I’ve been a shopper on DealDash.com for more than 10 years now and I’ve learned a lot about how to win auctions by watching other frequent winners.
Who are the frequent winners? It’s easy to find them. All we have to do is check the winners’ list and write down the screen names of other DealDash shoppers who consistently win more than one auction nearly every day. These are the people to watch. Once we figure out what winning strategies they use to win auctions, then we can win more auctions, too.
I cannot tell you what winning strategy works best. One might work best one week and another one might work best the next week. Perhaps you might want to try all of them and see what works best for you.
Let’s take a look at a few different strategies that some experienced DealDash shoppers use to win auctions.
Bid low to win low
Okay, we all know that if we do not place at least one bid in an auction before it reaches $5.00 (or whatever cutoff amount is designated) we will be locked out from actively competing for the win later on. Therefore, many shoppers throw in one bid at the beginning of the auctions with the intention of coming back to place more bids later on.
What happens, however, if everyone places only one bid except only one shopper who places more than one bid at the beginning of the auction? Well, then that one shopper who placed more than one bid wins. I’ve watched one shopper use this strategy and he successfully wins more than his share of auctions. This shopper consistently places from 2 to 30 bids at the very beginning of several auctions, and whenever an auction closes early, this shopper is there.
The greatest advantage to using this strategy is that it’s a great one to use if a shopper is on a tight budget. Because this shopper always bids low and seldom (if ever) places more than 30 bids in an auction, he always wins low, too. I have watched this shopper win some fantastic bargains. This strategy takes a lot of patience and self-discipline because some auctions might only close early one time out of every 20 to 40 times it goes up for auction, but it does work because most auctions will eventually close early. The plan is to be there when it does.
Last minute warriors
Last minute warriors use the opposite shopping strategy. I’ve watched several experienced shoppers who only place one bid early in the auction and then they disappear and never return until the bidding gets down to the nitty-gritty with only two or three competitors still in the fight. The idea is to wait until all of the other shoppers have already used up their supply of bids, and then these last-minute warriors swoop in and take the win using only a small number of bids. Hardly seems fair, does it?
This strategy often works. However, it also has possible consequences. For one thing, the last-minute warriors take the risk the auction could close early and then they miss out on their opportunity to win. Not all auctions get down to two or three shoppers before it suddenly closes. Another thing that can, and does, happen is that some shoppers who have already invested a large number of bids in the auction might want to teach the last-minute warriors a lesson by not allowing them to have an easy win.
Some shoppers refuse to quit. Instead, they will buy more bids and intentionally overbid or drive up the cost of the auction a lot more than the last-minute warriors expect. Therefore, it is a good idea to get familiar with other shoppers so we know which ones will quit and which ones will not.
Endless bidders
Another strategy is to stay away from and never bid in the same auctions with certain wealthy, endless shoppers with an endless supply of bids. I have a list of screen names I avoid like the plague because I know I would only be wasting my bids whenever I’m in the same auction with them. Therefore, if I see certain screen names join in my auction, I immediately cancel my bids and move to another one.
The bottom line
Watch other winners and develop your own winning strategy.
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.