Winning X on Swoopo

I got a reader email the other day that was similar to ones I’ve gotten many times. Dan writes:

I am in the market for a new laptop. I came across Swoopo while researching discounted laptops. It obviously seemed too good to be true. After further evaluation it seems you can actually win a top of the line laptop for anywhere between $100-$300 (final price and bid cost).

Would you say this is true? Should I go down this route to buy a new laptop or save the aggravation and just buy it from Amazon or something.

If my chance of success is high I think I will buy your manual and give it a ago since I can get a great laptop for a fraction of the price.

Thanks.

Dan

I love getting reader email, but I love it even more when they have great punctuation and capitalization. So I responded to Dan as candidly as he wrote me and I hope it’s instructional:

Dan -

Great to hear from you!

I’ll tell you you’re at an advantage and a disadvantage in knowing specifically what you want.

The con is that you are limited to only the auctions for the laptop you want. That means you can’t fully scout all the auctions for the best bidding environment.

But on the pro side, you can invest heavily and use Swoop It Now if you’re not successful. The Swoop It Now feature, if you’re not aware, allows you to take all the money you invested in an auction and put it toward the purchase price.

So I would recommend you do this:

1) Compare the “retail price” on Swoopo vs the price you’d pay on Amazon or in the free market – it’ll likely be a few hundred dollars.

This is essentially your “gamble” on the auction – and you’ll only lose that in comparison to buying it retail.

Then

2) Get the Manual & Analytics…pick a good auction and the right time to bid and come into the auction at the best time you decide. When you come in – just come in HEAVY. Be prepared to spend up to the amount of the laptop retail price on Swoopo in bids….

Using this strategy, the most Dan can stand to lose is the difference between Swoopo’s retail price and Amazon’s retail price. And if Dan wins, he will likely get the laptop for 75% off or more.

I hope this helps if you too are looking for something specific on Swoopo.