There’s not a lot of controversial aspects about the bidding on DealDash.com…most of the decisions successful bidders make are informed more by things like trying to make their bidding fit their individual budgets, lifestyles, and shopping habits. But there is one practice that nearly all experienced bidders love to hate, and hate to love – stomp bidding! If you check out our glossary, stomp bidding (also known as overbidding or double bidding) is defined as “an aggressive bidding technique where one bidder will place bids immediately after another user”. Aggressive behavior in general tends to irritate DealDashers (and DealDash actively monitors such behavior to and steps in when it is deemed inappropriate), but nothing seems to bother people more than stomp bidding. Many a bidder has written in with complaints about stomp bidding, and here’s a couple of points to consider about why people do it!
Stomp Bidding Prevents Other Users from Getting Free Bids
A unique feature on DealDash is the “Time as Highest Bidder” (TAHB) clock, which lets users claim free bids for spending more time as the highest bidder in each auction. It’s a great way to subsidize your bid costs, and many successful bidders actively use it to help them save money. In fact, some bidders will participate early in the auctions specifically to take advantage of this feature!
Stomp bidders, whether they know it or not, are robbing people of the free TAHB bids. Sometimes newer bidders won’t realize what they’re doing when they stomp bid, but others are more malicious and actually intend to prevent people from getting free bids! To these bidders, preventing you from getting free bids increases their chance of winning the auction!
Stomp Bidding Scares Bidders Away
The more experienced bidders become, the more they start to realize winning auctions is about playing against other users, and so strategies to beat them are important. One way to do that is by making them doubt whether or not they have what it takes to win…whether that be the time, the bids, or the dedication!
Besides being a general irritant, a lot of people stomp bidding want to give other bidders the impression that he/she has so many bids to use that it’s pointless to bid against him/her in an auction! After all, who can afford to throw bids away like that other than someone who just bought three 5000 count bid packs?
Whether or not the bidder actually has that many bids (few of them do) is beside the point: by making others think that they have thousands of bids to use, they’re able to make themselves look like the big bad bidding wolf, and chase other bidders away!
What To Do About Stomp Bidders
While bid stomping can certainly be an annoyance, it’s not against the rules, and when bidders can make it work for them it encourages them to keep doing it. So to beat Stomp Bidders, it’s imperative to let them know that you’re not going to be intimidated into throwing in the towel. Here are a few easy suggestions to help you troubleshoot Stomp Bidders:
Don’t Let Stomp Bidding Throw you off your Budget
Before entering an auction, every bidder should decide how many bids they’re willing to use to win. Different factors should influence the way you formulate this budget (for example, how much time/money you have to spend, whether or not you’re willing to BIN the item, etc), but no matter what happens you shouldn’t let Stomp Bidders throw you of your plan. Don’t get angry and determined to beat them no matter what, but at the same time don’t immediately assume that the Stomp Bidder is willing to apply this tactic till the end. If you have a strategy that works, stick to your guns!
Don’t be Afraid to do it Back
An eye for an eye as they say. If someone is stomping all over your bids, doing it back to them is a great way to give them the impression that you’re just as willing to waste bids as they are. Once they click in to the fact that a group of people stomp bidding all over each other is wasting everyone’s bids and driving the item price up they’ll quickly understand that maybe their approach isn’t really conducive to saving money.
Let your BidBuddy Handle Them
The BidBuddy is your automated bidding tool, and experienced bidders will be able to tell when you’re using your BidBuddy. Also, the BidBuddy will never stomp bid, so you already KNOW that Stomp Bidders aren’t using theirs. You can turn on your BidBuddy and focus your attention somewhere else. If the Stomp Bidder catches onto the fact that you’re using the BidBuddy, it might be enough to chase him/her away from the auction. After all, your BidBuddy is guaranteed to place bids at the optimal time, and for all this person knows your BidBuddy can be stacked with thousands of bids – making the prospect of stomp bidding his/her way to a win seem long, time-consuming, and expensive.
So while users are more than welcome to try their hand at stomp bidding (and some people can make it work for them), it’s not as big a problem as it might seem. Try out some of these strategies the next time you’re in an auction to see if you can make them work for you, and remember that everyone is here to have a good time and get a great deal!
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!