Complaint Review: swipebids.com

I noticed an ad for this site while browsing my gmail.  I clicked on it, as I am a big ebay fan and thought this was something similar.  Everything was well disguised and they used tactics like "only accepting limited sign-ups, so sign up in the next four minutes to guarantee your ability to register." This screamed scam to me, so I immediately came to ripoffreport.com to see what the deal was.  After reading the horror stories here, I decided to have a little fun with the chat and also figure out how they were making money.  After thinking about the way the site works, I came to a few conclusions.  I also got some information out of the chat operator, like a phone number, but not much.  If you are scammed on this site, don't waste time with the chat, as it is mainly just canned answers.  I am including a transcript of my chat conversations here, which should give you a run down of how this site makes its huge profit (just an estimate on the actual profit, but the profit is definitely HUGE) and what a waste of time the chat is.  The phone number is near the bottom. I did a little research at rip off report, and was able to predict what the operator's job title would be at one point, among other gems in our chat; should be a fun read regardless.  Hopefully this site did not trick you, but if it did, or you were considering the site, hopefully this will be some help:

  

Please wait for a site operator to respond.

You are now chatting with 'Nichole'

Nichole: Thank you for visiting SwipeBids. We are here to help you win auctions, save money and have a great time. Who am I speaking with?

you: Nick, thanks.

Nichole: Hi, may I have your email address and zip code please?

you: I am curious about your site. I just read a number of reports on ripoff.com, do you care to respond to to allegations of charging $150 without notifying new members of the charge? (obviously I am curious before I sign up)

you: or give you any information

Nichole: Could you please provide me with your full name, email address and Zip Code, so that I can pull up your details?

you: I have no details, I have yet to sign up. I am wondering if the above charge is true before I consider giving any information or sign up

Nichole: The Membership offered since April 23, 2010 is a onetime charge of only $150.00. The full membership is charged upon signing up and as stated, 300 bids @ .50 cents each are deposited to your account upon signing up to allow you immediate access to the bidding site.

you: The company holds itself out to charging a penny per bid, why the discrepancy?

you: In fact, it would not be possible to win anything for "pennies" would it?

Nichole: The bidding process is simple. Each product starts at just one dollar. Then, people place bids on the product. Each time someone places a bid, the price of the product rises by 1 cent. The timer keeps going down, and when the auction falls below 5 minutes, if anyone places another bid on the item then the timer will reset to 10 seconds. When bidding stops and the auction ends, last bidder wins!

you: What is the average number of bids and bidders per, say, a laptop?

you: approximately

Nichole: It is an auction program and you will have to compete with other bidder. So, please concentrate on your desired item and keep bidding unless you win.

you: Again, what is the average number of bids and bidders for a MacBook (or other valuable item)?

Nichole: Sorry, but we don't have the approximate figure for that.

you: Each bid causes the price to go up .01 right?

Nichole: Each time someone places a bid, the price of the product rises by 1 cent.

you: I currently watching a MacBook, and it says that each "click is 10 bids." Does that mean that, at the cost of .50 a bid, it costs $5.00 to "click" once?

Nichole: We offer two types of Premium Auctions.  The Premium Gold Auctions will be highlighted as a Gold Auction and requires a 5 bid minimum with each click on the item, increasing the price of the item by one penny, while decreasing the customers bids by 5 bids per click. The Platinum Premium Auction is highlighted as a Platinum Auction and requires a 10 bid minimum with each click on the item, increasing the price of the item by one penny, while decreasing the customers bids by 10 bids per click.  This ensures the final price of the product remains low and allows bidders to get a great deal on the site. If bidders are not ready for this option, we still offer our regular penny auctions which only require 1 bid per click.

you: so the MacBook that I am watching now is at a little over $60.00. That means there has been over 6,000 "clicks" at $5 per "click," or $30,000 profit made by you guys before the item is even sold, correct? Do you guys take investors?

Nichole: Every company requires a profit margin in order to sustain itself and provide high quality services to its customers. Our profits are earned from the cost of bid packages which customers purchase. Although these fees are not substantial, the volume of customers that our site gets allows us to accumulate revenue that we can put towards providing huge discounts to auction winners.

Nichole: And we gave 300 Start-Up Bids with 1-Year Membership to our customers.

you: $30,000 (up to about $34,000 since I wrote my last message--1 minute ago--and not over yet) on a $4,000 item is "not substantial." That's crazy. Where are you guys located? In the United States?

you: The membership cost $150, you didn't "give" anything.

Nichole: For security and privacy reasons, we are unable to disclose our exact address, but I will confirm for you that we are based out of the United States.

you: Are you the Customer Service Supervisor on this shift?

Nichole: I am the customer service supervisor on this shift.

you: Did you type that yourself?

Nichole: Yes.

you: Seems eerily similar to what I wrote.

Nichole: Sorry, but I have.

you: Is there anyone who is not a customer service supervisor there?

you: And if so, I would like to speak with them.

Nichole: Please hold while I transfer you to one of our other agents.

Please wait while I transfer the chat to 'Keith'.

You are now chatting with 'Keith'

you: Thanks

Keith: Thank you for visiting SwipeBids. We are here to help you win auctions, save money and have a great time. Who am I speaking with?

Keith: Ok, how may I assist you?

you: My name is Nick.

you: Are you a customer service supervisor on this shift?

Keith: No.

you: Oh, what is your position Keith

Keith: I am the customer representative .

you: Can you read my previous chat with Nicole, or should I run through some of my concerns I would like addressed before signing up for the site with you as well.

Keith: Yes I can read wait.

you: Thank you Keith

Keith: Ok ask your queries .

you: I was curious the average number of bids on a MacBook, and the average number of individual bidders.

you: Also, are you guys a LLC or are you incorporated?

you: And, if you guys are a member of an Better Business type organization?

Keith: It depends upon the number of users bidding it can goes up or down.

you: Just an average?

you: Approximate.

Keith: Sorry we can not tell you .

you: Why?

Keith: Its our company policy.

you: It seems like good information to know before starting into this opportunity.

you: If I don't know the number of bids, how can I estimate my actual cost to make sure it does not go over the cost of the retail price of the item

Keith: It will never go above the cost of retail price .

you: My concern Keith, and the reason I ask, is that the current MacBook is now over $72.00. If each "bid" is .50 and it costs 10 bids to make the item go up .01, then at this point $36,000 has been spent on the MacBook currently on the site for auction. And that is before the auction has ended and without the item being paid for. If that is only two people bidding, they have each spent roughly $16,000 before the auction is even over. If it is 36,000 separate bidders, than they have only spent about $5 each. This is why I would like to know the average number of bidders for a MacBook--you see?

Keith: Sorry I,am not authorized to tell you that.

you: Keith, you are losing a customer here. Is there anyone else I could speak with that may be authorized to tell me that, and how about the Better Business membership question and the LLP or Incorporation question, are you authorized on either of those.

you: Keith, did you leave our conversation??

you: Keith, what's going on buddy? Are you okay?

Chat session has been terminated by the site operator.

Please wait for a site operator to respond.

You are now chatting with 'Keith'

Keith: Thank you for visiting SwipeBids. We are here to help you win auctions, save money and have a great time. Who am I speaking with?

you: Keith, you left our previous conversation. What's up?

Keith: Ok, how may I assist you?

Keith: Could you please provide me with your full name, email address and Zip Code, so that I can pull up your details?

you: Keith, I already explained that but you simply left our last conversation without answering my questions.

you: That does not seem to be very good customer service.

Keith: That was technical error can you repeat your question.

you: 1) Why can you not answer the average number of seperate bidders per auction question, and is there anyone who can?

you: 2) Is SwipeBids an LLP or are you guys incorporated?

you: 3) Are you a member of any better business associations?

you: 4) What state are you located in?

Keith: We can not answer because Iam not authorised.

Keith: We stand by the customer service and quality standards of the Better Business Bureau. That's why we are offering our customers complete customer satisfaction day in and day out.

Keith: For security and privacy reasons, we are unable to disclose our exact address, but I will confirm for you that we are based out of the United States.

Keith: We are not llp.

you: Keith, you are not even typing those answers. I got some of those exact same, word for word, responses from Nichole. I feel that failing to type responses is not "the quality standards of the Better Business Bureau." Is there anyone I can speak with the does not give canned answers--on the phone perhaps?

you: What does llp stand for Keith?

Keith: Sorry we don't know anything about llp.

you: So how do you know if you are not it?

you: And how about the other question, Keith?

Keith: No there is no one except me to assist you.

you: No phone number?

Keith: To get assistance via phone, please call this number: 1-866-389-3870  (Mon Sat  8 am - 9 pm & Sun from 10 am - 6 pm  Eastern Time).  However, I am here to provide you immediate customer service.

you: Well, you are failing to answer my questions Keith...

Keith: Is there anything else I can help you with today?

you: Are you chatting from America Keith?

Keith: For security and privacy reasons, we are unable to disclose our exact address, but I will confirm for you that we are based out of the United States.

you: How do you feel about your company ripping off thousands and thousands of people Keith? Based on our conversation I will not be one of them, but seriously Keith, how do you sleep at night?

Keith: I sleep well at night. and i proud to be a part of this company.

Keith: We have lot of satisfied customers on our site. We do not steal people money. Customers are charged as per the bid package they purchase while registering. We don't force any one to buy any bid package. We are not a scam site.

Keith: Thank you very much for chatting with us today. We hope the rest of your day is an excellent one.

Keith: Please feel free to come back for any further assistance.

you: $150 charge without notifying people upon sign up, over $41,000 profit made before the auction ends...I sure wouldn't be able to sleep Keith. I sure wouldn't be able to sleep.

Keith: Is there anything else I can help you with today?

you: see ripoffreport.com for information on the lives your company has damaged when you get home. For me Keith, check it out.

Keith: Ok I will.

you: Here's one before I go:

you: "I was browsing the internet looking for computers on sale when I came across swipebids.com. I registered at the site so they would send me e-mails about products they might have for sale. I have my computer set for "auto-fill" and because of that they were able to access my account for 150.00. I called them within minutes and told them it was an error and asked them to rescind the charge. They told me that just by registering I had ordered their services and no refund would be given. I have gone on the internet (pennyauctionwatch.com) and found many complaints of exactly the same thing happening to other senior citizens. I did not order anything from them, I did not use any product of theirs, they took my grocery money and they threw me into an overdraft situation. This company has done this to many many people and someone needs to help us put a stop to their thieving ways. This is a predatory company who is victimizing senior citizens. HELP!"

Keith: Ok

Keith: Good Bye.

you: Good night Keith.