Basic Swoopo Video
This isn’t a new video…but I keep coming back to it as a very simple intro to explain Swoopo to those who don’t know. Since I keep showing others, I decided it was time to share it with everyone so you can do the same!
Where Does Swoopo Get All This Stuff?
I love getting email from Swoopo Manual owners, because it makes it crystal clear what you folks want to hear. Today I want to explain how Swoopo gets all those items it auctions off every day.
Stores Work Like This
The story of how Swoopo gets and ships most of it’s items isn’t unique. It works just like your local retail or electronics store. Swoopo works with distributors who sell them large amounts of items like PS3s, MacBooks or digital cameras. Swoopo stores these items in a warehouse and ships them out when someone wins an auction. Swoopo makes a few bucks on the item because they purchased it for less than retail price. And they also make money if the total number of bids on an auction is greater than the price they paid. It’s a win / win.
Sometimes They Don’t Have Items
Sometimes Swoopo doesn’t keep items on hand. Instead, they do what’s called “drop shipping.” This is where they tell a supplier (like Amazon.com, for instance) that they just sold something. Amazon will then ship the product, brand new and in original packaging, right to the door of the customer. This usually means you get the item faster because it only needs to go one place, not two.
Regardless of how the item gets to you, Swoopo usually fulfills orders within 1-2 weeks and they are all-new, unopened and absolutely identical to anything you’d find at your local retail store.
Here’s a video where the CEO of Swoopo explains how his company fulfills Swoopo orders:
Swoopo Preparation: Necessary?
Here’s an email (with the subject “very interested!”) I received from a friendly reader Wes, who was on the fence about purchasing the Swoopo Manual + Swoopo Analytics:
Suppose I just hop onto a few auctions and try my hand.  Are you of the opinion that I would likely lose every one without better preparation? i.e. are there that many ‘Swooper Heroes’ out there that jo schmo, using individual bids and repeatedly waiting until the clock runs down to bid  - can’t win?
I replied honestly to Wes and I thought the answer was worth sharing with everyone…since it’s important to the existence of Swoopo Manual and heck, even Swoopo:
You absolutely have a chance without preparation. Some folks buy my guide after their first win wanting to know more…and only then realize how lucky they got
Swoopo will always have a degree of luck, and the point of the Manual + Swoopo Analytics is to make it as little luck and as much skill as possible.
So there you have it folks, straight from the horse’s mouth. You DON’T need to buy the Swoopo Manual. That is, if you’re willing to cross your fingers and hope to get lucky. If you want to turn Swoopo into a game of skill (at least as much as is possible) then you should consider learning a little more about how folks are winning month after month.
I think I know where you could go for that…
Swoopo Reviews
If you’re interested in other Swoopo products besides the Swoopo Manual, I think you’re crazy…but I understand.
Check out Swoopo Reviews and you’ll find a comparison of the 3 major Swoopo products on the market and how they stack up. To be fair, they each have some redeeming qualities, although I would be especially careful with the outdated versions offered by both.
Swoopo Telephone Bidders
The other day I received an email from John who asked:
I am wondering how you work with telephone bids? How are these placed? Do you have any information on it that may pertain to the psyche of that bidder?
I would love to hear your thoughts.
Here’s what I replied to John (with a little more editing since the original was written in a hurry
Telephone bids are a relic of a by-gone Swoopo era when they were called Telebid and only took bids this way. They are no longer called Telebid, of course, but they continue to receive telephone bids into Swoopo auctions.
I would describe the phone in bidders just as I would the technique itself: relics of a by-gone era.
In my research VERY few auctions are won by phone in bids…and those folks are largely throwing money into the wind. I wouldn’t factor these people into your bidding strategy any more than I would a single bidder…and perhaps even discount their ability more. The real threat (and opportunity) on Swoopo lies with the BidButler and that will continue as long as the Internet works the way it does.
Hope that helps….and happy to hear you’re digging in!
So what are your thoughts? Have you had experience with phone in bids? Let me know in the forums…
Swoopo Auction Data: Old News?
If you’re relying on reems of Excel data as the sole source of your Swoopo auction data, you’re making a big mistake. There are more important things than stale historical data from 30 days ago or 3 months ago. Yesterday I explained why Swoopo skills are better than Swoopo stats. Today I’d like to share why without real-time data…you’re still bidding blind.
Real Time is Real Important
Swoopo Excel sheets have a purpose: They let you see which auctions are usually better for bidding. They reveal, for example, that bids for bids are usually a losers game. This is helpful for new Swoopo bidders because you can stay away from bids for bids.
But oddly enough, I recommend you participate in bids for bids if you’d like to start small and “trade your way” up to a laptop or digital camera. That’s confusing, huh?
The reason I can confidently recommend this strategy is because I see it work for pros time and time again. The difference, of course, is that they aren’t relying on Excel sheets. They are also using advanced bidding techniques from the Swoopo Manual. They are also using…
Swoopo Analytics is Real-Time
There’s only been one other person in the “Swoopo industry” who’ve I’ve worked with on a regular basis. His name is Jason and he developed Swoopo Analytics. And what it does is provide real-time analysis on every Swoopo auction right on the same page. You’d hardly even notice you were using it if you weren’t winning all the time
Swoopo Analytics is much more powerful than Excel sheets because it reveals deep data about the most important Swoopo auction: the one you’re bidding on!
Swoopo Analytics gives you access to:
- Who’s bidding in an auction
- How many times every single bidder has won before
- The win/loss history of every bidder on Swoopo
- The average sales prices for that item in the past
- Much, much more
I joined forces with Jason and Swoopo Analytics a couple months back and the program is now offered only to buyers of the Swoopo Manual. If you want to learn more, you can get access here:
On Swoopo Auction Data
When I first started helping Swoopo bidders to succeed on Swoopo, there were several other “Swoopo experts” doing the same thing. There were probably 3 or 4 of these gurus and I noticed an interesting phenomen among them: the data arms race.
When one Swoopo guide increased the number of auctions they analyzed (5,000! 10,000!), I would get emails from users saying:
“This guide has 10,000 auctions and yours has 3,000… why should I buy yours?”
The Auction Data Lie
Before I continue, I should note: Swoopo auction data is important. Analyzing auction data has been a powerful tool for the best Swoopo bidders and we’ve just now launched a whole new data set with a huge new amount of Swoopo auction history. But….
Having historical auction data in spreadsheets on your computer for you to reference is maybe 20% of the formula needed to win. It’s nice, it helps to understand which auctions to bid in and which to ignore…but there are two huge holes in historical data.
- Knowing when isn’t knowing how
- Auction data that isn’t real time isn’t real useful
The Data Peddlers Are Gone
Those Swoopo gurus selling false hope in the form of Excel spreadsheets have long since faded to the background. Their data-only approach was voted down by the market and they no longer show up in Google for important key terms. Their guides haven’t been updated in months and their websites are growing dusty and dated.
The Swoopo Manual + Swoopo Analytics live on and continue to thrive by teaching people what they really need to know in order to succeed on Swoopo. And in my next post, I’ll explain point #1 above: why knowing how is more than important than knowing when and where.
20% in Free Bids for Thanksgiving
This special is for our US based Swoopo bidders. If you purchase BidPack between Thanksgiving and “Cyber Monday” (that’s the Monday after Thanksgiving) you will get 20% extra in free bids.
Click here to redeem
The Swoopo Christmas Story
Over the past few weeks I’ve started getting lots of emails that sound like this one from a reader named Abe:
I might hold off on it till after Christmas because I read somewhere that there’s more competition on Swoopo auctions during the holiday shopping season, which drives the prices up, so I think I might wait til after Christmas so there won’t be so much competition and I’ll have a better chance at it.
I don’t know where Abe read this, but I thought it was worth clarifying a few things about how Swoopo works and why things aren’t as cut & dried as some in the Swoopo world make them seem.
Swoopo Controls the Inventory
When you look at the upcoming auctions page and see the current and future auctions Swoopo is running, you’ll realize this: Swoopo controls those auctions. Swoopo decides when to have more new auctions and when to have fewer. They decide how many PS3′s to sell and how many Ginsu Knives to sell.
In this way, Swoopo auctions are a game of supply and demand, except Swoopo is the only thing controlling supply.
They’ve Done This Since the Beginning
Back when Swoopo first launched in the United States, they probably listed fewer auctions than they do today. There were fewer users back then and Swoopo hadn’t yet been written up in various national publications. If they had listed as many auctions as they do today, those auctions would only have a handful of bidders and would cause Swoopo to lose money. Not only that, but the bidding would be quite boring, too! (Yes, you can have fun and win too folks)
So Let’s Talk Christmas
If more bidders flock to Swoopo this holiday season to get great deals on popular gifts for their loved ones…it doesn’t necessarily mean higher prices for the winning bidder. If Swoopo notices the new group of bidders they can start launching more auctions on a daily basis. They increase the supply, which means lower prices for bidders and still amazing deals for the winners.
Just because it’s holiday season does NOT mean that you can’t get great deals on Swoopo.
If They Control the Inventory…
Smart readers are probably now thinking: If they control the inventory, what’s the point of knowing the best time of the day to bid? What’s the point in knowing the best days of the week? Isn’t all that data at the mercy of the Swoopo gods now?
The short answer is no. You can still study trends and learn more about Swoopo faster than they can implement supply/demand changes. I know this because I see in our data that some auctions have MUCH higher average savings than others. And the best Swoopo bidders only bid on certain auctions and at certain times of the day. They know the data too (or at least can SEE it in action) and act accordingly.
I’ll write more about the supply/demand vs. data issue in another post. For now, just know that you can treat the holiday season like any other on Swoopo as long as you follow the best practices of great Swoopo bidders and arm yourself with the latest data.
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