Part 2 of Thinking About Mistakes We Make as Bidders

Today we will continue talking about some common mistakes that bidders make, and how to avoid making them.

On Monday we talked about how bidders make mistakes by not buying bigger bid packs when they are on sale, and also by not setting reasonable and achievable goals for themselves. Today we will continue to examine how we are bidding and  how we can improve bidding with the end result being that next big win at DealDash.

Not thinking ahead – Is a common mistake in DealDash bidding as well as in other aspects of life. Thinking ahead goes hand-in-hand with buying bigger bid packs when they are on sale, but thinking ahead is much more than just that. Thinking ahead means planning and making strategic decisions about when to spend your bids and what to spend them on.

Thinking ahead in DealDash terms means that you carefully decide what auction that you will be bidding on, and then do the math to figure out exactly how many bids that you can spend on that auction to get up to the BIN (Buy It Now) price without going over, and then inputting that amount of bids into your BidBuddy.

The BidBuddy is the best tool to use when you are trying to think ahead – the BidBuddy will effortlessly and tirelessly bid for you, up to the amount of bids that you inputted, and you don’t even have to be at your computer.

Spreading your bids too thin – Another mistake that is frequently seen at DealDash is spreading your bids too thin. Instead of picking one or two auctions and showing them the attention and focus that they deserve a common mistake at DealDash is placing a bid here, there, and everywhere on lots of different auctions and then being disappointed when there is nothing to show for it at the end.

The easiest way to fix this mistake is of course by taking more care and spending more time doing a little research to decide what you truly want to bid on. If you are only halfway interested in a certain auction, why bother throwing a few bids on it? Use those bids on an auction that you are truly interested enough to “go all the way” and Buy It Now (BIN) if you don’t happen to win.

Don’t despair if yourself doing all of the bidding mistakes that I have mentioned in the blogs this week –  it takes time and experience to develop bidding skills and strategies. If you take my advice to heart, chances are good that soon you’ll be winning the big prizes and wonder why you were ever having trouble with bidding mistakes at all. Good luck and happy bidding everyone!

Thinking About Mistakes We Make as Bidders: Part 1

Everyone makes mistakes. Let’s see how we can try to prevent some of them.

Are you a new bidder that feels like they just can’t win? Did you get for first few wins easily and now find yourself in a bidding slump where you feel like you just can’t win again? Or are you a more seasoned bidder who has quite a few wins under your belt but feel like you have just hit a plateau with your bidding? Well, let’s examine how we are bidding and maybe we can improve your bidding so you can go on to get that next big win at DealDash.

The cost of bids – Are you paying too much for your bids? If you’re buying your bids at full price then the answer is “Yes! You are paying too much for bids.” It’s a much better practice to wait for a big sale on bids and buy the largest bid pack than to buy bids whenever you run out and pay top dollar for them.

Just imagine yourself in a bidding war over a laptop – you’ve already put hours and hours into the auction, you’ve put a ton of bids in and you’re not about to give up…But then…you’re almost out of bids…And the current bid price that day is .18! If you had bought bids a few days ago they might have only cost .16, .15, or even .12 on special sale days. If the person that you’re bidding against in this fictional auction had bought their bids at .14 versus you buying them at .18 they are going to be able to bid significantly longer than you yet spend the same amount of money.

Long story short, the person who pays the least for bids and buys them in the biggest bid pack is going to be able to bid for longer, outlasting the competition on auctions. Also, if you’re buying tiny bid packs whenever you run out of bids instead of buying big bid packs when they are on sale then you’re just wasting money, and that in itself is a mistake.

 

Not setting goals for yourself – The other mistake that I would like to talk about today is not setting goals for yourself. You have to crawl before you walk, and walk before you run; so why are you trying to bid on a 50″ TV before you have even won at $10 gift card? Bidding smart means that you have to start small, get to know the bidding terrain around DealDash, study the competition, and get a few small wins before you try for the “big score”. If you are trying to win a $200+ item before you have won a few small ones to see how things really work then that is a mistake. However, it’s easily corrected by setting some goals for yourself and work on achieving them before you move on to more difficult auctions. For example:

  1. Win a $10 gift card to Burger King
  2. Win a $25 gift card to Shell gas
  3. Win a $50 gift card to Target
  4. Win a $100 gift card to Wal*Mart

If you’ll notice, these goals are all to win gift cards. The reason being most people would eventually use all of the above gift cards, so even if you don’t win these auctions while you are practicing your bidding you can BIN (Buy It Now) them for face value, get free shipping, and you are not out any extra money. Once you have attained your bidding goals and feel confident then you can move on to bigger, better, and more difficult to win auctions.

I hope that you found this article helpful in your quest to better wins at DealDash. Please keep an eye on DealDash Blog on Wednesday for Part 2 of this article. Good luck and happy bidding everyone!

Setting Your Bid Limit on DealDash

Everyone wants to win every auction that they enter, but in reality that is very unlikely to happen. However, you can always be a winner if you stick to your bid limits and BIN (Buy It Now) when you aren’t the last bidder.

One of the most common questions that I have had people ask me is “How do you know when to stop bidding?” Well, the answer will possibly sound a little complicated, but in practice it’s really very easy to figure out, especially if you are the sort of person who “checks in” on the auctions that you are bidding on every so often.

The first step, of course, is to find an auction that you are interested in bidding on. Now, make sure that you truly want this product, because the way to know when to stop bidding involves being willing to BIN (Buy It Now) if you don’t happen to win the auction. You can check the BIN price of any auction if you open up the auction’s page and look in the upper left hand corner under the title of the auction. There should be a $$$ money amount next to a phrase that says “Buy It Now price”.

The next step is to think about how much you spent per bid. The official cost for bids is .60 per bid, but DealDash is kind enough to have bids on sale every single day. Sometimes they are .12, .13, .14, .15, .16, .17, or .18 per bid depending on what day you buy your bids.

After you have determined the BIN price and the price you paid per bid then it’s time to get down to the math. Let’s make things easy and say you are bidding on something that has a BIN price of $20, and you spent .14 per bid. If you divide $20 by .14 you get 142. So if it happens to be a FREE auction day (which it is occasionally, especially on a holiday weekend) then go ahead and load up your Bid Buddy with 142 bids and sit back and see if you win or if you BIN. If it’s not a FREE auction day then you would be smart to monitor your auction every now and again to see what the final auction price is and adjust the bids in your Bid Buddy accordingly.

I hope that these simple tricks help you to save your bids and get the most out of your bid pack purchases. Pay attention to what you’re doing, check out the auctions and see what you would really like to bid on, and try my tips to save bids. See you on DealDash everyone! Good luck and happy bidding.

Spring Cleaning With DealDash

 

Spring is in the air, and for most of us that means that a little spring cleaning is in order. DealDash has your supplies ready.

Now is the time for spring cleaning, and I couldn’t think of a better chore to do right now than steam clean my carpets and get them ready for summer. DealDash has a pair of cleaners that would be great for giving your carpets a deep cleaning this summer – the  Bissell Premier Pet 17N4 upright deep cleaner for most of the work, and the Bissell Spot Clean, 5207W to get those stubborn spots that just won’t come up with normal measures. This would be a great combination to win that would make your carpets look and smell just like new. You can find these and even more Bissell cleaning products on DealDash at this link here.

BISSELL  Premier Pet Upright Deep CleanerBissell SpotClean

Speaking of vacuums, when is the last time that you vacuumed your basement and garage? This would be a great spring cleaning project for you to tackle while the air is fresh and you are feeling optimistic about the whole cleaning idea. DealDash has a vacuum that is specifically meant to be used to clean the garage. It’s called the Garage Utility Vacuum, and it’s made by Hoover. You can find the GUV at this link here. After you have vacuumed your garage and basement, how about putting up those shelves that have been sitting around waiting for you to get around to them? Once you have put up some nice shelves it will be so much easier to get all of your tools and outdoors things organized. You can find an assortment of garage and basement shelves on DealDash at this link here.

Hoover GUV™ Garage Utility VacuumEdsal Five-Shelf Heavy-Duty Steel Shelving Unit

Speaking of getting cleaned and organized, how is your deck or porch looking lately? I know that in the fall my desk becomes a catch-all for some of the things that stay outside in the winter, and it could really look much tidier. When thinking of ideas how I can maximize my space yet still keep all of my items, I came across this resin wicker seat. It can store a lot of small items, it’s capacity is 22 gallons. It’s also very cute and looks great on the deck as well as providing an extra seating option for when our deck chairs are all occupied. If you’re looking for something similar check out this link here.

Suncast 22 Gallon Resin Wicker Storage Seat

 

 

 

 

In case you need something that I haven’t mentioned, DealDash has all of your cleaning supplies covered, – they carry everything from the biggest items like vacuums and steam cleaners all the way down to the most humble of the cleaning supplies – paper towels, dish soap, and spray cleaners. Good luck and happy bidding everyone!

 

 

What’s So Different About DealDash? Part 2

As we discussed on Wednesday, DealDash is very different from their competition in many different ways. Here are some more ways that DealDash is head and shoulders above the rest.

In case you missed Wednesday’s blog here were the main differences pointed out in that blog from the competition:

  • Customer Service -DealDash customer service is awesome!
  • BIN (Buy It Now) – BIN the items for a fair price and get all of your bids back!
  • New & Unique Brands – Try out new brands that you can’t find at your local stores!

Today I am going to tell you about a few more ways that DealDash differs from the other “penny sites” out there.

  • FREE shipping – DealDash offers FREE shipping on every single item, no matter how big or how small. I was really amazed when I found that out. Other sites offer free shipping on just gift cards, or small items and have excessive “handling charges” on other items. And some sites even charge to ship gift cards! Not only do they charge to ship them, they overcharge. To ship a single gift card with a receipt in an envelope should just be the cost of 1 stamp. However, some sites are charging upwards of $2 to ship a single gift card. However, at DealDash they have shipped me large pieces of furniture (a sewing armoire, bookshelves, exercise bike, rowing machine) for absolutely 100% free.
  • Fast shipping – Not only does DealDash ship out everyone’s items for free, they ship them fast. I admit it, I have bid on countless other auction sites before I found DealDash, and some places took so long to ship my items I had totally forgotten that I had won them once the items arrived. With DealDash, I have had a few items literally arrive the next day after I had paid for my auction. That’s rare, of course, but what’s not so rare (but still awesome!) is getting the item that you paid for within 3-5 days.
  • Opportunities to get free bids – Every single winner of a DealDash auction that has been paid for an received has a chance to get free bids by posting on social media web sites. If you have Facebook, Twitter, Google+, or Pinterest, you have chances to get free bids by taking photos of yourself with your winning item. Here are the instructions on how to do that, located at this link.

DealDash is wonderful site that blows the rest of the competition away. Give them a try! Good luck and happy bidding everyone!