Can i just say i’m disappointed reading on the forum that so many people seem to have forgotten all your advice on how to win and have been relying on [Swoop It Now]…now they think it’s all over.

I have had a good time and they are all missing out. [I won an] LG plasma last week for £3.07 + 124 free bids. I have started passing my knowledge on to 2 family members, who now have had some good wins without having the [Swoopo Analytics] tool to help. [They're bidding] blind so to speak.

Cheers Nige

Nige is of course referring to the recent Swoopo changes. What he meant was that those users who are complaining that Swoop It Now no longer allows 100% discounts should reconsider their complaints. Swoopo didn’t have Swoop It Now until fall of 2009, so this is a relatively new tool for the Swoopo bidder. What the changes do is democratize the bidding a bit more. Swoopo Pros can no longer dominate the auction and rely on Swoop It Now as a backstop. This means more opportunity for more bidders and in Nige’s case – more auction wins.

I waited to make up my mind until I had data firmly in hand about what effect it would have. And thankfully, my data mastermind Jason was able to get me stats quickly.

Here is the average savings on Swoopo over the first 10 weeks of 2010.

So it would appear that the changes are good for users on Swoopo. Now, the techniques of the Swoopo pro will definitely change because they can no longer heavily rely on Swoop It Now to save them from a big loss. It’s also made it easier for new bidders to jump in and start winning auctions.

With the shift from Swoopo Pros to every bidder on the site, hopefully Swoopo can continue to improve their customer satisfaction and keep bidders coming back again and again.

There have also been concerned voiced that Swoopo’s traffic is down. Here’s a glimpse at the number of closed auctions by week:

It should be noted, however, that their current traffic levels are similar to those about 5-6 months ago. They’re not growing at this point, but it’s not unprecedented for them to have this many finished auctions per week.

It’ll be interesting to see what they tweak in the model going forward and how it affects everyone in the forums and at home who’re bidding and winning on Swoopo.

Swoopers dot org members are also often the first to know about changes to Swoopo’s auction formats or rules. Here are just a few examples of stuff I’ve written after getting excellent feedback from our forum members:

• Calculating BidButler Activity
• BidButler Changes
• The Super Swoopers List

If you’re interested in joining Swoopers dot org, visit the Swoopo Manual site and sign up. If you’re already a member, keep being awesome and sharing your great advice with our community and we’ll promise to do the same.

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.

• Swoop It Now
• No concurrent BidButlers
• Auction price adjustments
• Bid price adjustments

When Swoopo zigs we’ll just have to continue to zag. As usual, you’ll find the updated Swoopo Manual here. And thanks to an excellent forum suggestion from one of our Swoopers members, I’ve now added “Published On” dates to the Manual so you know how current the information is.