Category: Strategies and Tips

Part of the fun and challenge of shopping on DealDash.com is comparing what we know with what we do not know. Keeping those two things in mind could make a difference between winning or losing.

First, let’s take a look at what we do know when shopping on DealDash.

What we know

Whenever we shop on DealDash some of  the things we know are:

• Description of the auction product; 
• Customer reviews of the auction product;
• The BIN (Buy It Now) price of t he product;
• The selling prices of the auction product over the last 30 days; 
• The number of bids previous winners used to win;
• How many competitors are participating in the current auction;
• Screen names of our competitors;
• The state or Canadian province where our competitors reside;
• Experience level of our competitors (The date they first started shopping on DealDash)
• How many other auctions our competitors have recently won.

It’s important to read the description of each auction product we are interested in before we start shopping, especially where sizes are involved. We will often learn something that will make us more or less interested. That is also why we should read the customer reviews of the product. They will often say whether items run true to size or too large or too small. 

The BIN price of the product lets us know if the auction is something we can afford to buy if we do not win it, and take advantage of being able to get all of our bids back to use to win another auction. 

By looking at the selling price of the same auction product over the last 30 days, and the number of bids previous winners used, we will have a pretty good idea how many bids we will need to place have the best opportunity to win. 

Another thing I always look at is the number of other shoppers who are competing in the same auction. All we  have to do is count them. I try to avoid shopping in any auction with more than 30 shoppers who join the auction before the “No New Bidders” banner goes up when the auction reaches the usual $5 mark. Sometimes I might compete with even more competitors if the majority of the other shoppers are Newbies or if no screen names of power bidders show up.

You might wonder why I think it’s important to note the particular state or Canadian province where other competitors reside. Some states are well known for  having more wealthy people than others. That could also mean some states have more high-power bidders with an endless supply of bids. A few states are also more likely to have more shoppers with a tough-minded, never stop, attitude. Therefore, we might note where some of  our strongest competitors reside because that can make a winning difference, too.

Another way we can take an educated-guess on the experience level of our competitors is by looking at the date they first started shopping on DealDash. Every time someone places a bid, we can see the date they joined included in their bio information. If someone just started shopping last month or yesterday they might be easier to beat over someone who has been shopping on the site for 10 years. 

What we do not know

Of course, we never know how many bids other shoppers  have placed in their quest to win the auction. However, that’s about the only thing we do not know about the auction products we want to win. 

Looking at all the things we know versus what we do not know, it appears we know a lot more about the products we are shopping for than what we do not know.

The bottom line

If we consistently and wisely know how to best use the information we do know when shopping on DealDash we will definitely enjoy winning more often.

This sponsored blog post was submitted by: Barbara L. Sellers. Barbara was compensated byDealDash 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.

Long-time shoppers on DealDash.com will usually develop different bidding styles to win auctions than new customers. We all develop our own different winning styles. Regardless, we all have a few things in common. 

First, we love DealDash because it’s a fun and entertaining way to shop. For some customers it becomes a hobby to pass time and prevent boredom in retirement. DealDash is also a great opportunity to win bargains on gifts for children, grandchildren and friends. Over the last l0 years, I won several expensive products on DealDash that I could not afford to buy in a regular store. 

Second, we all know we must place at least one bid in an auction before it reaches the “No New Bidders” limit, which is usually at $5. If we fail to do so, we will not be allowed to participate in the auction.  

Other than those few things DealDash shoppers have in common, we differ greatly when it comes to our bidding habits and styles. Some of us are early shoppers, some are late shoppers, and some are what I call sporadic bidders. What kind of shopper are you?

If one style of bidding is not working for you, perhaps it’s time to choose another one. Let’s take a look at some of the pros and cons of bidding styles. 

Early bidders

Early bidders will consistently place the bulk of their bids into the auction they want to win as soon as the auction opens or even before it opens. One disadvantage to this bidding style is that those shoppers will often run out of bids before the auction closes. One advantage to this bidding style, however, is that sometimes an auction sells early. That means whenever early shoppers do win, they always win at a minimal cost and get some of the best deals. 

Knowing most shoppers only place one bid when an auction opens, I decided to place more than one bid (maybe 3 to 11 bids). Then when the auction closed early and I was the only one who placed more than one bid, I would have the winning bid. Sometimes that works!

Late bidders

Most experienced bidders like to save the bulk of t heir bids until the auction gets down to the last two to three players. That’s when they place the bulk of their bids, or at least that’s the plan. One disadvantage to this late style of bidding is that sometimes auctions unexpectedly close early and then those shoppers miss out on having the opportunity to win it because they are not there when it closes. Of course, the idea is to win an auction using the least number of bids as possible. Therefore, one of the advantages of being a late bidder is that it is one way to save bids. By not placing bids when there are a dozen or more competitors, late bidders save their bids to use only when they think the auction is about to close. When using the late bidder style to winning auctions, the key is knowing when it’s the best time to add the bulk of our bids. If too many of our competitors are using the late bidder style, then the auction could be running for a long time. So we must figure out the best time to add the bulk of our bids and know how many bids it might take to win. Do we add our bids at $5 or $15 or much later? 

Sporadic bidders

These bidders are unpredictable. They show up when we least expect and we never know how long they will stick around or when they might suddenly disappear. The sporadic bidder might have a plan or a pattern of bidding or they might not. In an effort to save bids, sporadic bidders might only place 10 or 20 bids for every dollar the auction goes up. The greatest disadvantage to this kind of bidding is that it’s highly likely the auction might sell when they are not there. The greatest advantage to this kind of bidding is that the sporadic bidder might still have bids left at the end  of the auction and win after everyone else has run out.

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.

A few shoppers on DealDash.com might win some auctions by accident, but we can win more auctions by winning on purpose. What in the world do I mean by winning on purpose? How could anyone do that?  You might be surprised  how many things we can do to win auctions on purpose. 

If we simply buy a package of bids and start bidding, we cannot expect to win because we are not bidding smart. In fact, some new customers skip using the free tutorial to learn how to play. That’s a big  mistake. Customers who place their bids one at a time from the home page are only wasting bids and will soon run out. Nearly all of the winners place their bids into Bid Buddy, the automated bidder.  If you do not know how to do that you should contact customer service.

DealDash now has more than 20 million customers so it would not be realistic to expect to win as easily as we did years ago. To win auctions on DealDash we must bid smart and to do that we must now have a realistic game plan. If we devise a good plan, we can still win auctions. However, we must first do our homework before we start bidding. We can start by doing the following things.

Read the winning tips

Reading all of  the winning tips at the bottom of the home page and these blogs at DealDashTips.com will help teach shoppers how to win on purpose.

Check the Previous Sellin Prices

Checking all of the selling prices of previous winners in each auction will be very helpful. If we see how much money the auction usually sold at, we can make a better judgment whether or not we have enough bids in our account to win. I look at the lowest and the highest prices the auction sold at. I also look at the number of bids the previous winners used to win. Then I try to play it safe by investing the same number of bids the highest winner used. That usually works.

Avoid Power Bidders

Watching the auctions and learning to recognize screen names of power players will also help. I try not to compete in the same auctions as power bidders. Whenever I see screen names of power shoppers I save my bids and find another auction I have a greater opportunity to win. 

Check the Winner’s List

Checking the Winners’ List to see which auctions are selling for the least amount of money is also a good idea. Sometimes this changes from week to week. I often see patterns where certain auction items consistently sell low while other auctions consistently sell high. If we pay close attention to that, we can purposely choose to shop for the items that consistently sell low. When an auction is down to the last few players, I also check the Winners’ List to see if any of my strongest competitors recently won a large bid pack or a high-dollar product they might have traded in for a large number of bids. Knowing that helps me to decide whether to cancel my bids or add more. 

Watch for special features

It might be easier for us to win auctions during certain special features. For example, when DealDash varies the “No New Bidders” limit, this can be a great time to win auctions that have been designated with the lowest “No New Bidder” limits. That’s usually from $1 to $5. During that special feature I try to place bids in several auctions with the lowest cut-off because that usually results in fewer competitors. Therefore, I love this special feature.

Avoid distractions

This is where I often mess up. I cannot tell you  how many auctions I could have easily won if I had not allowed myself to be distracted doing other things. I like the fact that we can place our bids into Bid Buddy, the automated bidder, and then walk away. However, whenever I do that, I often forget to come back in time to add more bids when needed. It’s always best if we can shop only when we can focus on DealDash and nothing else. 

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.

Wouldn’t it be awesome to receive some unusual Christmas gifts? Would you like to find some unusual gifts you might not find anywhere else?

Then DealDash.com is the right place to shop. Some items on DealDash are hand-made and not too many places sell hand made products, anymore. 

When I was growing up  the most popular items on the top of most shopping lists were the same old items like socks for kids, pots and pans for mothers and neckties for fathers. Gifts like that were often met with some moans and groans and comments like, “Oh no, not that again!”  You might say gifts “like that” made really dull gift exchanges.

Perhaps we should think twice about what we put around the Christmas tree. Let’s add more excitement in the gift exchange event. To help other DealDash shoppers out, I looked for some unusual hand-made items that might be greatly appreciated.

A unique scultpure

Did you see the hand-made Rooster sculptures?  Wow! These sculptures are iron welded and assembled by hand.

The Fearless Rooster stands at 18 ½ inches high, 6 ½  inches long and 15 inches wide. Its vivid plumage is so colorful it really stands out. 

This Fearless  Rooster sculpture has a BIN of $1,850 but  it’s a fairly new item so it does not have any reviews yet as of this writing. 

The other hand-made rooster sculpture is the Proud Rooster with a BIN of $2,150. Several DealDash customers won some awesome bargains on this one. Some of the best deals so far were:

• Nov. 24, the Proud Rooster sold at 10 cents and the winner paid a total of 61 cents including the cost of the 3 bids used;
• Nov. 17, the Proud Rooster sold at 96 cents and the winner paid a total of $6.76 including the cost of the  29 bids placed; and
• Oct. 31, the Proud Rooster sold at 40 cents and the winner paid a total of $2.10 including the cost of the 10 bids placed.. 

To prevent rusting, each piece is treated with a special electrophoresis powder and the final touches of paint. 

Based on 169 reviews, the Proud Rooster received an overall rating of 4.92 out of a possible 5.0.

Birds of a feather flock together

Another hand-made sculpture is the Wandering Mallard duck with a BIN of $1,850. This exquisite metalwork sculpture with a lustrous green and bronze tone stands 14 inches high, 6 inches long and 13 inches wide. 

This one-of-a-kind piece is hand-crafted by expert artisans that are not found anywhere else. 

The bottom line

If we want to find an unusual Christmas gift perhaps we could win one of the above auctions. Good luck!

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.