Entertainment Shopping, Inc., Swoopo.com
SwoopoEntertainment Shopping, Inc. Swoopo.com alleged scam site is ripe for corrupt practices with no means of verification, beware!

I have been monitoring this site over the last few days and tracking auctions. I dont necessarly have the same problems as previously listed. Mainly because the general format and proceedures is available in writting on the website. Many of thier points are good, but if you don't read the terms it is your own fault.

What I do have a problem with is the apparent randomness in which times are increased.in most cases an item reaching a time of zero is increased by 10 - 15 seconds if another bid is place. However, and this is a huge exception, the timer will 'randomly' reset to multiple minutes or some cases hours. This is not outlined in the terms of use. According the terms of use, "Each new bid resets the remaining time' for an auction up to, but not above, the displayed countdown reset value (usually, 10,15 or 20 seconds). The one exception to this rule is when two BidButlers bid against one another."

As a matter of fact it exceeds any time listed. The 'randomness' of this time extension opens the door to intentional manipulation on behalf of the site operator. If I were I site operator that wanted to swindle people out of thousands of dollars it would be easy to program code that automatically inserts 'bids' and extends the time period in order to lure more people.

Further there is no way to verify any of the 'bidders' are legitimate. The same vehicle that inserts random time extensions could be inserting 'bids'.

I love this business model. There should be ample opportunity for this to work legitimately. However the indicators for this being an extaordinary scam are present and the opportunity for abuse is overwhelming. As much as I want to be optimistic about businesses and people in general the current practices of Swoopo.com test these tendencies.

Don't even think about the bid butler; an automated web bot that will spend your money for you.

I would love to see some third party verification of bidders and the random time extension issue fixed, NOT explained away in some small print that you have to hunt to find. Until then... If looks like a scam and feels like a scam... It probably is.

Joe
Houston, Texas
U.S.A.

Company: Entertainment Shopping, Inc., Swoopo.com
Country: USA
State: California
City: Cupertino
Address: P.O. Box 2803

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