By the way, the only way to bid is if you keep buying bids cards or blocks
which they will gladly keep selling you. I received 300 bids when I signed in
but was not able to win anything so I bough one of their cards and still that
was not enough. In total I spend 450 bids and stayed all night trying to win
something and did not come even close to win anything. Then when I asked for a
refund they said I did not qualify because I won one of their cards to keep
biding.
I feel these people are getting away with peoples money because they have big
layer covering for them with their technicalities.
Ronny g
North hollywood,#2Consumer Comment
Sat, August 21, 2010
I can't really see too much detail in the screen shot edgman posted..but what I can clearly see is what looks like two separate column with large task bars on the top of each.
The left side says "membership details", which of course would be a good idea to read but the right side just says "Where do we send your winning auctions"
I am sure the site designers/operator made it this way with intent for members to miss the fee info and deceptively believe they are simply filling out this info for shipment and billing info.
I am sure as the poster stated, that it is not "clearly" disclosed in the registration process, otherwise as I am sure the operators of this site are aware, many would not register if they were "clearly" aware of this "refundable" fee.
BTW there are other reports here and all over the internet regarding this site. I hope everyone is aware this is on line gambling and not a legitimate auction. The "bid packs" are essentially poker chips or tokens in a sense used to gamble with.
The bigger problem is..as you bid..the timer is set back. The site claims you win once the timer reaches zero. But when you bid..it gets set back..you essentially are in a perpetual clusterf**k spiral of money down the drain through and through. But you are "guaranteed" to win...because to qualify for the money back..you must bid. You will probably never win any valuable item at a great deal..but you will win a 10 dollar Walmart gift card (that cost almost 10 bucks to ship), or another "bid pack", which just puts you right back in the losing cycle, but makes this gambling site thousands of dollars on an item worth a few hundred you will most likely never win anyhow, unless you are willing to bid about what it cost retail.
Oh..and once you "win" a 10 dollar Walmart card or some more poker chips..you now legally according to their terms, no longer qualify for the money back guarantee. It's dirty pool no doubt and someone will probably end up behinds bars eventually for this, but as i stated on another similar report..this scam is brilliant.
Ronny g
North hollywood,#3Consumer Comment
Fri, August 20, 2010
Okay..they did cover their asses for a potential false advertising charge buy stating the auctions are simulations. I went back again to double check and it is all the way on the bottom right side..."* simulation of typical auction results".
It is small, but it is there. However I highly doubt those simulated auction results are "typical" So they are still deceptive liars, just on top of their game more so then I first thought. I had to look twice to find that info.
Ronny g
North hollywood,#4Consumer Comment
Fri, August 20, 2010
I went to the site to check it out and saw things like Ipads that sold for 46 dollars and a 2010 Honda sold for $1700 and change.....Not even slightly realistic...pure fiction...or BS for a better term.
I also noticed if you scroll down they show similar actions with a time clock running down. If you leave the site and go right back you will notice the countdowns on the same auction have reset in time. They are not real auctions..at least not the ones on the home page.
It does not say anywhere on the page that those auctions are examples or simulations..it just says click to bid..which all the "bid" links take you directly to registration where they get your CC info and charge the account. I can also imagine someone rushing through the process because the ipad and Honda only have 3 minutes or so left..but those are not real auctions anyhow.
I assume the actual auctions are nothing like 46 dollar Ipads and 1700 dollar 2010 Honda Civics. If that was the case I would pay $1000.00 to join and make 10x that back a day reselling those items at a great discount. Which I am sure they are hoping many fall sucker to the fake auction thinking how much they can make so even if they notice they are paying a fee to join it does not seem like much at the time because of the misleading /deception. Scoundrels.
Ronny g
North hollywood,#5Consumer Comment
Fri, August 20, 2010
I went to the site to check it out and saw things like Ipads that sold for 46 dollars and a 2010 Honda sold for $1700 and change.....Not even slightly realistic...pure fiction...or BS for a better term.
I also noticed if you scroll down they show similar actions with a time clock running down. If you leave the site and go right back you will notice the countdowns on the same auction have reset in time. They are not real auctions..at least not the ones on the home page.
It does not say anywhere on the page that those auctions are examples or simulations..it just says click to bid..which all the "bid" links take you directly to registration where they get your CC info and charge the account. I can also imagine someone rushing through the process because the ipad and Honda only have 3 minutes or so left..but those are not real auctions anyhow.
I assume the actual auctions are nothing like 46 dollar Ipads and 1700 dollar 2010 Honda Civics. If that was the case I would pay $1000.00 to join and make 10x that back a day reselling those items at a great discount. Which I am sure they are hoping many fall sucker to the fake auction thinking how much they can make so even if they notice they are paying a fee to join it does not seem like much at the time because of the misleading /deception. Scoundrels.
SwipeBids
USA#6UPDATE Employee
Fri, August 20, 2010
Good Morning Droinds,
I am very sorry you feel that we have
mislead you as that is not our intention. My name is Jennifer, Head of
Customer Service for Swipebids and would be more then happy to assist in
a resolution for you. Please contact me personally at
[email protected] and please include your first/last name, user
name, email linked to your account, a brief description and the link to this post.
Regards,
Jennifer
Head of Customer Service
See our Winners: http://www.swipebids.com/all_past_winning_auction.php
See our World Vision Charity: http://www.swipebids.com/world_vision_charity.php
See Our Customer Service Page: http://www.swipebids.com/contact.php
SwipeBids
USA#7UPDATE Employee
Fri, August 20, 2010
Good Morning Droinds,
I am very sorry you feel that we have mislead you as that is not our intention. My name is Jennifer, Head of Customer Service for Swipebids and would be more then happy to assist in a resolution for you. Please contact me personally at [email protected] and please include your first/last name, user name, email linked to your account, a brief description and the link to this post.
Regards,
Jennifer
Head of Customer Service
See our Winners: http://www.swipebids.com/all_past_winning_auction.php
See our World Vision Charity: http://www.swipebids.com/world_vision_charity.php
See Our Customer Service Page: http://www.swipebids.com/contact.php
Edgeman
Chico,#8General Comment
Wed, July 14, 2010
I think that penny auction sites are a bad deal (and that includes swipebids.com) but in all fairness they do disclose that fee. Check out the attached screen capture. On the left hand side it clearly shows that the user pays $150. Oddly enough, I just went to the site and the price was dropped to $49.95.
Always read every detail very carefully before giving out your credit/debit card information.
As for the refund, note that on the screen capture they only promise to refund the bids, not the money. Rather sneaky.
By the way, I do not advocate doing business with sites like this.