ARTICLE
The F-drive on my laptop disappeared. This means I can no longer open documents saved to DVDs. “Time to start looking to replace my laptop”, I thought as I drifted off to sleep last night. Reading an online news article this morning I noticed a small ad that said: ” Long Beach: $649.99 iPad for$123.74? Special report: Apple iPads are being auctioned for 80% off retail.” If I need to replace laptop, saving money is important.
I clicked on link and was transported to The Omaha Gazette. I did not notice the small print above web site’s header proclaiming Advertisement. Below Omaha Gazette navigation bar, there is a red box with white letters that announces “Breaking News: Exclusive: Massive Savings ‘Trick”‘ Discovered.”
The article, “Surplus Auctions Exposed: 95% Off Retail Possible?” is part of a series “How to Save Big Bucks when Shopping Online”.
Author identified as Johanna spent a week researching the surplus Auction system. Research showed her that SwipeAuctions “was the most legitimate surplus auction site”. She joined the site and spent a week studying the site. The next week she won two auctions. The fourth week, she received the items she bid upon and was happy with the them. Product is shipped within 72 hours after payment of winning bid cost. The article and comments were favorable. I visited SwipeAuctions to do some research of my own.
SwipeAuctions advertise auction bidding on “warehouse closeouts, overstock surplus and liquidation clearances”. The site’s main page naturally has a sampling of product blurbs which show how much money SwipeAuction users have saved. There are also several mentions of World Vision and SwipeAuction sponsoring “an additional child each day”. I did not locate a site link to World Vision.
What the advertising article does not mention about SwipeAuctions is the membership fee. It is $159.000USD and comes with 300 bids. Thereafter members must purchase Bid Packs in increments of 135, 300, 1325 or 3000 which are only available using a Visa card. Terms of Service do not list prices for Bid Packs which are subject to change. Bidding increases time of auction. This is unspecified other than “typically a few seconds”. Bidding also increases the bidding price by $0.0l cents.
Terms of Service
When becoming a member you agree to receive periodic emails from SwipeAuctions about their products and services. You will naturally receive emails confirmation emails on any bidding you do. You can opt-out of receiving their Newsletter.
SwipeAuctions disclaims all warranties
If you return product within 14 days, your bid price is refunded. Product returned must be unopened and undamaged.
If product is faulty you have the option of calling Customer Service or contacting sites LiveChat.
Privacy Policy
As with most websites, SwipeAuctions collects personal identifying information including your IP address. They use cookies to track activity; may publish information about you or your usage when publishing marketing trend reports. They will disclose all information collected about you as required by Federal law. They do not mention making your personal information available to third-party websites, such as their advertisers, but Privacy
Policy is subject to change at any time with notification to users prior to implementation.
Other Terms of Service and Privacy Policy information is basically standard website policy.
Can you save money online using SwipeAuctions? According to Johanna and other testimonials, yes you can. My opinion is that if you have $159.00 to spare, it may be worth the gamble to bid on their auctions. You could get lucky in purchasing a product well below retail justifying the cost of membership and shipping fees. If you do not have the spare cash, it would be wiser to apply the membership fee to purchasing the product you desire elsewhere.
If I were to join SwipeAuctions to bid on the Apple iPad, it already cost me more than the stated $123.74 and does not include shipping and handling charges. If there is a lot of competition for that iPad, those 300 bids could be used up requiring a Bid Pack purchase. If each bid increases the auction price by a penny, would I need to bid against my own bid to win, even if no one else bid on the same product? If I waited until the last minute to increase my bid would the ten seconds added to clock time be enough for me to outbid my bid by another penny? With no guarantee that I would win an iPad or other computer auction, I would not spend $159.00 to find the answer to those two questions.
Author Note:The advertising article link I used to research SwipeAuctions did not take me to the site today. I corrected link and visited the site again. There is a link to World Vision information on the homepage. In addition, The Omaha Gazette nav bar page links are inactive. The website is simply designed to look like an online newspaper. Further study, that is reading the Terms of Service at bottom of page, reveal that the advertisement is “based on a true story” and not a legitimate article.
