Category: Strategies and Tips

I won! I won! I finally won the elusive lambskin moto jacket! Now it is elusive no more.

Did you ever want to win a particular product on DealDash.com that appeared to be like an elusive butterfly? Well this auction was my elusive butterfly.

No matter how often I tried and no matter how many bids I placed, it appeared that I would never win this lambskin moto jacket. I even placed as much as 2,114 bids in one auction and still did not win.

After investing a total of 4,400 bids 44 different times in the same auction (from Oct. 14 to Dec. 8) I finally won. The auction closed at $22.63 and this time I placed a total of 464 bids.

What made the winning difference? I can narrow it down to three things:

• This auction was limited to only one per user and the power bidders already won it, so they were eliminated.
• “No New Bidders” when the auction reached $3 were allowed. That left only 28 competitors, which might have been more if it closed to new bidders at $5 instead.
• Consistency — I continued to bid every time this item came up for auction. The first time it closed early, I got busy and failed to add more bids or I might have won sooner.

Two lessons I learned from this bidding experiment are:

• In my experience, it’s better to place 500 bids four times than 2,000 bids one time. If you do this, you might win sooner, and when you do win, the closing cost will be much lower.
• It’s important to be consistent and not get distracted by other things.

If you do this, you might be able to catch your elusive butterfly. For me, the lambskin moto jacket was my elusive butterfly, but it is elusive no more!

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.

The first time I found DealDash.com I had so much fun shopping, I didn’t want to stop. I quickly became a 24-7 shopper.

It’s easy to get caught up in the excitement of winning some awesome products at bargain prices. But it’s also important to be a happy shopper. Responsible shoppers are happy shoppers. DealDash wants happy customers because happy customers always come back for more.

Therefore, I developed the following list of the seven questions happy shoppers are most likely to ask:

1. Is it easier to win the auctions where the Buy It Now price is low rather than auctions where the price is high? As a general rule, the higher the Buy It Now value of the product, the more bids it takes to win it. However, some customers place bids on high-value auctions and get pleasantly surprised every day.
2. Does the same auction product go up for auction several times a day? If so, should I try an auction at a different time instead?
3. If we do not win the auction, could we afford to Buy It Now and get all of our bids back free?
4. In addition to the selling cost of the auction, we must remember that the total cost includes what we spend on the number of bids used to win. Check to see how many bids past winners used to win the auction.
5. How many power bidders do we see in the auction? Did we check to see the screen names of everyone who recently won a large bid pack? If one of our competitors recently won a large bid pack, we might not want to try to outbid him or her.
6. Would we have the time to monitor the auction from beginning to end? How long might it take for the auction to close?
7. Is this auction product something you or your family might need and will use?

Are you a happy shopper? By making a check list like the one above, it could help DealDash shoppers make more responsible shopping choices. Happy shopping everyone!

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.

Plenty of information is available on DealDash.com to help new players to avoid making common mistakes. All you have to do is be patient and take some time to read it.

Many new players on DealDash.com cannot wait to dive right in and start bidding. I know from experience because I wanted to do the same thing. However, that would be a big mistake.

To successfully win auctions, it is vitally important to first take the time to watch, read and learn how to play smart. New shoppers who do that will save a lot of bids, money and be a lot more successful.

Common mistakes smart players avoid are:

• Not knowing how to use the automated bidder, BidBuddy, to place your bids
• Not knowing how to use the BIN (Buy-It-Now) option
• Not planning a budget, not stopping and over-bidding the value of the auction
• Shopping for items you don’t really need
• Shopping from the home page, one bid at a time
• Purchasing bid packs at full price instead of waiting for them on sale
• Bidding when you are too tired or too busy doing other things
• Bidding in too many auctions at the same time
• Not getting familiar with screen names of power bidders
• Not checking the winner’s list to see if anyone in your auction recently won a large bid pack.

If you pay attention and avoid the common mistakes above, you will have a much happier shopping experience.

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