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November 27, 2008

Beat the credit crunch with Swoopo, eBay & Amazon

How to bag a bargain or make a quick buck online

Rosemary Hattersley

The British love of a good bargain is legendary. We're also renowned entrepreneurs - if such a term can include setting up market stalls, re-gifting, selling on tickets and vouchers and offloading unwanted items at jumble sales. Why else would pre-credit crunch TV schedules be crammed with items such as ‘Cash in the Attic', ‘Flog It!' and ‘Under the Hammer'?

Now that things are tight, London's Oxford Street has gone back to its street trader routes, with dodgy-looking geezers flogging bottles of ‘perfume' to the most gullible bystander.

But there are far more dignified ways of making a fast buck or grabbing a quick bargain. The internet presents plenty of opportunities - and not just via eBay. If you want to advertise a specialist item, you should research where likely customers of that product hang out online and put the word out there.

Don't forget the small ads either: Loot, Gumtree and the classifieds on your local newspaper's site can all reveal gems and provide a ready base of customers happy to pick up from a local seller.

If you fancy seeing whether you can beat the odds and bag a bargain at a reverse-auction or penny-auction site, you'll need to do your research. We've outlined some possible pitfalls in the following pages.

In line with these cash-strapped times, the rules can be fast and loose. You'll need to keep your wits about you and be well versed in the rules of engagement before you begin your bargain-hunting or profit-making quest.

Having spent a few days watching some of these online auctions in action, it's clear that for those involved in the bidding process it can become all-consuming. It's also clear that if you don't pay proper attention to what's happening you can end up bidding and bidding and ramping up the price, when biding your time would have been more likely to bag you a bargain.

For all this, there are good deals to be had. One of our colleagues swears by online auctions. You might not end up with the most glamorous items, but who can argue with a brand-new jumper for 99p - especially as it leaves a bit more cash left over to spend on an irresistible gadget?

Bag a bargain at Swoopo.co.uk

1. Head to swoopo.co.uk and read How It Works on the home page. The general principle is that you pay to bid but, as you'll see, there are different types of auction. For example, you can bid to win cash on a ‘free' auction - the final price will be zero but delivery costs can be hefty.

Bag a bargain at Swoopo: Step 1

2. Hit Register to begin the sign-up process - it costs £10 to join. The T&Cs are worth a read: some are sensible safeguards but other terms are less standard. You can have only one account per household and the company reserves the right not to reimburse you if you close your account with bids left unused - it cites admin costs.

Bag a bargain at Swoopo: Step 2

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Comments received

TE said on Friday, 28 November 2008

Swoopo is NOT an auction site. It's a heavily disguised gambling site that involves making a very small amount of money from a large number of people. The business has German origins, much like the thieves at Jamster - another outfit known for making a small amount of money from a large number of people.

It doesn't take a genius to figure out that Swoopo's 'bidding' system nets them many times the value of the item they're selling. This isn't a scam, in the same way that pushing ringtones to teenagers isn't a scam, but it is taking advantage of the unwary and in no way is it a legitimate way of "beating the credit crunch". Whoever wrote this piece needs a punch in the head (or has had too many already).

Bottom line: not a scam, just an old fashioned a rip-off. More often than not you'll spend money and come away with nothing.

You have been warned.

Carlos said on Friday, 28 November 2008

I totally agree with TE - steer well clear, and PC Advisor, maybe you should research your editorials a little bit more closely before advising people in this way??

Disgusted, Kent.

Rosemary Hattersley said on Friday, 28 November 2008

Thanks for your comments regarding Swoopo. My intention in this piece was to show how online auction sites operate since they are very different territory from eBay etc.

I felt my introduction and clarification of its mechanics made it clear that using such a site can be risky and that there is no guarantee of a bargain. Bidding for an item on sites where you pay to bid inevitably creates issues - reverse auctions use a similar business model in order to offer bargains. It's a case of buyer beware, as ever. Here, we really wanted to show what you're getting into and how such sites operate, rather than to endorse a particular site.

David B said on Tuesday, 09 December 2008

Hi guys,

Seems like there is some disagreement re: Swoopo. Well, there are ways to know that you can get a good deal. Bid butlers are a waste of time...etc. Just sit through a few auctions and watch them. You'll get the hang of it. I actually put an ebook out with a ton of information on it, www.beatswoopo.com that helps take alot of guessing out of when a product will sell. Don't hesitate to contact me with any questions either: support@beatswoopo.com or beatswoopo@gmail.com !

Thanks guys and definitely let me know if you need anything.

Cheers,
Dave

Aram said on Monday, 15 December 2008

Are you being paid by Swoopo, or simply naive?

The bid fees paid at swoopo are several times the closing price, meaning that the average bidder does worse than their investment than they would playing craps, or a lottery. There is no meaningful way in which the site is a bargain, and your article is deeply irresponsible for implying so. I hope someone sues you.

Mr Ebay said on Thursday, 18 December 2008

I was scammed by a person who had no less than eight eBay account that had only been closed down after several members got together to complain and yet all eBay can do is hide behind the data protection act when asked by myself to provide details of the person involved and even the trading standards are having to wait 3 weeks for information.

Time eBay was closed down IMHO

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