You might be here because you are wondering if SwipeAuctions.com (Swipe Auctions) is a scam. Well you’ve come to the right place.
I am going to divulge a lot of information about the inner workings of Swipe Auctions through out this entire article. Buyer Beware. Armed with this knowledge you will be able to make an informed decision regarding Swipe Auctions as well as any other Penny Auction website.
At the end of this article, you can find many comments from other readers who have had direct experience with Swipe Auctions that I hope you will find useful. Feel free to add your own opinion and knowledge of Swipe Auctions if you have any.
Now to the Topic At Hand:
Swipe Auctions is a penny auction website that promises savings of up to 90% and unbelievable deals on EVERYTHING! And their registration page and home page makes everything look great… You might even say, too good to be true? You might even considering googling “Swipe Auctions Scam” or “Swipe Auctions Reviews” to see what other people have to say about such fishy (perhaps fraudulent) claims. Also be careful, this same company operates several websites with different names, and there are many other “clone” websites out there that are all the same.
Keep in mind, Swipe Auctions also operates the exact same site under the name Swipe Bids.
Well This is How Swipe Auctions Really Works
YOU HAVE TO PAY EACH TIME YOU PLACE A BID!!!!
And each time you bid, the auction’s timer increases just a little bit, by about 12 seconds. So you’ve gotten your camera bid in, you’re about to win a $1000 camera for $124 and there’s 3 seconds left on the clock, right? Wrong, someone else just bid extending the action another 12 seconds and increasing the price by another PENNY …. and this can go on for HOURS.
Gee, how much do these bids cost? Well this is the thing overlooked by most people when they sign up for Swipe Auctions penny auction website. They instantly charge you $150 to your credit card to buy 300 bids. This is only shown on the second registration page, after you have already typed in a bunch of personal information… And they make this a little sketchy because the second page looks almost identical except for where they slip in this wording telling you about the $150 charges to your credit card, Its not like a shopping cart with a checkout. A LOT of people don’t notice this part, nor do they notice where it says “no refunds”.
OK so this far it isn’t technically a scam, its just misleading and a little slimy. However, this is where we expose the SCAM part of the process. Swipe Auctions has the power to shill their own auction’s bids. In other words, behind the scenes Swipe Auctions may at the last second bid on their own auctions to extend them a little longer to keep things from selling at either
- Too low of a price
- Before enough people have spent enough money on bids for them to make a profit on the auction
You see, that’s how they make money selling things so cheap, the bids cost money therefore subsidizing the cost of the actual item, and with each bid, its like a SWIPE of your credit card… Get It LOL. Any one auction may have hundreds or even thousands of bids by the time the auction is finally won, and those bids are what pay for the auctions item and put money into Swipe Auctions fraudulent pockets (OK, so this isn’t technically fraud yet but read on). Take this example… What if an auction is ending too early without enough bids? Swipe Auctions can step in and bid themselves to up the anti and force you to spend more bids and extend the auction a little longer… And who is going to be able to stop them or monitor this process? Swipe Auctions wont even give away their location if you ask!
Sure there are some winners, some people do in fact win very cheap items… however for every one winner, there are SEVERAL losers. Everyone has to pay for their bids, regardless of whether they win the item or not. And in order for Swipe Auctions to actually turn a profit, the odds need to be stacked highly against you – the bidder; so that you will actually, in the end, not save any money at all… If everyone actually saved money, If EVERYONE actually won things for 90% off, the website would be bankrupt. This is the same way casino’s work, the odds are stacked against the gambler. OK OK, casinos are not a scam, people know how casinos work and the house NEEDS to win a majority of the time, however Swipe Auctions has the ability to hide behind the internet and can pull all sorts of nasty tricks on you if they want to.
You see, all auctions on Swipe Auctions are started by Swipe Auctions themselves. They control everything, and if they plug an auction into a mathematical formula and see that their product’s auction is about to end without turning a profit, their software can easily place it’s own bids to extend the duration and force people to buy more bids for the item. HOW ELSE would they be able to operate with such a low volume of customers? I mean this website is NEW and its not well enough known to have an enormous volume of bidders across their pages of listed items, I mean its got nowhere close to the traffic of Ebay, comparing Swipe Auctions to Ebay would be like comparing a SkyScraper to a grain of sand in traffic size…. On top of this, they are unlikely to get a lot of return visitors because each auction needs to have several losers, each of whom can waste in excess of $100 in bids on just one auction.
- By the time the auction ended (5 hours later than the first image at the top), the camera in the Swipe Auctions auction pictured had had another 13,105 BIDS!!
- At using an EXTREMELY conservative estimate of 5 cents a bid (you can bid on bid packs to win more bids, the cheapest you will ever see is around 5 cents per bid, usually closer to 10 cents per bid), people still spent $1,283 on bids alone (probably closer to $2,500 in reality), and the guy who won had to buy the camera for $256 on top of whatever he spent on bidding.
- Only 1 person won that camera auction, and only after spending several hundreds in bids
- Several people lost this auction and threw their money down the drain and wasted several hours of their lives
- There is no way to know if Swipe Auctions extended the auction superficially on their side in order to make more money (is it a coincidence that it ended so abruptly so early (11:00pm), but right after they cleared over $100 in bids (AT LEAST) over the MSRP of the camera?)
So do you still want to try Swipe Auctions? What are your thoughts?
To Whom it may concern
I am the Head of Public Relations here at SwipeAuctions.com, I had a chance to read your concerns and I would like to let you know that we do not have any shill bidders. We do not allow our employees or employees’ family members to have accounts with us as this is against our company policy. We pride ourselves in being the beacon of moral and ethical business practices in our industry.
Being a top manager of the company, I can guarantee that we do not have any bots or chill bidders. And every auction is real and shipments are 100% traceable by the tracking numbers which we post on the site.
Since our launch in February 2010, we have become the top ranking penny auction site on the internet, this is why we keep access to our members’ area very exclusive and only paid members can enjoy the incredible auctions that we offer.
However, since I see that you’re not satisfied, you can reach Jennifer (Head of Customer Service) at Jennifer@swipeauctions.com and she will be more than happy to answer or help you with any inquires that you may have.
Thank you for your time.
Hernan
Swipe Auctions, you may want to re-evaluate your statement about being a beacon of moral and ethical business practices by reviewing the comment response where I explain your FTC checkout violations.
See the comment below this one for more details on Swipe Auction’s FTC (& MORE) Violations which make it harder for consumers to understand what they are getting into.
How can you possible even believe what you just wrote? Swipe Auctions was the worst site I ever joined! It’s sneaky and HORRIBLY awful, and now I’m out 160 dollars because my roommate and I casually joined a website we thought would be great for the house. I’m a college student, 160 dollars is a big deal to me and your site raped it from me because I wasn’t scrutinizing the page the second time it made me enter my info. If I had known/ if it had been readily known to me that it would have cost so much money, I absolutely wouldn’t have joined.
So run your website, but don’t sit here and lie. It makes you look bad.
Alright, well the good news is that I had to jump through a couple hoops, but I just got done talking to someone from SwipeAuctions and they refunded me my money. They said it should show up in my account in about 5 days (Just wanted to keep this thread updated).
Do you know what tel no. to dial so I can contact these scammers? My credit card provider just alerted me that they are charging me $159.00 which I have not authorized.
Call your credit card company and report the charge as fraud. That is certainly what it is. Neither I nor Chase had to pay, I closed down my account and opened a new one. Swipe Auction is a TOTAL fraud.
I was totally duped. I was charged 159.00 for Swipe Auction “bids”. I thought I was bidding on a WalMart gift card so I could buy Christmas presents.
So, I followed all the instruction on how to get a refund. I have “talked” to the online person in “live chat” and they tell me to call back. So I called back today again, and was told to call back in 2 days. The website for Swipe Auctions is very confusing. I am out of work and cannot afford to waste money like that. Very frustrated about the whole thing.
I find all these postings showing how they are a scam simply hilarious, if anyone of you guys took the time to read “terms of use” they admit this all! They say first time joining its 300 bids at 50 cents each. Actually on swipeauctions they say its $159 dollars to join. They also talk about how when somebody places a bid 10 seconds or whatever is added to the clock, so yes everybody watching that at 1 second left is going to bid hoping they then are the last bid, but until the price gets high thats never true… so if you see a $900 dollar item be smart. Tell yourself you won’t start bidding till the price hits $100, that way you just saved yourself a bunch of money in bids at the lower prices. Don’t call them a scam when what they do is perfectly legal, there is no law saying you can’t exploit people who are idiots and don’t take the time to read “terms of use”. Also you took a print screen and circled something about autobid, thats something that is currently banned from ebay to stop people from sniping however once again in “terms of use” they actually discuss it and how they offer the ability for you to set up autobids so that you don’t need to watch the screen. Hence, everybody who is autobidding is placing their bids at 1 second left and if they lined up 50 bids really wanting something, all those auto bids are going to keep the bid going and going the more and more people who did that for all those long hours you discussed.
Cole, of course it is listed in the Swipe Auctions disclaimers, but the problem is that most people dont read them and they are not presented in a way which is in accordance with FTC guidelines.
They also violate several rules according to the FTC including….
PROBLEMS
Hey Cole did Swipe Auctions tell you that when the clock hits 0 and you have the word winning on the bid that they hold the time about 3-5 seconds before they actually let you win if no one bids in that 3-5 sec time. I bid on something and on the 0 it was saying winner and then all of a sudden the clock starts all over again and needless to say I didn’t win the item.
They absolutely robbed me. My bank is in the process of recovering my funds (since I caught them immediately), but have you ever noticed that the transactions are “out of country”? I am worried. My bank is helping to keep my head above water, but still: steer clear, please don’t let them steal from you.
They probably needs to use an offshore merchant account because of the amount of charge backs and their poor BBB rating. There is no way a legitimate United States based merchant account provider would allow their business to continue making charges. (I work in the e-commerce industry and know the rules companies need to follow)
Yeah Boon you are correct, they use offshore merchant accounts and shell companies. Eg: Circle Media Bids which is a UK Ltd company and Farend Services Ltd which is registered in Cyprus. Their US /Canadian merchant accounts got shut down by Visa.
People need to report this Swipe Auctions scam to the FTC and to their Attorney General.
Demand that these criminals get legal action taken against them for their frauds and scams.
Enough is enough.
File a complaint here:
FTC:
ftccomplaintassistant.gov/FTC_Wizard.aspx?Lang=en
You will also find links to a petition calling for legal action here as well as advice on how to get your money back :
facebook.com/pages/SwipeBidscom-is-a-Bloody-SCAM/129080260459443
Company to report:
Swipe Auctions (Swipebids)
Just Think Media / Terra Marketing Group / 1524948 Alberta Ltd
Suite 204, 85 Cranford Way
Sherwood Park, Alberta, CANADA T8H 0H9
CEO/ Company owner: Jesse Willms
More on them here:
strangelyperfect.tv/7108/jobs-at-just-think-media/
Yes indeed, the scam previously known as Swipebids is now called Swipe Auctions (swipeauctions.com) and they claim some BS about having 1 million members although the domain was only registered just over 3 weeks ago and the site has only been online since the beginning of September!
You really do have to take anything and everything these scammers say with a huge pinch of salt!
Yup,
Get the facts on the OWNER of swipeauctions/swipebids. Type in swipebids bbb on a search and you will confirm Jesse Willms owns it. Now find out the reviews of his previous business justthinkmedia. Hey, did you know Oprah and Dr. Oz sued Jesse for deceptive marketing? Need proof? Search JDW Media and Jesse Willms. Enjoy a video on youtube. Type in Swipeauctions and Jesse Willms and enjoy a W5 broadcast on him. Do you really want to do business with this guy?
I just provided my personal info to swipe auctions, then got to the $$ part, yah right!! now I ‘m pissed….. what a scam!!
Well, thank you for the heads up, I was actually thinking of joining this scam outfit. I am so glad that there are sites as this to fore warn us as to sites that are scamming the public. I am always hesitant to give financial and personal information to sites especially in this day and age. Again thank you for the information.
Thank you for your summary of “Penny Auctions” and Swipe Auctions. Tried a few penny auctions before I wasted too much money for the education. Several did respect my cancellation and refund requests, for at least partial refunds. Wondered about the shill bidding and still wonder.
Frank Gottschalk
First, a Note to “Cole” (the “p.s.” at the end of this comment is directed squarely at you.)
Now, let’s get to my story/actions:
I was at Merriam-Webster.com, looking up a word, when I saw an add/link to “Swipe Auctions.” I made the mistake of clicking on it, and signing up so that I could bid on something inexpensive just to see how well it worked. After completing all the standard info (name, address, e-mail etc.), it asked me for the type of credit/debit card I would be using for any purchases (bids/auctions) I “won.” I provided that info, clicked “continue,” and was linked to a page that said “processing your purchase.” I thought, “Wait a freakin’ minute! I didn’t purchase ANYthing!!! Then, a new page opened up, and offered to send me 60 bids/auctions per month for cost of $12.00 a month. About that time (a bit too late) I decided to check out “Swipe Auctions” on Google – something I should have done PRIOR to “signing up.” That’s when I found umpteen “Swipe Auction SCAMS” sites – like this one. I read how they charge new signees $159.00 for 300 bids/auctions WITHOUT INFORMING YOU! (i.e. You don’t “add” anything to your “cart,” and you don’t go through any “checkout,” they just take your money.)
So, I found a “contact” page that – of course – has no telephone number, and no physical address (the usual “modus operandi” for scammers who don’t want to be found – especially by someone like me), but which DID have “Chat” (read “Type”) “Support.” Soon, someone with a Pakistani-sounding name came on to “chat” with me, and asked what I wanted. I proceeded to tell her that I wanted my money returned to my checking account, immediately, because I had purchased nothing, and they – in effect – had just ripped me off, as well as broken some FTC rules in the process. The agent told me that if I would go back and read through all the sign-up pages, I would find somewhere within them – in fine print – a place where they explained the $159.00 charge.
I knew it was futile to argue with the jerk, so I typed back that I would be breaking off this “chat,” and immediately calling my bank’s (BOA) 24 hour credit/debit card support staff, and explaining to them how I’d been ripped-off, and that they would refund my money immediately, or before the end of business, tomorrow.
And that is exactly what I did. I reached the BOA’s Visa agent, explained all the above to them, and was informed that as soon as the charge had gotten past the “processing” stage, and had posted/cleared, that they would cancel the charge, my money would be placed back into my account, and that would be that…unless I wanted to file suit. He also informed me that the charge being processed against my account might just “fall off.” I asked what that meant, and he explained it was the term used when a company did not accept the funds from the bank. I asked why they would not accept the money when they are in the business of scamming people out of their money. He informed me that if they electronically accepted the money, the bank would then be able to track it/them, and once their bank/account was located, it would provide the info needed to file suit against them. That being the case – and since I had informed the “Swipe Auctions” agent that I intended to contact the bank/Visa for the purpose of getting my money returned – they (“Swipe Auctions”) might just want to avoid the potential legal problems that I would bring down upon them. I told the bank’s agent that I would check my internet banking account, tomorrow, and see if the $159.00 charge had been posted/paid to “Swipe Auctions,” and, if so, I would contact the bank and tell them to get my money back. But, if the charge had NOT been collected (i.e. had not “fallen off”), and had remained in my checking account, then the matter would be resolved without need for any legal action against them, which would be fine with me. After all, I just want my money back, I don’t want to be bothered with filing a lawsuit even though it potentially could mean/lead to some extra bucks for me.
After completing my conversation with the bank’s agent, I hung up, then went back to the “Swipe Auction” contact page, and again used the “Chat” function to contact another agent. When they logged on and asked me how they could help, I informed them of my conversation with the BOA agent, and that they could either 1) refund my money IMMEDIATELY, or 2) they could take my money, whereupon I’d call the bank, tomorrow, and my money would be returned to my account IMMEDIATELY…but that would not be the end of it. If I had to go through the hassle of contacting my bank, again, it would piss me off, and I would go ahead and file suit against them. In response to this, the agent typed “One moment, please.” I waited for two minutes, and then the following words appeared on my monitor’s screen: “It appears that we have already refunded the charge.”
So, these sorry, greedy, stealing, scumbags apparently fold at the first signs that a “mark” (i.e. anyone foolish enough to sign up for their “auctions” – like me) was mad as hell, ready to take off the gloves, and get into a potentially serious legal battle. Just like bullies, scammers are scared to death of anyone who’s not afraid to stand up to them and duke it out. These folks are a bunch of sorry, anus-licking wussies. You don’t have to sit back and take their crap. They’ll fold in a heart-beat if you let them know you mean business. So, take heart, and NEVER BACK DOWN!
One more thing: I strongly urge anyone who is thinking about signing up with them NOT to do so!!!. Anyone who has already done so – and wants their money back – take the same actions I took. But, DON’T STOP THERE! IN ADDITION, send an e-mail to the site where you found the link to “Swipe Auctions” telling them about “Swipe Auctions’ ” SCAM, and let them know that having a link to these asswipes site on their own site tarnishes their good name, and that they should remove any links/affiliations with these jerks, because – as we all know – people are judged by the company they keep. And, if they are keeping company with rip-off artists, people will wonder if their company is trustworthy, and THAT could be REALLY BAD for THEIR business. If enough of these e-mails get sent to the various sites who allow “Swipe Auctions” to put links on their site, pretty soon NO ONE will allow “Swipe Auctions” to place links on their sites – ergo, “Swipe Auctions” will have one helluva’ tuff time scamming ANYONE! (Doesn’t that thought just raise goose-bumps all over your body, yet somehow give you a warm, fuzzy feeling at the same time.)
C’mon, folks, help put “Swipe Auctions” out of business.
Peace,
zenovice
p.s. NOTE to “Cole” (who is probably an employee of “Swipe Auctions,” an investor, or member of their BOD), I would say this: You type some of the personal info, then another page opens up. On the new page it reads “Scroll down to complete sign-up” (or words to that effect). Then, you are required to scroll all the way down to the bottom of a “page” that is about TEN PAGES IN LENGTH, along the way passing a myriad (hundreds, at least) of brightly colored ads and products. After just one of these “pages,” you begin to hit the “Page Down” button to get to the bottom more quickly, and not waste time hitting the “Down Arrow” key. THIS IS WHAT THEY COUNT ON PEOPLE DOING! This is WHY they designed it in this fashion. This is why it is called a SCAM, duh!
One last thing, “Cole,” (if that REALLY IS your name, and you don’t just “play one on TV”) both of “BOON’s” comments are ABSOLUTELY CORRECT, as is the one by “Benny.” Finally, your attitude (“I find all these postings showing how they are a scam simply hilarious…”), well, it sucks. Why do you find other people’s troubles something that lifts your spirits? (That is the mark of either a wimpy jerk whose mommy didn’t love him, or a sociopath – which are you?) Did you write that in an attempt to show how much smarter, brighter, or “above” them (us) all you are? Did you feel better about yourself, or in some sad, sick way mentally superior to the what you probably consider the lemming-like peasants you apparently find so distastefully stupid. You remind me of so many bottom-dwelling “lurkers” I’ve seen on other chat sites. Always ready to pound your chest, and proclaim your superiority to the masses. My “nice” suggestion (you don’t wanna’ hear what I really think): get a life, and go find a site where someone might appreciate your sarcasm, lack of compassion, and egocentric attitude. Be prepared for a long, arduous, and ultimately fruitless search, ’cause very few people, if any, want to hang with someone who feeds off of other’s misery – except, possibly, other sociopaths, or people with “mommy issues,” and even those types don’t usually want to associate with people of their own ilk (like you).
I have just been scammed by Swipe Auctions. I already filed a dispute with my credit card company and I did the live chat thing and printed it off when she said I WILL GET A REFUND. That way I can send it in to my credit card company if they don’t refund my money. What a joke. Guess it follows the saying, “If something looks to good to be true it probably is.” They NEED TO BE STOPPED!!!!!!
I will certainly admit that I am an idiot, but I tried to read every thing on and about Swipe Auctions and still I thought I had very little to lose and a lot to gain, and I was so very excited. After spending the first $159, then $245, and $1.44 (and actually thinking I had won an auction for a Mac Book Pro + IPad + 10000 bids, and another for 2000 bids, I found all I got was bids, and when I used “autobid” I couldn’t tell it was working, so I continued to bid. Finally, I did a “glitch report” and then an online chat trying to understand what had happened, and I never was able to understand it.
At about 2 or so this morning, after a long and difficult day, I told the “live” person at the other end of the Swipe Auctions chat, I just wasn’t understanding and I was too tired to continue, and said I supposed there was no way of recouping anything. She wished me an excellent rest of the day and hoped to see me again soon. Not likely. But, there really should be some kind of protection for those of us who believe the hype and think we actually have a chance.
I’m actually afraid to tell my husband what I did on Swipe Auctions because I’ve already lost us so much money by trying to make some while staying home and being a foster parent to our year old grandson and living on social security. I would love to see these sites that make you think you can’t lose prosecuted to the fullest, and all those who were taken advantage of repaid in some way. It’s just wrong! Don’t be an idiot like I was (am)! Stay away from these auctions!
I agree with Cole AND Boon. If users don’t take the time to read the Swipe Auctions T&Cs or do an online search about them before providing their personal information, its our own fault as a customer/consumer. I personally know several people who have been victims of online scams because they were greedy & stupid. Responding to stupid emails about winning $10,000, just send $150 processing fee via Western Union, etc. I know one person who’s fallen for it at least 3 times because she always thinks, “What if this is the one time it’s for real.” Hello! It will never be real! No Free money! Come on girl! But – I digress.
My point is, I randomly happened onto the Swipe Auctions website. It looked too good to be true so I immediately searched the web for reviews. There were tons of complaints and Jennifer and Hernan posting responses. BUT, to Cole’s point, all of the information is there on the website. It’s on us as consumers to read it. To Boon’s point, the FTC realizes that consumers aren’t always diligent and therefore have rules/regulations to protect us from our own greed and/or ignorance.
As for me, I’m glad I’ve done my due diligence. I know I won’t be bidding on a brand new car expecting to get it for $2,000 now lol BUT, if there is something on there worth the $160/yr Swipe Auctions membership, the cost of bidding on it and the potential reasonable final sale price, I might still go for it. At the end, it depends on the skill and financial flexibility of the bidder. If I had $5,000 to throw at a car, I’d go for Swipe Auctions because, hey, that’s likely $5k less that I’d pay at the dealership and most online bidders are probably not being as wise and are dropping off as the bid increases. I’d only be worried if the complaints were that customers experienced identity theft or credit card fraud after purchasing (i.e. they sold the credit card number to another entity). Short of that, I’m armed will the facts and can make an INFORMED decision.
-Kaye
“most online bidders are probably not being as wise and are dropping off as the bid increases”
… Thats probably because they just spent $500 BIDDING on a car and were still no-where near winning. I saw a car auction on Swipe Auctions end at $1,700 (yesterday I think). Do you understand how much money people wasted on bids? At 10 cents per bid, (a very conservative net average price people win them at when buying bid packs in the long term [because they don't win every bid pack auction])…
Again, at 10 cents per bid, people still spent $17,000 only bidding on that vehicle!.. someone had to pay the final bid price on top of that in the end anyways… And this is a car’s who’s MSRP is $15,000 and can be had for around $12,000 after incentives and rebates.
Sure, there’s a fractionally tiny chance that you might end up as the last person to bid and end up only paying $2000 for a Honda Civic… but that is extremely unlikely. And if you cant see the evil in Swipe Auctions sucking ~$7,000 of pure profit out of people giving them nothing in return, it doesn’t say much about you. I mean the odds are stacked so highly against you and everyone bidding, I really cant believe anyone even bothers.
@Kaye – you berate other people for not doing their due diligence and not using common sense and then you say that you would gamble $5000 on a tiny chance of “winning” a car!! Now who is stupid?
These are not “auctions” it’s gambling and looking at the history of the person behind the site – webcops.net/just_think_media_spam_scams_8001.html – you really would trust them enough to give them your credit card details and all your personal info and then gamble 5 grand!? You really need to look in the mirror before you stat calling other people stupid and saying that it’s all their own fault they lost money! Let’s remember who the real criminals are here: the scammers not the victims.
In any case, who is to say that anyone wins? They use fake testimonials, fake news sites to advertise, etc – so why would they suddenly then be 100% honest when it came to running the auctions? They could use bots (fake bidders) to inflate the bid prices (very easily done), they could have all sorts of dodgy stuff going on – who knows? I am not saying they do use bots but I would not trust them not to!
Penny auctions have been described as ” nearly perfect evil in business plan form” – and that comment was referring to one of the “legit” ones!
codinghorror.com/blog/2009/05/penny-auctions-theyre-gambling.html
Yep, I too just got scammed by Swipe Auctions. I got on with their online chat people and they assured my the the funds will be transferred back into my account within 5-7 business days. I saved the chat, but I’m still skeptical that my money will be refunded. Thoughts???
I am another sucker who was charged the $159 plus some out of country transaction fee. My bank is unwilling to help since it “cleary states” that the charge would occur. I have sent in the paperwork for the “guaranteed refund” per their website and per my chat with the online customer service person. However, I’m skeptical that I will see a refund. Has anyone received one?
I totally agree with Boon. Swipe Auctions have their on Auto bidder set to increast bid when time remaining is 5 second. I was bidding for the camera and I lost $400. When I used autobid function, Swipe auctions automated bidder will garnish all my points.
I thank everyone joining this to stop Swipe Auctions.
Thank you for sharing. I too was thinking of signing up. I went so far as to type in my personal info. When I got to the page asking for my credit card info, I left the site. Whew, I almost had to deal with getting my money back, which is a royal pain in the patooty
I got very lucky. My bank cares about me. I tried to join Swipe Auctions my bank declined the transaction becouse Swipe Auctions does not use visa’s verisign security. All banks should require that. Upon trying to type in my debit card numbers a 3rd time (thinking I might have made an error) I gave up. 5 minutes later my bank called and explained why they declined the transaction. Yet another reason to realize a scam. No Verisign security.
You are VERY lucky, Hopefully more banks will start catching onto Swipe Auctions.
What about the way Swipe Auctions advertises? With their psuedo news snippets on sites like CNN? There are sponsored link boxes on sites like CNN where the “ads” looks like teases to real new stories with urls that read like news sites. For example, BreakingNews5.com. You click on this and it goes to a site dressed up to look like a real website that supports some news organization – a local TV station for example.
My mom was scammed this way. If someone had just sent her link to Swipe Auctions, she probably wouldn’t have done it. But her friend sent her a link to channel9newsreport.com My mom was convinced her friend sent her the link because she saw it on TV…see how things get lost in translation. Her friend went to the site, saw the “As seen on” logos and thought well if ABC and FoxNews did reports on this is must be good and passed it on to my mom as something worth looking into. I’ve filed a complaint with the FTC mostly about these advertising practices. These are web infomercials without the mandatory large “paid programming” graphics.
If you are smart you will avoid this site like the plague!
They are minipulative in getting you to give up your credit info to tap your account for $159.00 without even knowing it. Yes it is listed in fine print and they say they will refund after filling out a lengthy form and mailing it back A 14 day time frame. Then they hold your money for an additional 14 days+. Funny they can take your money in 30 seconds, but they cannot return it in 30 days. PURE SCAM AT IT’S FINEST!
Swipe Auctions is just hoping you will forget about it. All they need to do is send a “Void” signal to their merchant, this is especially easy if you contact them right after being charged. This is a tactic many slimy companies use to hope that the customer will simply forget about it and they can keep the money, which actually happens a lot.
THREE WORDS FUCKING RIP OFF I MEAN REALLY LOW LIVE SCUM AT SWIPE AUCTIONS
You are very right on the sign up page part after I realized I got screwed and they sent me a pic of the page they say I signed up on I went back to where I first saw the auction sign up page and it was close but not the same. Very decieving. On they’re refund paper work it askes for a emailed order reciept never got one and there is no address to send it to.
Both msnbc.com and weather.com have banner ads for this scam site linking to swipe auctions fake newspaper ad. Disappointing that major corporations are adding an air of legitimacy to these guys by direct linking.
Wow! Thank you, thank you, thank you!!! I was just about to sign up. Thank you for educating us! I will stay away from Swipe Auctions.
If you want a perfect example of just how sleazy this outfit is,weather.com had a sponsered link on their website:
channel9newstoday.com/
That highlight an article about swipe auctions. If you click on the link, you’re taken to this channel 9 news site which presents itself as the online magazine division of a news channel. A reporter who works for this channel, Julie, writes an article titled: “Surplus Auctions Exposed: 95% Off Retail Possible?” It starts off as though it’s going to expose Swipe Auctions as a scam. But lo and behold, the writer is shocked to find out through her experience to prove it’s a scam that in fact it isn’t a scam and was able to win lots of expensive products for just pennies on the dollar.
The article then has a bunch of replies from supposed readers how wonderful Swipe Auctions is. If you try and leave your own response, it doesn’t work, but it has the little response form to fill out. It of course doesn’t work. Amazingly, this channel 9 news page looks just like a newspaper with columns like US, WORLD, BUSINES, POLITICS, etc. If you click on one of the columns, it takes you straight to the swipe auctions website.
This company must be in violation of at least several dozen FTC regulations.
Swipe Auctions is run by scam artists. Today as I was attempting to enter my billing information for Ebay, their site popped up and took my billing information and before I knew what happened they had charged my debit card 159 dollars, which I had to run to the bank and file fraud charges against this company.
The sad part about swipe auctions is they claim they are legit selling items taken by the police?
Well they just swiped / stole from me, causing overdrafts on my personal bank account, on top of that it appears my phone number has now been given out to third parties and within an hour of them ripping me off today I have other companies calling me try to sell me stuff.
This company needs to be taken DOWN!
What a load of horsecrap this swipe auction is, you just can’t compete with the few die hards bidding with thousands of bids and who can sit there for hours bidding anyway.
I’ll put this one down to a lesson learnt.
I saw an ad for the Swipe Auctions site on Facebook and was just about to register my details with them when they asked for my credit card details I was a bit sketchy and thought I would google them first to see if there was any information on them. Thank you so much for this site, you have saved me a lot of money. The Swipe Auctions website looks to good to be true and very misleading to any consumer. I now know to stay clear from this website.
thanks thanks for tell me about it i was just about to sing up thanks fuck swipeauctions scammmmmmmmmmmmm
This column saved me from being suckered in by Swipe Auctions
Thanks
Glad I found you guys! Thanks, you’re doing a great service. It make me SICK to hear of these college students losing what little money they have to these smarmy cretins! Good lord! Why is this shit allowed to go on? We need to update Internet laws NOW! A project for you, our future C.E.O.s, Politicians and Attorneys? I’m writing because I was so appalled by where I found Swipe Auctions.
I’m designing a Halloween costume for a friend’s 10-year-old daughter who want’s to be a “Goth Girl.” I’m the perfect person for the job. Just call me your Eccentric Auntie Ramone! Anyway, the link was on a Tween/Teen site about Twilight. The 10-year-old is a fan, and I was hoping to get her to change her mind about a Goth staple that I’ve seen worn by a Twilight cast member in a number of photos. I don’t know the character or which Twilight it was, so this was my starting point. Intrigued by an add for an IPad under $200.00, I hit the link, which took me to a convincing page for “Channel 9 News.” I read about how a member of the Channel 9 News, Investigative Team, dug deep into “SWIPE AUCTIONS,” using several methods, as part of an on-going series entitled something along the lines of “Surviving the Recession.” Naturally, they had great success purchasing a number of high tech, high dollar toys, for next to nothing. The kindly, award-winning, Channel 9 News Team, even gave me a code, so I could try my first bids for free! Nifty, eh? But, guess what happened when I explored the Channel News site? World News = Swipe. Lifestyle? Swipe. Local News? Sports? What else, but (say it all together) SWIPE!
A quick Google Search for Swipe, however, yielded nothing but pages of stories, not from Channel 9, but all with “Swipe” in the title, only this time, within 3 words of the word “SCAM!”
You bastards! Why people like this aren’t behind bars, or better yet, working cleaning shit from Port a Potties until they pay every last dime back to everyone they swindled is beyond me. Start with the good, honest people who need to do the extra footwork to have a decent computer or TV… like, say, Grandmothers and the disabled on fixed incomes who maybe didn’t eat all that well because of low lives like you costing them more than they would have spent at a brick and mortar. And then the college students working and loaning their way through and NOT FROM Daddy! HOW DO YOU SLEEP? You can Swipe Dee Dee Ramone’s rotting rear with your tongue!
Good Morning America also gave Swipe Auctions a good rating but thankfully, my bank card had the visa logo as well and it wasn’t accepted. GMA needs to retract their recomendations.
Stay away from Swipe Auctions and stick with other reputable companies. I fell for their deceptive membership page. A class action lawsuit needs to filed against this company. At least people that were scammed can recover some of their money.