November 2016 - Page 6 of 7

November 5, 2016

Popular Items; Food For Thought at DealDash

I talk about “popular” items in my blogs a lot, but what is a popular item at DealDash? DealDash carries hundreds of interesting and unusual items, as well as hundreds of everyday items. You would think that an everyday item, like a toaster for example, wouldn’t be considered very popular, after all everyone has a toaster, right? Well, they do, but toasters wear out and you need a new one. They also make great gifts. So, a toaster would be a popular item.

Popular items mean that a lot of players will bid on it. There will be many, many players in the beginning trying to win for a few pennies, and someone might, so it’s a good strategy. Then the crowd thins out to a handful of players who are going to give it the ‘ol college try, but they were trying to win it for a few dollars. Finally, there are those two or three players at DealDash who are sure they are going to win it. I saw a toaster close today with two final players and it ended at about $10. That is a fantastic deal for a $95 toaster, and a popular item.

Trying to figure out what is popular is hard at first, but once you’ve been playing for a while, you will know. For now, I can give you a few tips. First, anything that plugs-in is popular: a toaster, blender, vacuum, slow cooker, etc.. Items like that will have a lot of competition because everyone wants one, needs one or want to give it as a gift. If you didn’t give gifts in the past, you will now, you will win so much at DealDash, you’ll want to share it, and your family and friends will love you for it!

Likewise, trendy items are considered (by me) to be popular too, but these items may be offered more often. What falls into this category are: drones, bikes, tents, grills. These items are popular items that generally take longer to win. I have won a couple of these items under $10, but more often closer to $25-$150. You can figure if an item closes at $150, that means there were 15000 bids placed, to figure out how many bids you may use in this auction divide the number of bids by the number of players for example, the 15000 bids placed, and there are 7 players, 15000/7=2142 bids will be used on average to win this item.

You might ask what isn’t popular, well, DealDash doesn’t have any unpopular items, when they do occasionally put something out there that players think is wrong for the site, players let DealDash know and they remove it. One item I can think of in this category is….toilet tissue. They don’t carry it anymore. Other items that might not be as popular (therefore easier to win) are things that may be everyday, but you can have too many, like: lamps, watches, jewelry,

DealDash often offers new items, they are popular once they are discovered. If it plugs in or it’s trendy, once everyone catches on, they will take longer to win.

Popular items can take a while to win, so be patient, load up on bids and be prepared to Buy It Now if you don’t win it. This way you will get the bids you used trying refunded to you, and you can go on to win another item with those bids, or BIN again. It’s the most fun you’ll ever have shopping!!!

November 4, 2016

It’s More Than a Winner’s List at DealDash

The first day you go to DealDash you are likely to view the Winner’s List, and there you will see, well, a list of winners. But, as you become more acquainted with the other players, this information will be so much more than just a list. Sure, it’s nice to see the Winner’s, and you will check it often in the beginning.

Not only can you learn who won what, you can see what the final price was. Pay close attention to the final price when the site is having a Free Wins Sale, the closing price is going to be higher because most players will factor the free win into the cost of their bids thereby using more bids. What you can learn from the final price during auctions is valuable information. First, you can see what final prices are trending at. For example, if there is several auctions closing at or around .20 cents the trend is there are most likely fewer players, and the auctions are closing for pennies of the value.

What I don’t want you to forget, is to come back and check it a lot, even as you become a better player. Check it more than you might think is enough. There have been times I’ve forgotten to check the Winner’s List, and as it turned out once, I was bidding against someone who just won 5000 bids! That’s not a good use of my bids, knowing the opponent has that many bids. There is a chance they could make a mistake, so I would hang in there for a while, but if they don’t mess up right away, I leave until they use up some bids.

You can also see what a nemesis is winning, so once they’ve won an item, they can’t win it again for another week, then you jump into the next auction, where that person won’t show up. There’s only a handful of players that I would rather not battle with, you may find that to be the case for you too. So, now if this person is out of the field, I feel more likely to win. Keep in mind, there is always going to be a nemesis, but some are more notorious than others. Don’t focus on that unless you encounter a person who won’t let go, you may be battling with someone who can’t lose, won’t lose and refuses to lose, and luckily for us they make mistakes too!

When you get acquainted with DealDash, don’t leave out your Winner’s List Page. Check it first, check it often and use the information to help you win more auctions.

Good Luck and Happy Bidding!!!

November 3, 2016

The Seasoned Pro at DealDash

By “Seasoned Pro” I mean a player who has been actively bidding at DealDash since the beginning in 2009 or soon there after. I’ve been playing about 2 1/5 years, and I’m still learning. If you want to win like a pro at DealDash, you have to think like a pro, and that entails having some restraint. You can’t come in on your first day and pounce bids in after every player, you will soon be out of bids, and that’s just a waste of money.

The seasoned pro knows that you need to have a good amount of bids to win a big ticket item, well into the thousands, you may not use all of them, but you should plan on needing all of them if you “are in it to win it”, otherwise, you are just hoping you win a big ticket item with a few bids, does it happen? yes, of course it does, but you can’t count on it. You can however, count on using a lot of bids to win an item over $1000 and some really popular lower value items as well.

Seasoned pros at DealDash have patience, you can watch an auction and know when a good time to get in is, for me it’s all about the odds, so if there are a few players in the auction, the odds are better, I’m in, and I’m playing with the best players on the site. But, to have patience is a great seasoned trait. You shop for just the right item, that means you don’t bid on everything in sight. If you do bid on everything in site, have a bundle of bids, you’re going to need them.

Most players are fair, some like to be rude, they aren’t doing anything wrong by jumping into an auction really late, it’s just not nice, and I see it often. They can be outsmarted with their own game. I find a good amount of seasoned pros do this. It’s a jump fest and usually the same handful of players, so as soon as you know who they are, you’ll do well to conserve bids around their game.

The Seasoned Pro always buys their bids on sale, DealDash offers different sales throughout the week and often, usually once a week, you can find bids on sale for .12 cents each, and if you can bid during a Bid Multiplier sale, the combination of the two will maximize your bid count.

You can bid like a pro if you bid like one, use some restraint, have patience, load up on bids when they are on sale, and please don’t be rude, it’s not becoming!

Good Luck and Happy Bidding!!!

Check out the DealDash page on SiteJabber and Trust Pilot

November 2, 2016

Winning Only Bid Packs at DealDash

There is an entire culture of players at DealDash that loves to just win bid packs. If you plan on winning bid packs too, you should try to learn who they are. The first line of defense is to watch a handful of bid pack auctions. Try watching more that one, it doesn’t help if you are only seeing a couple of players, you want to see who is bidding hard on the bid packs.

Write down a list of names and characteristics, this is a guide to your future bidding. I am a firm believer in “planning” to win. That entails shopping, setting alarms and showing up on time for an auction. Once in the auction you can assess the players, and there are a few different types.

There is the guy who comes in and stays the whole time, they will bid many more than the bid pack price and usually are using free bids they got for Time As High Bidder to win. They can be avoided by staying away from the auction, they can’t be in every auction, although some try, so you will have a chance. There is no hurry, if you don’t get in this one, there is one right around the corner. DealDash releases bid packs constantly throughout a 24 hour period.

Bid during the off hours. Try winning your bid packs at night, there are usually less players, and you could win for less. Also, start with small packs and parlay into bigger packs. Don’t get caught up in a bidding war over a 150 bid pack, use only a few bids, you don’t want to use all the bids you have to get less than you started with. Bids weigh the same, so whether you go for a 150 pack or a 1500 pack, you can win with a few bids, or it may take more, but why not go for the big pack?

I always bid on the front end of a bid pack, the end is so volatile. There are some players who like to join in the auction long after others have bid many bids, so to out smart them bid early because the auction often ends long before they come back. Being a Jumper doesn’t mean you win more, it’s just a strategy.

Stay away from Stompers, those who bid without using a Bid Buddy, if you value your free bids for Time As High Bidder, and you love bids if you’re bidding on bid packs, so you must simply get out of an auction with a stomper. Stomping back doesn’t pay, it’s a lose-lose situation.

I love bids too, but I refuse to use 1000 bids to win 1000 bids, others don’t, get to know the difference between those two bidding styles. The fun thing about bids is there are a lot of players who don’t play for them at all, so once you get to know the crowd, it’s just you, them and the Newbies…they love bid packs too!

Good Luck and Happy Bidding!!!

Check out the DealDash page on SiteJabber and Trust Pilot