Month: February 2017

To bid or not to bid– that is the question. Once you start bidding, should you continue to add more bids or would you be better off saving your bids for the next auction?

Successful bidders learn how to pay attention to details to help answer these questions and make wise decisions.

Here are some things to consider:

• Do you need this product, or would it make an awesome gift for a family member or friend?
• If you do not win this auction, can you afford to buy it to get all your bids back? If you cannot afford to buy it, how many bids are you willing to risk losing in an effort to win?
• How many people are in the same auction? Once the auction reaches $5 (or $3 if it’s a special feature) no more new bidders are allowed to join the auction. Once it closes, you can count how many bidders are in the auction. However, not all bidders are serious competitors. Many bidders only place one bid so they do not get locked out, but never return. Out of 30 bidders, maybe only five or six will place 25 or more bids and those are the ones who might provide some serious competition. A few additional players might hold the bulk of their bids until the last two or three bidders, but you can usually tell how many serious competitors you have by the time each auction locks out new bidders.
• Look at the date your strongest competitors started playing to determine if they are Newbies or experienced bidders. Newbies are easy to identify because they do not yet know how to find and use the automated bidder, BidBuddy. Instead of double clicking on the auction so they can see what’s happening, they place single bids from the home page. That’s why Newbies cut the clock and waste bids. However, Newbies are usually easier to beat because they eventually run out of bids and drop out. Experienced bidders are far more likely to continue bidding. Therefore, if you are competing with too many experienced bidders, you might be better off waiting for the same item to go up for auction again. Sometimes the next auction for the same product will close early, while the first one is still going strong.

Submitted by: Barbara L. Sellers

Did you ever watch someone struggle to put something together without reading the instructions? If you take the time to first read the instructions, you will usually save yourself a lot of time and headaches. The same thing is true before you start playing on DealDash.com.

Before I found DealDash, I played on several other online penny-auction shopping sites. From my own experience, I can confidently say that DealDash has more information and instructions available on how to play smart than any other shopping site out there.

A good place to start reading and learning is located on the DealDash home page, so it is very easy to find. If you scroll down to the bottom of the DealDash home page, you will see four headers: Site Links, Help, About and Latest Blogs.

To quickly get the information you will need to get off to a winning start, you will definitely want to read everything under the “Help” header. That is where you will learn how it works, how to bid in an auction, tips and tricks, what a bid pack is, what “time as highest bidder” is and all about orders and shipping, payments and house rules.

Experienced bidders will also check out the “Latest Blogs” header, where you can continually learn all about the latest changes and new bidding strategies. The more you learn about how to play smart, the more likely you will have a happy and rewarding bidding experience.

Just read the instructions!

Submitted by: Barbara L. Sellers

Experienced DealDash customers use various bidding strategies. The key is to find bidding strategies that work best for you.

Below are some bidding strategies you might want to try:

• Avoid bidding in the same auction with players who just won a large bid package. It’s a good idea to go to the winner’s list and write down the screen names of players who recently won an 800, 1,000 or 4,000 bid package. Chances are you would not want to compete in the same auction with one of those players because they most likely would outbid you.
• Try placing an uncommon number of bids into the automated bidder, BidBuddy. Most players will choose to place more common sets of bids, such as 10, 25, 50, 100, 150 or 200. If you place an uncommon number of bides, such as 11, 27, 53, 101, 159 or 201, you might improve your chances of getting the last bid and winning the auction.
• Look for patterns that make winning difficult. For example, I discovered players from two particular states consistently win more often than not. Therefore, I avoid getting into the same auctions with players from those two states (unless they are Newbies who do not yet know how to play smart). I will not name the states. That is for you to figure out, but paying attention to things like that could make a winning difference.
• Bid low, win low. Over the years, I’ve watched one DealDash customer consistently use this strategy very successfully. He banks on the fact that nearly all DealDash auctions will eventually close early. When they do, this lucky player is often there and wins some amazing bargains. By always bidding low, this player never loses many bids. Whenever he does win, he never pays a high closing price, either. While most players will place only one bid at the beginning of every auction to ensure they do not get locked out, this player might place 4 to 50 bids at the beginning of every auction. Whenever no more single bidders jump in, he slips through the cracks and wins. This player has even won some high-dollar items by using this strategy.
• Use bids wisely. Let’s say you want to win a pair of hiking shoes and you only have 600 bids. You have several options how to use those 600 bids. You could use all 600 bids in one auction, you could use 200 bids in the next three auctions or you could use 100 bids in the next six auctions? By trying different strategies, you will soon learn which one gives you the best chance of winning.

Submitted by: Barbara L. Sellers