I can’t work out swoopo.co.uk, a site I’ve just discovered.  It’s an auction site where you pay to bid.  When someone bids on something, it makes the cost of the item go up (by a penny or another pre-determined amount) and it adds time to the remaining time left on the auction.

As a result, on the surface it looks like a good site, as there are 40″ HD TVs for £90.  However, because every bid adds time to the auction, sales with only a few seconds left actually last forever – people are of course perpetually bidding in the hope that they will win a huge TV for far less than retail price.

Each bid costs 40 UK pence, and you have to buy bids in bulk.  This is where my understanding falls down, and I’m sure I could get it if I were interested enough to read through the site or Google it for some reviews, but I can’t be bothered, and I’ll get to that in a minute.  Does this mean I’ll need to bid many many times to win my item, each at 40p a go?  It would appear so, which although you still may win the thing for less than retail, adds a lot of risk – not everyone is going to win it, yet a lot of them will place multiple bids.  This would appear to be a massive win for Swoopo, and according to the activity on the site, a stroke of genius by its creators.

I will probably steer clear – that stuff about something looking too good to be true probably being so is playing around my mind.

The reason why I can’t be bothered to delve in and read through all the FAQs or site reviews is because I feel I shouldn’t have to.  A good website should be obvious and intuitive to use.  Perhaps this is and perhaps I’m just a little dim, but I don’t think I am.  Most of the workings of the site are obvious, but the rules don’t appear to be.  Everyone gets eBay, it’s obvious, but I don’t think Swoopo is.

Anyone care to fill me in?