The importance of watching auctions.
“So if you know the place and time of battle, you can join the fight from a thousand miles away. If you do not know the place and time of battle, then your left flank cannot save your right, your right cannot save your left, your vanguard cannot save your rearguard, and your rearguard cannot save your vanguard, even in a short range of a few to a few dozen miles.”- Sun Tzu, The Art of War
Following on from part I & II.
Now do you see just how important it is to watch auctions and “get to know your competition?”
The bidders that are intently watching will see that the bidder who appears to have placed upwards of $1k in bid m (granted you’ll have to have been watching this for a few hours) and didn’t win likely didn’t want to lose their bids so they used buy it now to get their bids back. Say they spent approximately $1k in bids, 1,666 bids at $0.60 each. Maybe even more if they purchased the bids during a bid promotion.
$0.60/1000= 1,666.66.
Right now, for a limited time, with DealDash’s Christmas promotion bids are $0.18 each. $1,000/$0.18 = 5,555 bids.
Each bid placed by a bidder resets the auction clock by 10 seconds. Can you imagine just how long the $1k auction would go on for? 1 bid = an additional 10 seconds may equal 55,500 seconds (more or less). This is equal to perhaps at least 15 hours of bidding, then add another bidder bidding against this one bidder, and others every now and then. This is if the timer was reset each time towards the very last second of bidding (more on why you shouldn’t always bid last minute in a future tips article). Depending on the number of opponents and frequency of all users bidding, these two bidders could bid for well over 20 hours! Of course not all auctions last this long, but it has happened! This just goes to show that a penny auction on DealDash for a popular, high priced item could take a lot of time before it sees an end.
At $5.00 auctions are closed to new bidders, this is a good idea as it helps to decrease auction times and competition.
Should you be a powerbidder?
This is really up to you to decide, and there are other strategies that you could use that you will be able to learn about here in this blog in future articles.
Just remember it takes time, focus, patience and money (or winning a lot of bid pack auctions) to be a “powerbidder.”
What do you think of the powerbidder strategy? Are you glad that DealDash sets both time and win limits?
We want to hear from you and would be honored to feature your bidding stories here.
Don’t forget to share these articles with your friends!
The Powerbidder's Strategy to Winning DealDash Auctions Part 2 of 3
Continuing on from where we left off yesterday in Powerbidder’s Strategy – Beat Them or Join Them? Part 1:
Should you worry about powerbidders?
Yes-and-no…
Thanks to the risk-free buy it now option on all DealDash products users can opt to buy an auction at any time while an auction is running.
When is the best time to use buy it now?
This is up to you really, but it may be better to show other bidders that you’re serious about winning and will bid until you have reached an item’s buy it now value before you use buy it now. All bids placed in the auction do not go towards buy it now, but will be refunded back into your account if you buy an item with buy it now, giving you back an arsenal of bids to try and win more items.
Why is powerbidding a strategy?
I know what you’re thinking.
Why would anyone want to spend more money on multiple occasions, especially when the object of DealDash is to have fun and win items for less money? Right?
A powerbidder likely won’t tell you, but if you watch auctions and find yourself bidding against them long enough, you will start to recognize who these bidders are. They “win some” / “lose some,” and that’s just their mentality and their ultimate strategy.
Often I’ve seen where a powerbidder wins high valued items such as iPads and laptops with just a few bids – we’re talking HUGE savings. Perhaps their opponents shy away from bidding against them because they were “cleaned out” by these bidders before and just don’t have the time, patience, or amount of bids available to go head-to-head with them again.
DealDash is a very popular penny auction site and therefore has a very large userbase. Let’s just say there’s a time when the only bidders around, everyone else has met their 9 items/week win limit, and the only bidders in a particular auction are ones who have gone against these powerbidders before and lost. Who ends up winning, sooner rather than later? While not totally possible to predict, the established, hardcore powerbidder is usually likely to prevail.
What if a powerbidder gets in a “bidding war” with another powerbidder?
This is when two bidders who seem to always place a lot of bids are consistently bidding against each other.
Watch out, and get ready for what could be a very long battle to see who has more bid ammo, and patience. Chances are, at this point, one of these powerbidders will choose buy it now and the other may win.
Let’s just say the item they’re bidding for is one with a $1,000 value. Bidders will watch to see if either bidder, or some will try a few bids with hopes of winning, watching to see if either consistent bidder will drop and use buy it now to come in.
The Powerbidder's Strategy to Winning DealDash Auctions Part 1 of 3
“So if you know the place and time of battle, you can join the fight from a thousand miles away. If you do not know the place and time of battle, then your left flank cannot save your right, your right cannot save your left, your vanguard cannot save your rearguard, and your rearguard cannot save your vanguard, even in a short range of a few to a few dozen miles.”- Sun Tzu, The Art of War
Powerbidders are bidders on DealDash.com who take their time and bids to “go all in” with full intent on winning, regardless of the cost or time involved.
Crazy? Smart? Obsessed?
Well, maybe you’re a powerbidder, or you have already seen these ruthless users “claim” items, and spend hundreds, sometimes thousands of bids to win any particular item.
Powerbidder Strategy #1 – Stamping
Powerbidders will sometimes “stamp” an auction to show their interest in winning, then when the auction starts will always be sure to to get a bid in either as soon as an opponent places a bid after them, or towards the very last few seconds (0-3 seconds).
Powerbidder Strategy #2 – Consistency
Powerbidders will be consistent with their bidding habits in an effort to “make a name” for themselves on DealDash. They may not always be consistent with the time in which they bid, but they will do whatever they think it takes to the winner and to be the name that consistently shows up on as many of the ended auctions as possible until they reach their win limits each week.
Win Limits on DealDash
Remember, all bidders can only win a total of 6 items valued at under $200 and 3 items priced over $200 in a week period (win limits are reset each Saturday). Win limits help to make all auctions fair to allow more bidders a chance to win an auction and actually get a deal.
Strategy #3 – Niche Powerbidders
Some powerbidders will always win the same auctions, or same type of auctions. For instance, a particular powerbidder might always bid on just laptops. Of course, these items Once, on a penny auction site that is no longer in business, I’ve seen bidders with names like “IBuyLaptop,” I notice that this bidder would always bid on laptop items and they would always win no matter how much money they had to spend.
Powerbidder Strategy #4 – Intimidating Usernames
Powerbidders tactfully choose their usernames. These powerbidders will pick names that will either 1.) State that they will win, or 2.) Intimidate. Like how “IBuyLaptop’s” combination of always winning the laptops he or she set out to bid on, combined with a username that states intention of winning, could be intimidating to other bidders. Choosy-username powerbidders try to instill fear in other bidders and send a message across that they are not to be confronted. They show, and tell that they bid until they win – “Bidtowin” – no exceptions.
Buy it Now Doesn’t Even Matter to Some Powerbidders
The powerbidder’s strategy is one that is very psychological in nature and some powerbidders won’t even elect to use “buy it now” well after they’ve spent the value of an item. Being the bidder whose name is consistently on the bidding screen, and consistently on the DealDash winner auction history pages, has much more long-term value.
Powerbidder Strategy #5 – Ruthless Reputation
The powerbidder strategy has a lot to do with “reputation.” The longer a powerbidder bids and stays in the auction, the more bidders will watch and remember their consistent win pattern. Their reputation is one that says “I mean business,” and, “I will win at all costs.”
You won’t be able to recognize these ruthless bidders unless you really pay attention and check up on auctions. Watch before you bid, and every so often check out the winner’s page, be sure to do this on a fairly regular basis.
Check back here tomorrow to read part 2!