Category: Strategies and Tips

As I look through the auctions now on DealDash.com I see many items I might call “holiday helpers.” Why?  They could come in handy during huge family gatherings and holiday parties.

Let’s take a look at some of them.

Stainless Steel Casserole Pot

I won this Stainless Steel Casserole Pot that comes with a lid a few years ago, and I love it. It has a BIN of $890 but it sold for as little as 51 cents and one DealDash shopper won it for only $2.31 counting the cost of the 9 bids placed. This pot also received high ratings. Based on 505 reviews by previous winners, this pot received an overall rating of 4.89 out of a possible 5.0.  

When I have to make a meal for a group of people, this pot holds enough to serve several people. I have used it to make casseroles, soups, stews, chili and spaghetti, The inner dimensions are 10.24 by 5.71 inches and the outer dimensions are 14.17 by 14.17 by 7.87 inches. 

This stock pot is very well-made with 100 percent high-grade stainless steel and I’m sure it will last a life time. It  has great induction when used on gas, electric, halogen or vitroceramic cook tops and it is dishwasher, oven and freezer-safe. 

For more specific information, read the auction description. 

High-quality Chef’s Knife

Every cook should really have a brand-name high-quality chef’s knife and that’s the kind of knives I often see available on DealDash.  After receiving 1,198 customer reviews, this chef’s knife received an overall rating of 4.91 out of a possible 5.0 and that is incredible. 

But the best news about this chef’s knife with a BIN of $192 is that you will have many opportunities to win it at a bargain price. Many customers have already won awesome deals. For example:

• Nov. 30, this chef’s knife sold at 3 cents and the winner paid a total of 43 cents including the cost of the 2 bids placed; 
• Dec., 6, this chef’s knife sold at $2.46 and the winner paid a total of $2.83 including the cost of the 8 bids placed;
• Dec. 7, this chef’s knife sold at 18 cents and the winner paid a total of $1.18 including the cost of the 5 bids placed; and
• Dec. 12, this chef’s knife sold at 47 cents and the winner paid a total of $2.67 including the cost of the 11 bids placed

This is an example of the kind of deals we can win, too. 

This is not just any ordinary chef’s knife. According to the auction description, “Each knife is precision-balanced and weighted for functionality and long-lasting performance.” The first time I used this chef’s knife to cut a roasted turkey, I was so amazed. I never before owned such a high-quality knife, and I still count this as one of the best wins I had on DealDash.  This exquisite knife comes in an impressive natural-colored ash wood box, too.

The Bottom Line

These are just a few examples of  the many “holiday helpers” I see on DealDash.com and we all have the opportunity to be the next winner to get a great deal. Happy holiday 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.

Why would DealDash allow me to write blogs telling customers how to spend less and win more? Wouldn’t that mean that DealDash might make less money? Well, yes, but this just proves all the more that DealDash is a “customer-first”company and they want as many customers as possible to win great deals.

DealDash always strives to make customer satisfaction a priority. That’s why they provide so many winning tips. All you have to do is read all about it and then sooner or later you will win, too.

As a long-time customer, who won more than 1,000 auctions, I learned a lot about what we should and should not do. That does not mean that I never make mistakes. Actually, I should pay more attention to my own winning secrets. That takes a lot of self-discipline because DealDash shopping is so fun and interesting it’s easy to get “carried away.”

What we should not do

We should not allow ourselves to get caught up in what I would call a “bidding war.” I know why we sometimes over-bid the Buy-It-Now price of the auction product. For one thing, we do not want to get a reputation for being a quitter. Here’s  how it works. 

We sometimes jump into an auction just before an auction reaches (the usual) $5 mark and locks out all new bidders. Sometimes it works, but sometimes it does not. Perhaps several shoppers have the same idea – to jump into the auction after most of the other competitors have already run out of bids. However,  if anyone has remained in the game from the very beginning and is still there, we cannot expect that competitor to give up and drop out too easily. 

The early player might resent late-comers who try to “steal” the win from them at the end. Afterall, the shopper who got there first and already invested a lot more bids in the game might resent players who jump in at the last minute. They might even have the mindset that if another player wants to “steal” the win, they will make that late-comer to at least lose a couple hundred bids to teach them a lesson not to mess with them in another auction again. Of course, it’s all in fun, and I can’t blame those shoppers who are determined to stay. Can you?

Sometimes two shoppers can be competing with each other for a long time and both players refuse to give up. I have wasted thousands of bids whenever I’ve allowed myself to get caught up in a “bidding war” like this because one or two other shoppers are just as determined as me and refuse to quit. That’s a huge mistake.

What we should do

Before we decide to seriously try to win any auction, we should set a limit in our own mind of how many bids we are willing to invest. Once we reach that limit, it’s time to leave. By doing that, we will stop wasting too many bids by getting caught up in a “bidding war.” In fact, we would be far better off at that point to invest the rest of our bids in another auction, or two or three. In fact, I have sometimes left a “bidding war,” found the same auction in another place, put my bids on a duplicate auction instead and won a lot sooner for a lot less – while the original auction was still running. 

That might also be a good time to diversify. Conduct a search, find the same product and place a limited number of bids in several of the upcoming auctions. We might be much more likely to win one of several auctions using fewer bids. This often proves to be a much better approach than getting stuck in one “bidding war.”

The bottom line

DealDash has many long-time happy customers because DealDash has many winning customers, and this is a fun and entertaining way to shop.

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.

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.