I have been shopping on DealDash.com since Feb. 8, 2012, and over the years, I’ve learned several valuable shopping lessons.
Perhaps the most important lesson I learned is that if I do not shop on DealDash on a regular basis, I might have to relearn some of the lessons I had already previously learned.
I’m sure you might have heard people say, “Practice makes perfect.” I never believed that. Instead, I correct that quote to say, “The right kind of practice makes perfect.”
After being away from shopping on DealDash for a while, I went back on the site today to once again do some serious shopping. In the process of doing that, I was quickly reminded of some of the lessons I had learned before that I failed to pay attention to and needed to relearn again.
If Not Winning One Auction, Find Another
It has been my experience that certain auctions tend to sell extra low or extra high. Let me give you an example. The 1X and 2X auctions usually sell extra low or extra high. Why is that?
When we first start bidding in an auction, we may only intend to invest a limited number of bids. But what happens if we see the auction is down to only one other bidder when it’s time for us to stop and go find another auction? We will be tempted to place more bids when it looks like we could win any minute. Once we start adding more and more bids in an auction, we often end up getting overly committed and all the more determined to win it. That happened to me today.
Every time I was about to leave the 2X auction and bid in the next one instead, it got down to just me and one other bidder. Before I finally got out of that auction, I had wasted 127 bids and I still did not end up winning it. That auction finally closed for $6.41. Finally, the next time more bidders jumped into that auction, I stopped bidding in that one and found another 2X auction to bid in. After placing only 16 bids, I won the second 2X auction, which closed at $2.53 (and I got 50 percent off from the selling price).
Initially, I was only going to place up to 25 bids on the first 2X auction, until it was down to only one other bidder. I really wanted to win because my green line is getting close to the end and then I will be able to collect more than 1,100 free bids
I like the 2X auction because that means I can get more time on the clock. Instead of 9 second per bid, I would get 3X 9 seconds or 27 seconds on the clock for every bid I place. Of course, that’s only good for three hours after winning it, so I knew I would have to buy more bids if I won to make good use of my extra time on the clock.
I already knew the 1X and 2X auctions usually only close early or late. So that was a lesson I had to relearn. I know from seeing how many bids past winners placed that if I were to place 20 bids in six of these auctions it would be nearly guaranteed that I would win one of them, but placing 120 in one is not. When we already know what the best strategy is we need to stick with it.
Do Not Shop When Distracted
This is another lesson I had to relearn. I know better than to place bids in an auction when I do not have time to monitor it or might walk away and forget about it.
I cannot tell you how many auctions I lost because I got busy doing something else and forgot I had been shopping on DealDash, only to return later on and discovering that I ended up being first runner-up. That hurts, especially when I had plenty of bids in reserve to win it.
Do Not Compete With Shoppers We Cannot Beat
I don’t remember ever winning an auction when I bid against shoppers from two particular states. I’m not going to say which two states they are. You will have to figure that out for yourself.
I just know shoppers from two particular states are extra difficult (or impossible) to beat. I’m not sure if it’s because shoppers from those two states have an extra lot of money or if they tend to be extra determined and seldom quit because it’s part of the culture in those areas. I just know when I see shoppers from one of two states I should cancel my bids and find another auction. Sometimes I check back later and if I find they are gone, I can bid again and win.
Today, I saw a couple bidders from those two states and I ignored them and continued to bid, but I just ended up wasting a lot of bids. I know better, so that’s another lesson I relearned.
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.