidding with different currencies. Look at the front pages of these two sites: http://w
by ispivey 17y ago
The really shady thing is how Swoopo shows the same auctions to people bidding with different currencies. Look at the front pages of these two sites:
http://www.swoopo.com/ http://www.swoopo.com/
and
http://www.swoopo.co.uk/ http://www.swoopo.co.uk/
You probably won't see the same items I do, but I'm sure you'll note two ridiculous (dishonest?) things:
1) You'll see the same item listed for the same number of US Dollars as Pounds Sterling (e.g. I see an iPhone for $86.50 and £86.50, with the same "countdown" running). This is not outright deceptive for penny auctions because, after all, the current "bid" is just a score, not an actual value that anyone ever pays.
2) You'll see that people in the US and UK are bidding against each other on the same auction, but people in the US and UK think they're bidding on different items. For example, I see on the US site a Sony VAIO VGN-AW220J/B 18.4-Inch Laptop for $10.27 with 2:45 remaining, and on the UK site a Acer Aspire 8930G 18.4" Notebook for £10.27 with 2:45 remaining. If you click through to both auctions, you'll see the same people and bids on both - they're clearly the same auction. Presumably when someone finally bids, Swoopo buys whatever item they think they won and ships it to them.
- jraines 17y agoI usually like to take the devil's advocate position in this argument, because I don't think you have to be as smart as HN thinks[1] to understand what you're getting into when you enter these auctions -- but in this case, yeah that's freaking evil. [1] In comment below: "populace has NO IMMUNITY . . .it will run through them like swine flu". Come on. Has the populace moved to Nevada and dashed themselves upon the rocks of Vegas? Are we a nation of lottery addicts and OTB junkies? I bet if this were about drugs and/or prostitution, few here would be saying "the populace has NO IMMUNITY to instantly available pleasure and distraction! It will run through them like swine flu!"
- Retric 17y agoI like to gamble and understand that the math is not on your side, but when you "win" 40+% of the time the mind plays tricks and you can quickly develop a MMO style addiction. However, with all the negative feedback I can dump 5$ on 180million to 1 odds and still have fun without getting that sort of feedback. PS: As long as you recognize gamboling is about having a sadistic sort of fun and spend a tiny % of your income, you can get a lot of entertainment for your dollar.
- pchristensen 17y agoSony VAIO VGN-AW220J/B 18.4-Inch Laptop Totally unrelated but I have one of those and it's a wonderful laptop if your back can handle carrying it.
- jellicle 17y agoWow. That actually changes my opinion from "illegal gambling operation" to "illegal scam operation". Stay far away from Swoopo.