Bidding and winning on DealDash is easy, and many bidders are able to win auctions with their first bid pack purchase. But some new bidders have more trouble, and there can be many reasons for this. Some people aren’t familiar with pay-to-bid auctions and don’t understand how to conserve their bids, others don’t know how to navigate the site and find themselves lost amongst the hundreds of products available to bid on each day. Here are a few pieces of wisdom that many veteran DealDashers have found to be vital tools in their quest to win those big ticket items that everyone loves!

Tip #1: – Do Your Research Before Bidding

The temptation to immediately jump into an auction as soon as you visit the site for your first time can be overwhelming. There are so many great products, and they often sell for just a fraction of their retail value. But the key to getting those big discounts is knowing how to win the auction while conserving your bids. Anyone can win an auction if they’re willing to use unlimited bids, but nobody who approaches the auctions with this mentality saves money. Big savings means getting the most out of the bids you use, so you need to use your head. Before you bid on an item, visit the auction page while logged out of your account. You’ll be able to see the average selling price of the item in the auctions at the top of the screen, and so you can get an idea about how long auctions will run for and how much competition you can expect in the auction. Information like this can help you make a budget and plan out how you want to use your bids in the auction.

Tip #2: – Higher Value Items Need More Skill

Some auctions attract more interest from bidders, which makes them more competitive. And while this isn’t always something determined by the value of the items, it is a good rule of thumb that more expensive items will attract more interest. If you’re new to pay to bid auctions and want to get the most out of the site, try sticking to some lower value items. There are lots of lower value items that are just as great to win than the more expensive ones (winning 4 $50 Amazon gift cards is the same as winning one $200 Amazon gift card). It’s a great way to learn the ropes and get some experience and wins under your belt. Once you start to get a feel for winning, it’s easier to apply what you’ve learned to the more competitive auctions.

Tip #3: – Concentrating Bids is Smarter than Spreading Them Out

Some bidders don’t keep track of where their bids go, and overtime this turns into a bit of drain. There might be a few reasons why bidders do this: some people do to much “browse bidding” and will just place a couple of bids while they’re looking through the open auctions. Other people might be bidding in auction, take a break and do something else, and then come back and bid on a similar product in a different auction. Whatever the reason might be, the result is the same: bids being wasted in auctions that the bidder won’t stick with. When you choose to bid in auctions, you should ask yourself whether you want to be in it to win it! If the answer is yes you should really focus on it: watch the auction, remember to bookmark it, research the product AND the other bidders. Not only does concentrating your bids in fewer auctions give you more bids to win the stuff you really want; it also means that if you lose you can use the “Buy it now” option and get all the bids you used in the auction credited back to your account.

Customers love the great bargains they get in DealDash auctions! You can see photos and read testimonials from auction winners on DealDash’s new Pinterest page, and of course the official DealDash Facebook page. Every week customers post pictures of the great products they get from DealDash, and the best photo of the week wins a 500 dollar gift card! Last week Robbie used the great bargain he got on this 32 Inch Panasonic TV to help him win big again on Facebook!

With a 100% satisfaction guarantee on your initial bid pack purchase, trying DealDash is a risk free proposition. DealDash customers regularly save between 60-90 percent on the products featured in DealDash auctions, so get in on these great bargains and sign up now!

Winning auctions is a matter of skill, just like playing other games that involve competition against other people. Your goal when you’re trying to win an auction might be getting a great bargain on that iPad or laptop, but you’ve got to get through the other bidders first. This is a common mistake people make when they’re learning how the auctions work: they’re so focused on winning that they ignore the fact that other bidders are trying to do the exact same thing! What this means is that bidders who win do it with focus, concentration, and strategy.

I know what a lot of you are thinking: easier said than done right? Maybe so, but DealDash has lots of tools and features to help bidders develop their strategies – and learning to use these tools and features to your advantage is what having a winning strategy is all about. Once you get your bidding strategy down, winning auctions will almost seem like second nature!

One of the most invaluable tools you have on DealDash is the BidBuddy. If you don’t already know, the BidBuddy is an automated bidding tool that places bids for you, even while you’re away from the computer! The BidBuddy is one of the best assets at each bidder’s disposal (if not the best). Here are a few basic ways that the BidBuddy helps bidders win!

#1: – Other Bidder’s Can “Tell” When You’re Using a BidBuddy

Have you ever played poker? Experienced poker players will talk about something called a “tell”, which is a change in a particular player’s behavior that suggests something about what he/she will do in the game. BidBuddies place their bids in a particular sequence, and as a result, many experienced bidders can infer when others are using their BidBuddy. This makes using the BidBuddy a kind of tell, and that can be used to your advantage. For example, if you notice a pattern where several users are participating in an auction with their BidBuddies, you may want to sit it out until some of them stop bidding. That way, you’ll conserve your bids while the other bidders fight it out.

But bidders can’t tell how you’re using a BidBuddy. They won’t know if you have 3000 bids booked in your BidBuddy or 30. A good way to get rid of competing bidders is to place 30 bids in your BidBuddy and watch how they react. Some bidders will think that you’re in the auction for the long haul (regardless of what it takes to win), and decide to bid in a different auction.

#2: – Places Your Bids for You at the Last Second

Most bidders try to conserve their bids and place them at the last possible second. This makes sense, as it prevents you from placing bids that one of your competitors is planning to place anyway. The caveat with this strategy is that its easy to get distracted, click on the wrong spot, or have your browser freeze on you when the auctions closing! Having your BidBuddy waiting in the wings is a great way to avoid such a frustrating situation. Putting some bids in your BidBuddy as a safety net lets you check your e-mail, chat with a friend, or just explore other auctions without having to miss out on that great deal!

#3: – Keeps You in the Game

Probably the #1 benefit to using the BidBuddy is that it lets you leave your computer without having to worry about the auction. Since the BidBuddy runs automatically, you’re free to leave your computer and spend time with friends or family without missing the auction. This is a great way to save time while you’re saving money, and makes bidding less stressful and more fun!

This time saver can be especially useful early on in the auctions. Since the BidBuddy is designed to place bids just before an auction closes, you can keep your BidBuddy on to make sure you stay in the auction without worrying about it wasting all of your bids. If several other bidders have their BidBuddies on as well, they’ll place their bids in a sequence until they either run out of bids or their users cancel them.

These are just a few suggestions on the different ways you can incorporate BidBuddies into your own bidding strategy, but you should keep in mind that bidding in the auctions is still about beating the other bidders. Other bidders can use these same tricks on you, or figure out what you’re up to and alter their own approach accordingly. It’s always worth spending some time checking out the other bidders and the items you’re bidding on to consider how you should go about winning. It’s not always easy to beat the other bidders, but the more you practice the easier it gets, so don’t be afraid to change things up if you’re having problems and create a winning strategy that works for you!

Don’t forget to check out big DealDash winners on our official Facebook and Pinterest pages! You can post pictures of your wins there to get free DealDash bids! With a 100% satisfaction guarantee on your initial bid pack purchase, trying DealDash is a risk free proposition. DealDash customers regularly save between 60-90 percent on the products featured in DealDash auctions, so get in on these great bargains and sign up now!

What we believe about ourselves and life — our self-talk — influences and in certain situations creates what happens to us. The negative thoughts we build our ceilings with include:  I don’t deserve love; don’t deserve success; I’ve never won anything and never will; I’m unlucky; I’ll never get a break; and I can’t — just can’t – be happy, be loved, or win something worth over $200 at DealDash. 

These invisible ceilings made from words, thoughts and beliefs can be sturdier than ones built with wood. The key wordS in that sentence are can be, because we can also tear ceilings down that don’t work and then redo them.

Only this time around we’ll construct ceilings high enough to allow us to experience happiness, success and wins.

Recently, I became embroiled playing an online video game designed to stimulate the mind, increase creativity and problem-solving abilities, and promoted as a tool to help prevent dementia. I did well at most games on this site until I started playing a certain level of a game. No matter how hard I tried, I could not win. And I tried. Every day I practiced obsessively, but no matter many games I played, I couldn’t win. 

I kept hitting the ceiling I had created, a ceiling I reinforced daily by saying “I can’t win.”

One day I remembered what a friend taught me when he noticed that I was immersed in negative self-talk. “Don’t say you can’t do it,” he said.  

“But I can’t,” I said. 

 “Then say ‘Up until now, I have been unable to do it.’ That way you give yourself room to tear down that ceiling and succeed.”

His words helped. Eventually I did what I hadn’t been able to do.

What still astonishes me is that each time I finally break through a ceiling – such as when I finally won that video game for the first time — is that from that moment on, doing that thing becomes easier and easier. The belief that we can do it removes the ceiling and dissolves the impossibility.

Realistically, we won’t win every time we enter an auction. Most of us have low streaks, those times when things don’t come as easily. Then times change and we’re back on a roll. But usually after we do something once, something we previously believed was impossible for us to do, we find ourselves doing it over and over again. It’s not as difficult anymore.

We become believers in ourselves. 

When we break through a ceiling and do something for the first time, we change our self-talk. Now we base our beliefs on reality, not on wishing and hoping. We’re not the little train that could. We’re the train that did and does. 

I’m not a doctor. I don’t know how neurons and the pathways to the mind work, the ones that then connect to our skills and abilities. But breaking through that ceiling sure feels good. 

You deserve happiness, respect and success – however you define success. If you’ve created a ceiling that’s blocking you from winning at DealDash, here are some tips to help you redo the ceilings you create:

• Act as if you’re already a winner — but act responsibly. Our body doesn’t know the difference between what really happens and what we picture or imagine happening in our mind.  Before you start bidding, take a moment. Picture yourself winning. Get into it on a sensory level including how you feel when that computer or mixer arrives at the door. See yourself telling a friend about what you won. Feel how pleased you are at saving money on that item. See your chart at the top of your home page at DD reflect that you have hit your limits: six wins under $200 and three wins over that amount each week or hitting your monthly cash limit of wins. Make being a winner real in your mind. 

• Go for items you genuinely want for yourself or someone else. True desire makes it easier to win. We’re more focused on our goal.

• Make a list of the beliefs you have about success in general and winning at DealDash in particular. What incidents from the past created the beliefs that create your ceiling? What feelings from right now are creating beliefs about not being able to win?

• Make a list of goals. Be as specific as you can about what you want to win. Then put the list away somewhere private. Don’t discuss it. You can add to it if new goals arise but let it go. Don’t obsess about it. Move forward with life. 

• One thing that can assist us in a ceiling redo is surrounding ourselves with people who believe in us. They don’t need to verbalize this belief. If it’s there, we see it reflected in their eyes. Ironically sometimes the opposite holds true. Someone not believing in us can create the spunk we need to break through our ceiling and win just to prove them wrong. 

• Don’t give up unless you make a conscious choice that whatever you’re attempting to do is not what you want to do. Persistence is often what separates winners from the losers at anything in life. 

Bid responsibly, according to your code. Watch your self-talk and work at a do-over on any ceiling you’ve created. One day, you’ll begin to see your invisible ceiling and the thoughts you used to build it. When that happens, you’re on your way to doing what you thought you’d never be able to do.

Remember seeing isn’t believing. Believing helps us see it in real life.

NOTE:  Here’s a correction to the tips in a previous blog about never under any circumstances paying more than the retail value of an item – a reminder that every rules has its exceptions.  Sometimes I’ll win a hundred dollar item for a purchase price of $.63 (sixty-three cents). Add to that the cost of my bids, say $3.00.  Rounded out, I spent under four dollars for an item that costs $100.00.  The savings there gives me some money-room to play with, which means I can pay more than the retail value on some items (but not by much) and still come out a winner.  

 It’s putting into play the same principle as when we strive for balance in our lives. We may not have perfectly balanced time every day and every week. Instead we may work extra hard for half the year and then take the other half-year off, using it for recreation. That’s balance too.  But when it comes to DealDash, don’t plan on having money in your fund that allows you to exceed an item’s value. The responsible thing is to only do that if you’ve already had a big-savings win.

By constantly paying more than the value of an item, we drive up prices for everyone, defeating DD’s purpose of being a place where we can all get good deals.

Customers love the great bargains they get in DealDash auctions! You can see photos and read testimonials from auction winners on DealDash’s new Pinterest page, and of course the official DealDash Facebook page. Every week customers post pictures of the great products they get from DealDash, and the best photo of the week wins a 500 dollar gift card! Last week Theresa used the great bargain she got on this 3TB External Hard Drive to help her win big again on Facebook!

With a 100% satisfaction guarantee on your initial bid pack purchase, trying DealDash is a risk free proposition. DealDash customers regularly save between 60-90 percent on the products featured in DealDash auctions, so get in on these great bargains and sign up now!