Author: DealDash

Why can’t I win? Are you asking yourself this question?

If you are not able to win a DealDash.com auction, you might be doing something wrong. Here are four possible reasons why you might not be able to win:

1. You are placing single bids from the home page instead of putting your bids into the automated bidder, BidBuddy. Newbies might accidentally win an auction from the home page, but anyone who wants to continue winning must learn how to use the automated bidder. Just double-click on the auction you want to win. A new window will open and that’s where you will find your best friend, BidBuddy.

2. You are only bidding on high-dollar items that are a lot more difficult to win. Instead of bidding on a $50 or $100 gift card, it is usually easier to win a $10 or $25 gift card. However, gift cards are popular items that are not easy to win. Instead, look for an auction that has fewer bidders and consistently closes at a low cost. For example, the 6-piece bed sheet set that often goes up for auction on DealDash, valued at $100 consistently closes at a fairly low cost. I recently saw a king-size set of those linens close for only 8 cents and the highest closing price for the week was $15.60. I did the math and the average closing cost for the auction over the last seven days was only $6.01.

3. You do not yet know what players to avoid. When Newbies bid in the same auctions with experienced power bidders it’s like a Little League baseball team playing with a Big League baseball team and expecting to win. It just will not happen. It is very important to know who the experienced power bidders are so you can avoid getting into the same auctions. I am familiar with the screen names of filthy-rich bidders, who always have an endless supply of bids. Therefore, if they enter my auctions, I drop out and wait until that same item goes up for auction again.

4. You bid on too many auctions at the same time. It is usually easier to win if you focus on one auction at a time. If you play in too many auctions at the same time, chances are you will run out of bids before you win any of them.

Submitted by: Barbara L. Sellers

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