Best Time to Bid on Swoopo?

Posted by Matthew on February 6, 2010 · Leave a Comment 

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?

Filed under Swoopo Manual · Tagged with , ,

Email from a Winner

Posted by Matthew on January 29, 2010 · Leave a Comment 

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…

Filed under swoopo · Tagged with , ,

Swoopo Preparation: Necessary?

Posted by Matthew on December 2, 2009 · Leave a Comment 

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…

Filed under Swoopo Manual, swoopo · Tagged with , ,

Swoopo Stats & Swoopo Skills

Posted by Matthew on November 24, 2009 · 3 Comments 

In my last post, I explained why Swoopo data isn’t as useful as some gurus would lead you to believe. At least not giant Excel spreadsheets with rows and rows of unprocessed data. And I said there were two reasons for that:

  1. Knowing when isn’t knowing how
  2. Auction data that isn’t real time isn’t real useful

Today I’m going to explain the first of these two reason using a little parable.

The New Fishing Hole

Your neighbor knocks on the door at the crack of dawn one spring and tells you he found a great fishing hole on your local lake. It’s in a little cove on the east side, well shaded and has plenty of cracks and crevices that fish just love (at least the big fish you’re after).

Your neighbor has spent years on the lake finding the absolute best place to fish and thinks he’s found it this time. He also knows from years of practice that the best time to fish is 5am to 7am…right as the sun is coming up. That’s why he’s standing in your doorway so early on a weekend morning.

You haven’t fished in years. Your pole is rusty, your lures are rusty and worst of all…your technique is rusty. You haven’t practiced fishing other than playing Bass Hunter at the pub. But your neighbor’s done the hard work and found the fishing hole for you, so you’re confident you’ll land one and make the trip worthwhile.

Excited, you head out the door with your neighbor and you drive to the lake, hop in his fishing boat and troll out to the cove. You both cast your lines into the water and wait.

Soon, your neighbor and you both have a bite on your line. You get excited and jerk your pole immediately. Unfortunately, the fish hasn’t fully taken the bait yet…and it swims away. You curse to the sky and begin preparing your line for another cast.

Your neighbor, on the other hand, has done this thousands of times. He waits patiently after the bite and 30 seconds later, he’s confident the fish is on the line. He jerks the pole just hard enough to ensare the fish and begins reeling slowly and steadily. In  5 minutes flat, he’s holding a beauty of a big-mouthed bass triumphantly over his head as you snap a picture for the local paper.

The Moral?

Knowing the best time and place isn’t enough…you need to have skills. The Swoopo Manual was written with an emphasis on the actual techniques used by Swoopo pros to win big. Only after you’ve read and understood these techniques does the data do any good.

Filed under swoopo · Tagged with , , ,

On Swoopo Auction Data

Posted by Matthew on November 22, 2009 · Leave a Comment 

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.

  1. Knowing when isn’t knowing how
  2. 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.

Filed under swoopo · Tagged with , ,

The Swoopo Christmas Story

Posted by Matthew on November 19, 2009 · Leave a Comment 

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.

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

Filed under swoopo · Tagged with , , ,

Introducing: The Swoopo Strategy Community

Posted by Matthew on April 22, 2009 · Leave a Comment 

Today is the official launch of Swoopers dot org – the Swoopo strategy community. It is here that Swoopo members can gather to discuss tips, tricks and techniques for winning BIG on Swoopo. The community is available to anyone who owns a copy of the Swoopo Manual. And it’s open not just to members of Swoopo.com, but .co.uk, .de, .es, .at and any other dots I might be missing.

If you are a Swoopo Manual owner, you should receive an email today with instructions on how to join the community and start interacting with other bidders. And if you haven’t yet purchased the Swoopo Manual, click here to learn all about it.

Filed under swoopers dot org · Tagged with , ,