If you are a senior citizen like me, you might remember hearing the song, (To) Everything There Is a Season. This song was written by Pete Seeger in the late 1950s and was first recorded in 1959. Regardless, a certain place or event can often trigger the lyrics of a “catchy” song no matter how old it may be. Some songs can get stuck in our minds for a while and we can actually hear them play over and over again. In fact, that can sometimes happen to young people, too.
Recently, when I was shopping on DealDash.com the lyrics to that song came back to me, but instead of (To) Everything There Is a Season, the thought occurred to me For Everything There Is a Reason. Why was that? I was just wondering why some people over-bid the value of an auction and that’s when the idea For Everything There Is a Reason came to my mind.
Over the last several years, I probably wrote about 600 blogs about how to play smart and win more auctions on DealDash. In some of my blogs I suggested how foolish I thought it was for anyone to ever overbid the listed BIN value of an auction. Therefore, I was surprised to find myself doing the same thing.
Shouldn’t I follow my own advice on how to play smart on DealDash? I know better, so why would I do it? That’s when I realized For Everything There is a Reason and I actually had some valid reasons for overbidding in the auction. Believe it or not, even experienced shoppers might “choose” to play “stupid” on purpose.
For example, remember the old TV show Colombo? In reality, he was a brilliant detective, but Colombo “played stupid” on purpose to trick criminals into giving him the information he needed to trap them and prove their guilt. I loved that show, and I used the same “play stupid” technique when I was a newspaper journalist to get people I interviewed to give me the quotes I needed to write a good story.
Therefore, based on my own shopping experience on DealDash, here are a few valid reasons why some shoppers overbid on purpose:
Reason 1 – A bigger goal
Sometimes winning the auction might be secondary to a different or bigger goal.
I’ve won many great DealDash auctions over the years, but now I mainly shop on DealDash just to get new ideas for writing these blogs. But the main reason I was overbidding on purpose was because DealDash had a 3X feature where my time on the clock moved three times faster. I wanted to move up to Level 74 before my 74th birthday and the 12th Anniversary of DealDash this month, which happens at the same time each year. I got my green line to the end and just collected 1,145 free bids.
The way I saw it, overbidding in the auction was not really a waste of bids as long as I was able to move my time on the clock three times faster and collect my free bids. That was a valid reason to overbid.
Reason 2 – Our reputation
Sometimes we might feel like we have a reputation to protect. What do I mean by that?
Serious and/or experienced bidders do not want to be known as quitters. If our screen names have a reputation of being a “quitter,” then it might be more difficult to win other auctions in the future.
Are there any screen names that pop up in auctions that have become red flags for you? I have a list of several screen names that I refuse to compete with in the same auction because they have already proven to me that they are tough competitors who will seldom stop.
Therefore, I will sometimes overbid on purpose just to teach other shoppers it’s not a good idea to jump into an auction at the end that I’m competing in with the idea of taking my win away with only a few bids. If I have already placed a large number of bids I am not about to allow other shoppers to take my win away without having to invest a large number of their own bids, too.
That’s what I mean by having a screen name reputation to protect. Yes, I will waste a lot of bids by being stubborn enough or mean enough to do that on purpose a few times. However, when other shoppers see my screen name in future auctions they will remember what a tough competitor I am and might move on to a different auction. So, yes, that tactic can have a benefit in the long run.
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.