Too clever

Let's play the what-if game.

Let's say you're at an online auction site, and you notice a 50" plasma TV item, and bidding ends in 30 seconds. Furthermore, the highest bid so far is only $30.00.

Would you bid on it? (HELL YES.)

Well, what if every time you bid, you could only bid 1 cent more than the previous highest bid?

Duh, you'd still hit that.

Okay, what if, in addition to everything else, when the timer is at 10 seconds or less and you bid on it, the timer increased by 20 seconds?

Still yes. I mean, who wouldn't want a 50" TV for 30 bucks?

Now, what if you had to PAY A DOLLAR FOR EVERY BID YOU PLACED?

You: Oh shit.

As you've probably guessed, I was describing a real auction site: Swoopo.com.

What happens is, the low prices that the site offers on really expensive products lure people in to bid on them. Many an ignoramus has been fooled into thinking that he/she could get a Macbook for 10 bucks. After they buy their 50 bids and start bidding on the Macbook, they realize that the timer is extended each time they bid, and that they will have to sit at their computer all day in order to win the Macbook. And furthermore, if they win, they will have spent hundreds of dollars on bids alone.

In the, end, a few lucky individuals win big time and get that Macbook for only about 50 dollars or so, and a whole lot of unlucky individuals waste their money bidding on an item they won't win.

In the end, who wins? Swoopo.com does.

...This is one of those ideas where I go, "Why didn't I think of that!?"