Learn To Swim Before Diving In
When entering a swimming pool, some people prefer to dive right in, while others like to ease in slowly. Assuming we already know how to swim, either approach is perfectly acceptable. But, what if we haven’t bothered to learn how to swim? Which would be the wiser approach?
The same holds true for entering a penny auction for the first time. Unfortunately, many new bidders dive right in before taking the time to learn anything about how penny auctions work. The sad thing is that many of these new bidders end up “drowning”. The good news is “drowning” here only means losing money. Here are a few suggestions to help you keep your head above the water.
SEE ALSO: Critical Mistakes People Make When It Comes To Bidding In Auctions
Ease In Slowly
If you’re new to penny auctions, you’ll be much more successful if you ease in slowly. So how do you ease in slowly? For starters, explore the DealDash website completely. In particular, learn about the BidBuddy and DealDash’s incredible Buy It Now option which takes all of the risk out of bidding. Once you’re familiar with the mechanics of how auctions work, it’s time to learn to swim.
Learn To Swim
The best way to learn anything new is to find an experienced teacher. Fortunately, you can find lots of experienced teachers right here on DealDash Reviewed so I encourage you to read through the articles here and learn all you can. You’ll also want to read the Tactics & Tips page on the DealDash website. What’s that you say, you’re getting tired of reading. Fair enough, let’s go study a few auctions.
Clearly there is no better way to learn how auctions work than by studying as many as you can. From the main auctions page, pick an item that interests you and click on the picture of the item to move to the auction detail page. I point this out because there are new bidders who don’t even realize this detail page exists, and bid directly from the main page. Once on the detail page, you’ll want to first take note of the overall number of bidders involved in the auction. Remember, only one bidder will win the auction. Let’s say there are 50 bidders involved in the auction. This means each bidder has a 1 in 50 or 2% chance of winning. As the auction progresses, the field will narrow down to several active bidders. Many bidders place a single bid early in the auction so they have the option to bid after the price hits $5.00. Many of these bidders will never place even one more bid, but (and this is a HUGE but) some of these bidders may very well decide to “jump” in much later in the auction after the active bidders begin dropping out. In fact, they will usually wait until the auction comes down to only two active bidders. Suppose you were one of those two bidders who has hundreds or even thousands of bids invested (depending on the cost of the item) when this new bidder comes in with their 2nd bid. What would you do? Well, hopefully you’ll never find yourself in this position unless you entered the auction knowing that you may end up having to use the Buy It Now option, and you’re willing to do so. If you’re willing to use the Buy It Now option and you’ve used more bids than you’re willing to lose, you’ll probably want to continue bidding until you reach the point where the cost of your bids plus the price of the auction equal the retail price of the item (often referred to as “bidding to retail”). If you’re not willing to use the Buy It Now option and you’ve used more bids than you’re willing to lose, guess what, you’re about to “drown”. Think of the Buy It Now option as your personal flotation device. If you’re willing to swim without it, you swim at your own risk.
Now you may be thinking that this late bidder would almost certainly end up winning the auction. Not so fast. If the price of the auction is not yet too close to retail, we may actually see this pattern of active bidders being “jumped” by yet another late bidder repeat itself several more times. Yes, “jumpers” often end up getting “jumped” themselves.
Hopefully, you’re beginning to see the value of studying many auctions before diving in. The more auctions you study, the more familiar you will become with the patterns most auctions go through. You will also begin to identify certain bidding tactics used by some of the most prolific bidders. For example, you may find that a bidder with the username CuteLittleKitty is a notorious overbidder who stops at nothing to win, and WontStopTilIDrop usually bids heavily in the beginning of auctions, but quits after about 30 bids. Note: both usernames CuteLittleKitty and WontStopTilIDrop are fictitious.
Okay, so you’ve explored the DealDash website, read every article on DealDash Reviewed, and studied hundreds of auctions. You’ve learned to swim, so what’s next?
Always Use Your Personal Flotation Device
As mentioned earlier, the Buy It Now option is your personal flotation device, and it will allow you to bid 100% risk free. My recommendation is that you only bid in auctions that you are willing and able to buy in the event that you do not win the auction. If you will do this, you will never lose money – guaranteed.
Start Out In The Shallow End Of The Pool
Unless money is no object to you, it’s probably best to not dive right in to the $1000.00 Amazon gift card auction. If you do, you will most likely end up buying it for $1000.00. If you really want $1000.00 worth of Amazon gift cards, you’d be wiser to bid in 10 auctions for $100.00 cards, 20 auctions for $50.00 cards, or 40 auctions for $25.00 cards. I promise you will gain much more valuable experience bidding in 40 smaller auctions than you would bidding in 1 large auction.
A Few Final Thoughts
A day at the pool can be lots of fun, but only if you’ve taken the proper precautions to assure the safety of you and your family. The same goes for playing on DealDash or any other penny auction site. Bidding can be a lot of fun, but it can also be quite addictive, and if you’re not careful it can be very costly. So please learn to bid responsibly and we’ll all have some fun.
