Entertainment Shopping?  

Posted by Brynna Baldauf in , ,

ow do you feel about a Sony Playstation 3 for 156 dollars when it should cost over 300? If it sounds like a scam, you'd be wrong. Welcome to Swoopo, an auction site similar to eBay but with an entirely different business model. Prices for high end products (provided by Swoopo) start very, very low and users bid on each item like a normal auction. However, each bid costs the individual a certain amount and everytime they bid, the time clock gains 10 seconds. Bids for items increase by 12 cents but packages of bids must be purchased. Items can go for really cheap if you have the time and patience to watch the clock make it to 1 second before placing your bid for two or so hours. Swoopo makes money on all of the bids that people forget costs them to place. For every bid placed, swoopo gains at least 60 cents (and there are tons of bids every hour).
Swoopo also features a built in discount if you lose the bid but still would like to buy the product. For every bid you placed on the item, Swoopo will hook youup with that much in discount from the retailer you receive the product from, hence it makes sense to only bid on things you really want. For example, if you spent $2 in bids on an item, you'll get the 2$ discount when you buy the item.

It's a complicated process, but if you can master the tricks, you'll get some good picks.

2 comments

We will actually be covering this in class towards the end of the quarter. An example of a pricing system that previously did not exist. While are familiar with auction systems such as ebay and even reverse auctions this is certainly a new approach. Who wins in the end? Consumer? Swoopo?

I actually found out something interesting in looking around the web some more. Swoopo now has competitors! Bigdeal.com is using a parrallel business model and looks to be quite the healthy site. I happened to Stumbleupon the site and saw a clock ticking down and a product being sold for extremely cheap. The website has the same design, almost exactly as Swoopo. Apparently, somewhere along the line Swoopo made enough money to inspire copycats.

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