Best Time to Bid on Swoopo?
Back in the Wild West days of Swoopo (remember 2008?) there wasn’t a single bit of advice on the Internet about how to win on Swoopo. It simply didn’t exist.
When I first discovered the site, I needed to use old library books and lots of trial and error to learn Swoopo techniques. Soon, the first Swoopo guide appeared on the market. It was called “Beat Swoopo” and it was a 7-page PDF with some research on a few thousand auctions. It left purchasers very “underwhelmed” to put it kindly.
A second guide appeared right as I was getting ready to launch the Swoopo Manual. This guide was called “Win Swoopo” and offered more advice and tips than it’s predecessor. One of the strategies it advocated was the “1 Second Rule” which stated that if you’re casting single bids, you should wait until 1 second is shown on the Swoopo clock.
Did It Work?
This advice was logical and mildly effective. If you cast bids at 7, 10, or even 20 seconds on the clock, you have little chance of remaining the high bidder when the clock reaches 1. I included the 1 second rule in my own Swoopo Manual upon launch, and practiced it regularly on Swoopo.
But it wasn’t too long before other Swoopo bidders and I began to notice the flaws in the 1 Second Rule. For one, Swoopo sometimes has issues with “lag” which make the 1 Second Rule nearly impossible to execute consistently. Secondly, the best bidders on Swoopo use BidButler to their advantage to bid and win. Casting single bids at the last second seems a bit like bringing a knife to a gun fight.
Is the 1 Second Rule Still Relevant?
I don’t have a good answer to this question, so I’m opening it up to you in the comments and in the forums (if you’re a Swoopers dot org member). Do you think the 1 Second Rule still makes sense for Swoopo bidders? Are you using it with any success?
Do you have any other tips about the best time to bid on Swoopo?
Swoopo: Top 100 Startup in Europe
Swoopo was named to Techcrunch Europe’s list of the top 100 startups.
Their post included this bit about the company:
Germany $10,000,000 Revenue & Traction. Raised money from August Capital.
The most interesting part of the ranking was that Swoopo was listed in a category they basically invented: Entertainment Shopping. It’s wise of Swoopo to define the market they’re competing in…it makes success that much easier.
Email from a Winner
I get emails regularly from winners…but few take the time to share their process to help others learn.
The other day, though, I received an email from Al, who was kind enough to share his Swoopo journey from start to big victory. I’ll let Al take it from here.
Hi Matthew, A funny thing happened on the way to quitting swoopo. I kept logging onto swoopo, but not so much to bid, but to watch. I was really disgusted with swoopo bec it seemed like nothing really worked. I finally realized it was all about my attitude going in to the auctions. Let me explain.
About a month ago, I was doing really well, strategy wise, on a macbook auction, and then made a simple bid butler mistake (didn’t realize my BB ran out) and lost the auction. So I swooped it now, bec I already had $400 into it. Even though I got my computer, I was really upset. It seemed like no matter what I just couldn’t win that stinkin computer! As I was watching some auctions, I started seeing certain strategies that repeated, and I thought, maybe if I learned more about how certain successful bidders approached an auction I could give myself a better chance to win something. Well, I decided to become an expert on the macbook auctions, Not the macbookpro, the macbook. I learned avg bids to win, pricing, days, times, even the reds that frequented this particular computer auction. (Especially their strategies) I decided that if I ever got back into an auction, I was going into the auction to either win it, or swoop it now. No other attitude would suffice, and it would also help me stay the course.
I faced off against 7 different reds, 3 of which I was VERY familiar with having lost to them quite a number of times in the past. I used bid butlers exclusively, and really didn’t need swoopo analytics bec it simply didn’t matter. I was going to bid butler until the end, either way.
My stats showed that in the last two months there were 25 auctions for apple macbooks. Avg bids to win 421. It took me 422 bids to win.. How’s that for statistical accuracy! I’m not delusional, it also takes some luck in that the people I was bidding against didn’t have the same commitment to winning this particular auction on this particluar day. But at least, I now know I can win on swoopo. Oh, I HAVE won 3 different bid auctions, but that doesn ‘t compare to winning an actual item like a computer.
Thanks for your help. If you want to copy and post this somewhere on your forum to give others the incentive to keep trying, that’s fine with me. Have a good night.
–
Al S.
Thanks Al for sharing…
Introducing the Super Swoopers List
Today I updated the Blacklist to the latest members. I pulled off those names who are no longer active Swoopo bidders and made sure to include all those who have been big winners.
This latest list is over 150 members long and includes everyone who’s won more than 25 auctions in the past 6 months! If anyone needs proof that people can and do win time and again on Swoopo – send them to this list…
Due to feedback from members in the Swoopers dot org forum, I also included absolutely everyone. No longer can a member of our site asked to be removed from the list. This seems to be a more democratic approach. And since the data is available with Swoopo Analytics anyway – it only made sense to include it here. As a result of that change, I’ve also changed the name to the Super Swoopers list. Since this site is all about winning more Swoopo auctions – it was a silly bit of marketing to call it the “blacklist.”
As always, happy bidding.
Swoopo Shill Bidders
On Shill Bidders
I’ve handled a few emails from skeptical Swoopo bidders in the past few days. They are interested in Swoopo, but ask “Can you prove there aren’t shill bidders on Swoopo?”
Bad news: I can’t
No, I can’t prove their aren’t shill bidders on Swoopo. And I cannot prove that UFOs aren’t real and that aliens haven’t secretly been walking the earth for years.
Here’s what I can tell you…
Swoopo has existed for a few years now. They’ve had employees come in and out of the company and currently employ no fewer than a few dozen employees. They have offices in California as well as Germany. They received venture funding in 2006 in Germany and again in 2009 by a major venture capital firm in the United States.
With Swoopo Analytics, we track almost every single auction on Swoopo. We can see the bidding history of every single bidder. We’ve haven’t noticed a single thing in all this data that would suggest shill bidders.
I’ve read every single article and study written about Swoopo I can possibly find. They all have interesting conclusions regarding the Swoopo business model. But none has ever suggested with any proof that Swoopo does anything other than run auctions exactly as they describe.
I’ve won items on Swoopo’s site and received them exactly as described and in short order.
A healthy dose of skepticism is good for everyone. But at the end of the day, you need to rely on facts.
Is Swoopo Profitable?
This question would seem to be a no-brainer for the casual Swoopo observer. After all, they auction off items at a 65% discount on average, which nets them typically 300-400% in bids over the retail price. It would seem they do quite well, no?
Excluding a Major Cost
One thing that these folks are not factoring into Swoopo’s profitability is the cost of acquiring an auction bidder. Think back to how you first discovered Swoopo. Did you discover it through a Google advertisement?
Swoopo probably spends in the tens of thousands of dollars per day attracting potential bidders to it’s site. That’s a lot of scratch…
How Does It Look Now?
So let’s say Swoopo is spending $0.50 for every potential customer that clicks a Swoopo ad. And let’s say 1 in 10 of those buys Swoopo bids. Your cost for every single customer is now $5.
Some auctions can have 50, 100 or even 200 bidders participating. See how those customer acquisition costs add up fast!
What Does This Mean for Bidders?
The reason I’m discussing Swoopo profitability is to make a very important point. The Swoopo cynics are quick to point out that Swoopo makes a killing on every auction and needs only to continue to churn customers in and out to make a buck. Fortunately for us (and unfortunately for Swoopo) that’s not the case. If Swoopo is paying $5 for every bidder upfront (and that’s probably low) then they must focus not on an endless churn of new bidders…but a business model that makes sense and leaves many bidders happy and wanting to come back.
The Swoop It Now feature was a step in the right direction. It allows anyone who’s invested a lot in an auction to recoup that investment and still get the product. No, they won’t get it for bargain basement prices…but they don’t leave empty-handed either. And the winner still gets their often amazing deal.
I don’t know what Swoopo has planned for the next iteration of their site, but you can bet they will take steps (or even a dramatic leap) in the direction of a better user experience. Their very success depends upon it.
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!
Updated Swoopo Manual
Today I released an updated version of the Swoopo Manual. This is now version 1.7.
Included in this update is an all-new data set of over 30,000 analyzed auctions. And more importantly, we slice and dice that data to reveal interesting trends about how the best Swoopo bidders bid…and how they win.
Also included in this update is an item by item savings breakdown. In the previous versions I grouped items together into categories (such as TVs or Cameras). But readers of Swoopers dot org requested item breakdowns instead…and I listened!
Finally, the biggest change:
We took our huge data set and created an hour-by-hour matrix for the entire week. This shows the best hours to bid for every single day of the week. We included this in an all-new Excel download which you can grab on the “Stats” page.
Thanks as always for reading…and keep kickin’ tail on Swoopo!
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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…
Learn the powerful secrets used by top Swoopo Bidders to win BIG and get a sneak peak at the Swoopo Manual - the best guide available on how to win Swoopo auctions.