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Go for the Easy Win

Do you go for the “easy win” on DealDash.com If not, why not?

Usually, the easiest to win auctions are those with the lowest BIN price. Power shoppers tend to go only for the high-dollar items, leaving the low-dollar items with less competition.

To find the auctions that sell for the least amount of money, check out the “winner’s list.” Auctions that sold for the least amount of money a few weeks ago might not be the same auctions that are selling for the least amount of money now. It often changes.

The next step is double click on the auctions that are selling for the least amount of money to find the ones with the fewest number of competitors who are actively bidding. The one that is easiest to win will be a combination of two things: First, how many shoppers are qualified to continue bidding after the “No New Bidders” banner appears; and second, how many shoppers are seriously competing.

Many shoppers might place a few bids, but then go away and never return because they see another product they are more interested in winning.

Low-dollar auctions are always a good place for new shoppers to start. Once we gain more bidding skills and experience, we will be much better prepared to move on to the high-dollar auctions with greater success.

This sponsored blog post was submitted by: Barbara L. Sellers. Barbara was compensated by DealDash for this blog post. Blog posts are written by real DealDash customers. The opinions and advice here represent our customers’ views and not those of the company.

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Choosing Great Times to Bid

Would you like to win more auctions on DealDash.com?

Choosing great times to bid might be the key. Here are some things I look for when I’m trying to choose the best times to bid:

Shop when the fewest number of customers are online. For example, during the Super Bowl, many other shoppers might be busy watching the game instead. On New Year’s Eve many other shoppers might be out celebrating, too. Whenever any event is taking place where most other shoppers are not likely to be online might cut down on the competition and make winning easier.

Late nights might also be a great time to bid. Many shoppers cannot afford to do any late night shopping because they have to get up to go to work the next day. Of course, they could place a bulk of bids into BidBuddy and then go to bed and look the next morning to see if they won anything. Most likely, we might not want to do that, especially if we want to monitor the bidding process.

If we do choose to bid during the middle of the night, it is important for us to consider the time zones. The East Coast is three hours ahead of us. So at 3 a.m. on the West Coast, it would be 6 a.m. on the East Coast and they could be getting up and getting ready to go to work. Some of them might choose to do a little shopping before leaving for work, too.

Weekends are another time I try to avoid. Why?  Because most working shoppers will most likely have weekends off and more customers are probably going to be online during their days off.

By choosing great times to bid, we might be able to eliminate a large number of our competitors and win more auctions.

This sponsored blog post was submitted by: Barbara L. Sellers. Barbara was compensated by DealDash for this blog post. Blog posts are written by real DealDash customers. The opinions and advice here represent our customers’ views and not those of the company.

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Winning Edge

Would you like to have a “winning edge” when shopping on DealDash.com?

Well, now you can. How? Let me explain:

We can now open various auctions (by double clicking on them) and see who won it within the last week. All of the winners over the last seven days are locked out from winning the same auction for seven days. We can also see how many bids the winners used, what the winners paid in closing costs and how much they paid in full (counting the cost of the bids used).

Seeing this information, however, is not good enough. Wish shoppers learn how to use this information to win more auctions.

For example, I have identified five screen names that consistently prove they have an endless supply of bids and consistently win more than their share of auctions. Therefore, I choose never to bid in the same auctions where those five screen names appear because I know it would be a waste of my bids to try to beat them.

One way I avoid getting into the same auction with those five power bidders is by opening up various auctions and looking at all the screen names of winners over the last seven days. If their names appear on the winners list over the last seven days, then I know they have been locked out and can no longer compete with me if I bid in that auction, giving me a much better confidence.

Not many auction sites provide that much valuable information. Some people might ignore it and do nothing with it, but wise shoppers learn how to use it to get a “winning edge.”

This sponsored blog post was submitted by: Barbara L. Sellers. Barbara was compensated by DealDash for this blog post. Blog posts are written by real DealDash customers. The opinions and advice here represent our customers’ views and not those of the company.

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Strategy for the Week

When you shop on DealDash.com, what is your “Strategy of the Week?” Do you have one?

I think it’s a good idea to choose a different “Strategy for the Week” for several reasons. I read a definition of insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expect a different result. In other words, if one thing does not work, it only makes sense to change what we are doing.

Therefore, if we are not winning, we might need to change something, anything, and see if that works better. It could be just a minor change that makes a difference. For example, here is a list of different things we could try to change the way we bid:

  • If we always place the bulk of our bids at the beginning of every auction, we might want to wait until just before an auction hits the “No New Bidders” mark and place the bulk of our bids then, instead.
  • We could place a few bids at the beginning of every auction, and then place the bulk of our bids when the selling price gets close to the average selling price it usually closes at.
  • We could try placing an odd number of bids. Instead of 25, 50, 100 or 200 bids, perhaps we should try placing an odd number of bids like 27, 53, 107, or 231.
  • Look for patterns. For instance, I noticed that shoppers from two states consistently win, so I no longer bid in the same auctions where players from those two states show up. It’s up to you to figure out what those two states are.
  • Perhaps our bids would last longer and we might win more auctions if we only bid at the beginning of every auction. This approach can pay off in dividends. Why? For one thing, if we only bid in the beginning of every auction and win, we will be guaranteed to always win with a very low selling price. Therefore, we would not only be using fewer bids, but we would also be paying less for the auctions we win.

By choosing a different “Strategy for the Week,” we might even surprise ourselves how well it works.

This sponsored blog post was submitted by: Barbara L. Sellers. Barbara was compensated by DealDash for this blog post. Blog posts are written by real DealDash customers. The opinions and advice here represent our customers’ views and not those of the company.