You’ve heard the saying – first impressions are everything, right?
You know how when you are bidding you start to picture in your head what the other bidder may be like based on their username, avatar and status update- then you look at what they’re bidding on and you wonder how far they will go?
Everyone has a username on DealDash, but not everyone picks an avatar and uses the status message field. The status message is displayed each time a bidder bids on an item right below their user details on the auction page. The avatar is the small character/picture to the left of the highest bidder’s username.
Let’s take a look at some bidder’s and their personas, what does each one tell you about them and whether or not they will bid more? Or does it?
Usernames: can be gender neutral or can give you a feel for whether or not they may be male or female.
The avatar selection offered by DealDash includes popular people/celebrities and a gnome. Among these avatars is Johnny Depp, Borat, President Obama, a professor, a soldier, captain, a rastaman, and Steve Jobs. To choose an avatar go to where it says “My Dashboard” then ->Public Profile -> there you can also write a 250 character max bidder bio. “Please don’t try to intimidate others or post misleading content, bid count, links, emails, etc.Thank you!”
You can also upload your own image if you don’t want to use an avatar. Notice on this auction for an Oster DuraCeramic Skillet this bidder “suvgal” is the highest bidder, she says, she is implied by her username, “Grandma bids to win, but ends up with “Buy it now” Good luck to all.” Well, so she’s saying she will bid and bid but if she hits buy it now she will buy it. Do you think it’s a good idea – competitively that is to tell everyone bidding that you will bid a lot but end up using Buy it now? What comes to mind when you see a bidder’s persona and what they’re bidding on. 
This one, probably stereotyping – but this is for fun so take it light – this is an SUV loving grandma who lives in Minnesota – more accurately Minnesnowta, drives an SUV and likes to cook “hotdishes” (Hotdish is a variety of casserole which typically contains a starch, a meat or other protein, and a canned and/or frozen vegetable, mixed with canned soup.
A famous hot dish in Minnesota is the tater tot hot dish) for her family, plus based on what she said she’s a fiesty grandma who will spend $ to win, if not she will just buy it anyway.
What comes to mind when you see blockbuster bidding? Blockbuster doesn’t give us as much info as suvgal did, blockbuster uses Obama as an avatar and says “good luck to all, just have fun.” Blockbuster is bididng on the Samsung 50 Inch Class Smart HDTV. Do we know blockbuster’s gender? No – we know they’ve been a bidder since 2011 and some may assume this bidder is male based on the avatar, but he’s obviously not Obama -but he is from Illinois, hmm and if it was the real Obama well = deep pockets? Would you bid even more just to beat him?
What do you think bidder’s usernames and info says about them? Will they back down or will they keep going? Is it a good indication of what you should expect when you bid against them or do you need more information? I’d err on the side of more info is needed because a bidder like NeverGivesUp00 could intimidate and scare you at first, but then if you watch the user bid and see that they may give up a lot well, their reputation, to anyone who knows wouldn’t be what their name suggests.
Will intimidating usernames help you win. Maybe. Read our series on The Powerbidder’s Strategy to Winning on DealDash.
It’s pretty interesting and cool to see DealDash offers the status line/bio and avatar as well as state and especially how many wins they’re at for the week.
Be sure to select your avatar and craft a clever bio! Tell us what you picked in the comments section .
Will suvgal or blockbuster win? We’ll have to come back later and check!
Good luck + bid happy!
Useful tips on how to win auctions