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 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.