A new Web site uses an unorthodox bidding method to offer top-quality and name-brand products, such as a Lamborghini car, at a fraction of retail cost.

Swipeitup.com was launched in April by four Ohio residents and is based in Columbus.

In addition to the Lamborghini, the site offers merchandise such as iPods, video game systems, high-definition TVs, and Ohio State vs. Michigan tickets, including airfare and hotel reservations.

According to the site, registered users purchase bids at 50 cents each, which are available in BidPacks. Each time a user places a bid, it raises the auction price by one cent, so if an auction is at 75 cents, 75 bids have been placed. The winning bidder is the last person to place a bid before the auction time runs out.

The winning bidder pays the final bid amount plus shipping, according to the Web site.

Aaron Plaat, a business entrepreneur and senior in strategic communication at OSU, helped start the site as a side project. He is also the founder and owner of Duvall Wireless, a wireless Internet service provider.

He said one of the reasons the site was founded was to provide items, such as iPods, to people who could not normally afford them, and in a more exciting format than eBay.

He said all items are purchased new by the site. The site makes a “point to have high-quality customer service,” he said.

The biggest obstacle for the site is proving that it is legitimate, Plaat said. The Web site’s staff try to prove its authenticity by hand-delivering products that are purchased close to Columbus.

“If it’s in Columbus and we can hand deliver it, we do that because we’ll take a picture of the person,” Plaat said. “The hand-shake, the item in the hand and taking a picture, you can’t get much more real than that.”

Staff just made a trip to a local apartment complex so they could personally deliver items to customers, he said.

Plaat said even the Lamborghini is sold just like the other products.

“We’re actually going to go purchase a Lambo,” he said.

Plaat said they do not foresee losing any money with the car auction, because the auction lasts until Dec. 31.

“We have enough time to promote the site and to get things going,” he said. “We are 1,000 percent confident we’ll have it, but even if we don’t we’re still going to go through with it.”

He said if the site takes off, they might even offer a car a month.

“The bigger the site gets the more we’re going to give people products,” Plaat said. “Unlike competition, which will have a set number of products, we want to make sure that everybody on here has the opportunity to win.”

Plaat made sure to say not everyone is going to win, but he says right now is the perfect time for users to start bidding on the site. The site is small enough that if the bidders pay attention to their auctions, they have a good chance of winning, he said.

Two upcoming features Swipeitup.com will be offering are a marketplace and a live chat box for each auction.

Plaat said the marketplace will not be for bidding, but will allow users to put up merchandise for sale. The site will actually do the shipping and act as a third party to “take the headache out of it for you.”

Thomas Silvers can be reached at [email protected].