Scott Hardie | December 19, 2008
A new auction site, Swoopo.com, runs one hell of a racket. You buy blocks of bids in advance for $1 apiece, then use them to buy cheap merchandise sold by the site. Each bid raises the purchase price 15 cents and extends the timer 15 seconds. The eventual winner gets the merchandise at a discount. The many losers get nothing. The people running this site must be raking in the cash: For every $250 Wii that someone wins for $150, Swoopo collects $1000 in bids. You can spend thousands on this site and still not collect a thing.

Any guesses as to the legality of this? I've heard it called a pyramid scheme and an illegal lottery, neither of which sounds accurate. Their director has invited attorneys general to come after them if any fraud is suspected, but I suspect fraud just from the way they call it "entertainment shopping." Even if there aren't shills and the whole operation is run as they claim, there still seems to be something rotten in taking people's money for nothing.

Samir Mehta | December 19, 2008
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Jackie Mason | December 21, 2008
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Amy Austin | December 21, 2008
I don't know about "pure evil"... but DEFINITELY pure greed. And not nice at all.

Peter Wilhelm | December 21, 2008
It is just old fashioned gambling. We have been doing it for years. Legally, hope they are based out of Las Vegas.

Samir Mehta | December 21, 2008
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Tony Peters | January 3, 2009
Ok not really this is just weird but people are buying it anyway


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