I was fascinated to discover the auction hybrid site swoopo.com (previously known
as telebid.com). It's a strange combination of eBay, woot, and slot
machine. Here's how it works:
- You purchase bids in pre-packaged blocks of at least 30. Each bid
costs you 75 cents, with no volume discount.
- Each bid raises the purchase price by 15 cents and increases the
auction time by 15 seconds.
- Once the auction ends, you pay the final price.
I just watched an 8GB Apple iPod Touch sell on swoopo for
$187.65. The final price means a total of 1,251 bids were placed for
this item, costing bidders a grand total of $938.25.
Via reddit, Coding Horror:
Profitable Until Deemed Illegal
So, let me get this straight. Swoopo charges people 75¢ per bid on an
auction, and each bid only increases the bid amount by 15¢ …
Amazing.
I guess D
avid Hannum was right, and I'm in the wrong business.
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