My goal is to be able to keep the site up 100% of the time. When that doesn’t happen, I’m pretty bummed about it. I know many of you rely on it on a regular basis – and I’m sorry it hasn’t been there for you.

The reason we’ve had issues this past week is because we’re moving everything to a new server. We had so many issues in the past that we decided it was time for an upgrade. Our new server will be faster, more reliable and definitely more secure. Our hope is that the downtime we suffered this week will be made up for with reliable performance in the future.

Thanks for being cool while we work through this transition. And thanks for your emails of concern as well as support. Don’t worry folks, we’re not going anywhere!

Along with this marketing campaign, they rolled out a short guide on their site titled “The Swoopo Guide.” The Swoopo Guide is essentially a watered down version of the Swoopo Manual with most of the useful bits left out. They even went so far as to borrow concepts and terms that I created and have been using for over a year, such as BidButler Layering. (For those who haven’t yet read the Manual, that’s a method of placing BidButler bids that reduces the chances of losing big).

They’ve also created a new section on the site titled “Meet the Swoopers.” This is the first time I’ve ever seen Swoopo use the term Swoopers. It should be obvious, of course, that this site is named Swoopers dot org and has existed for nearly a year now.

Of course I’m not upset with Swoopo for seeking inspiration in my work – it just reinforces the impact our community has made. I just wish Swoopo would start paying me a proper consulting fee for all the groundwork we’ve done on their behalf!

I’ve done the research, and can safely say there’s no way to cheat Swoopo. Programmers and opportunists have tried to create auto-bidding devices for Swoopo and none have succeeded. Swoopo hasn’t endured a high-profile “hack” since it launched in the United States. There aren’t any glitches or loopholes in the system that would allow you to win every single time. And there aren’t any set formulas for bidding that guarantee victory.

And after doing this for over a year, I can safely say that for those looking to win on Swoopo, there is no better resource than the 1-2 punch of Swoopo Manual + Swoopo Analytics. I know that’s shameless self-promotion…but it’s quite true.

So if you came to this article looking for a cheat, I hope you’re not disappointed. Instead, sign-up for the Swoopo Manual 5-day course (you can find it in the right-hand sidebar) and start learning how you can win the right way.

These emails are always troubling for me to get because while I do think the Swoopo Manual & Swoopo Analytics is a great tool for Swoopo “pros,” I’ve tried hard to maintain the language and understanding of what it’s like to not know a single thing about Swoopo.

So when I got this email from Anthony, it was great to hear him say that Swoopo Manual is a great tool for beginners too. And he has a great suggestion for a possible new chapter. In his own words:

I can’t imagine trying to understand and bid in an environment like swoopo without having a playbook like yours.

I specifically was searching Google for this type of product. Something that would give me a basic understanding of this type of auction and how I might be able to gain a slight edge on the competition by having better or more accurate information.

Your manual focuses is mostly on the technical aspects, basic understanding of the auction process, how to bid and win early, how to bid and win late, when not to bid, what days are best, what times are best, when to use BidButler etc..

One area the manual does not explore in any depth is the psychological aspects of why people bid the way they do and how to potentially exploit their behavior.

I’m sure you could devote an entire chapter to the subject. I myself almost fell victim to the urge to bid before finding your manual and swoopo analytics.. I actually had to pull myself away from the computer and force myself to do some research before bidding. I’m very glad I did or I would probably be sitting here several hundred dollars lighter.

To sum up, I believe your manual is an extremely valuable tool for beginners. Everyone should read your manual that wants to bid on swoopo. I just hope they don’t…:)

Kind Regards,

Anthony

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!

Join the forum discussion on this post - (1) Posts

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…

Here’s the question:

What is the single most important thing you’ve learned through bidding on Swoopo?

Email your answer to me: matthew@swoopomanual.com by midnight US Central time on October 30th 2009. I’ll evaluate all the responses and the best, most well written and insightful response (as judged by ME) will be given access to a free copy of Swoopo Manual.

Some fine print: All entries sent to me will be my property to do with them as I see fit. The winner will be chosen at the sole discretion of me. No one is guaranteed to win the contest. And while Swoopo Manual includes Swoopo Analytics, this contest does not. Winners will get access to Swoopo Manual and Swoopers dot org, but will not be given free access to Swoopo Analytics. (It simply costs too much for us to run to allow a free membership to anyone).

Thanks in advance for your great responses! I’ll share the best ones with the Swoopers community via this blog or the forum.

• 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.