Penny Auction REVIEWS – Which Penny Auctions are the BEST Bargains?

After being subjected to independent investigations done by numerous penny auction bidders, it seems that SwipeBids.com chose to shrug things off and start with a clean slate. The site’s management has rebooted the site, which now goes under the name, “SwipeAuctions.”

During these past few months, the guys behind SwipeBids have been busy doing damage control, first, denying accusations of fraud and other scams; second, appeasing members upset by the hidden charge of $150 taken from the credit cards; and finally, going after what it calls the “source” of all these allegations, a penny auction forum called PennyAuctionWatch (PAW), and filing a lawsuit against them.

What’s amusing is that the new SwipeAuctions site seems to be adamant in severing all connections to its previous and controversial past, opening with a bold statement right on their homepage:

SwipeAuctions is dedicated to the integrity of our auctions.

• We do not use any shill bidders to inflate prices.
• We do not use any “bots” or programs to palce artificial bids.
• All of our winners are real members.

It sounds like SwipeAuctions’ is being on the defensive.

It’s worth noting that PAW is by no means the only online forum where criticisms on SwipeBids can be found; the backlash against SwipeBids’ questionable strategy has been the subject of discussions and arguments all over the web. In fact, we’ve posted a number of reviews about the site here at PennyAuctionInvestigator.com.

The reviewer on this video may be young (at least he sounds like it) but he obviously know what he’s talking about. In the video, the reviewer discusses SwipeBids.com’s suspicious business strategy. He also shows a chat he had with a SwipeBids customer representative. Click play to find out more.

SwipeBids.com, now going under the name of SwipeAuctions.com, used to claim itself as the “#1 Surplus Auction Website,” a distinction usually given by many to the more established auction site Ubid.com. Before closing and changing its name to SwipeAuctions.com, SwipeBids used to have a landing page that showcased pictures of excess stocks and warehouse surplus.

It was pretty clear that the page, which came complete with impressive pictures, videos, and testimonials, was aimed at enticing bidders to make last minutes attempts to score bargains before the site switched over to SwipeAuctions. What we found suspicious though is the site’s use of one video where a news anchor talks about the warehouse used by an auction site. What’s fishy here is that it’s never revealed which site the video is talking about.

What’s more, there’s a tiny disclaimer at the bottom of the video that says “These are auctions in the news, we are not affiliated with this video.”

Why even use that video in the first place, when you’re not even affiliated with it? It only misleads your audience.

It’s worth noting that the new SwipeAuctions.com makes no such claims on specializing in “warehouse surplus,” opting instead to reassure users that the site is legitimate and puts transparency at the forefront of their operations.

As you might now, our first post about SwipeBids.com tackled the issue of the site apparently charging some of its unsuspecting users a $150.00 fee. That charge would be compounded by other unexplained fees, mainly because SwipeBids has their members’ credit card information at their disposal.

Again, as a rule of thumb, NEVER EVER give a penny auction (or any other site you don’t trust for that matter) your credit card number before completely knowing what you’re getting into. The potential deals you can get on penny auctions are enticing, but its best to be cautious in an industry that’s largely unregulated.

Website: www.SwipeBids.com
Moniker Privacy Services
20 SW 27th Ave.,Suite 201
Pompano Beach, FL, USA 33069
SWIPEBIDS.COM@domainservice.com

Domain Registered: December 2008


PAI Member Rating:

(6 votes, average: 0.10 out of 5)
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SwipeBids is one of the more prominent penny auctions on the web, boasting of numerous high-value items like digital cameras, video game consoles, notebook computers, and other electronics products. The site works just like most regular penny auctions, in that each bid placed on an auctioned item increases both its price and timer.

Bids on SwipeBids.com are priced at only $0.10, making it more enticing for members to purchase large bid packs and bid as much as they want. Now, this “perk”, if you will, comes with its share of advantages and disadvantages. The cheap bids make it easy for just about anyone to start gunning for an item, however, this also means that you’ll be competing against hundreds of users, and for the newbie to penny auctions, winning could be next to impossible on this site.

So let’s go over what makes this site ‘good’. Again, SwipeBids features an impressive variety of items sure to tantalize just about anyone. Shipping is free, which is always a good thing, with items sent 72 hours after making your payment for the final price of the item. Your won items apparently get to you within 1 to 2 weeks – not that bad but unimpressive nonetheless.

There’s also a live chat service, allowing members to speak to administrators for questions and to report site problems and the like.

SwipeBids however, is also the subject of criticism and negative feedback. Many registered members on the site have reported having $150.00 taken from their credit card accounts without any notice whatsoever, and mind you, these aren’t isolated cases from what we’ve observed.

Members have also noticed that a number of bidders on the site seem to win big-ticket prizes over and over again. Either these people are extremely lucky, or they’re not people at all.

In any case, feel free to try out SwipeBids. Purchase a few bids and see for yourself how things go on the site.