It all started on Cyber Monday. I’ve been curious about this site called DealDash, it’s a penny auction site. The way it works is that you buy a bid pack, for example you buy a 180 bid pack for $108. Next, you go to the auctions and bid some of your 180 bids on an item or more. Finally, you either win or lose, if you lose you can buy the item at the regular price and get your bids back. The price every time someone bids goes up by 1 cent and the clock restarts at another 30, 20, or 10 seconds whenever someone bids again. Generally, those that do win, do get a low price. Here is my synopsis/review of my experience, my analysis and research, overpriced items and why some of the bidder are ‘not smart’ (to put it lightly)
My experience as a beginner began on Cyber Monday. I bought 200 and something bids for $36…which was a cyber Monday deal, not a normal deal. I started by bidding on some items, then I bid on small things and won 4 times including a gift card. Though I won the bids, I ended up exchanging the items for more bids, so I have no experience on how long it takes items to be received. I did see mix reviews of this online though. I’ve read some people have faster shipping with the Buy-It-Now option but make take longer to receive item it you win it via auction.
I really needed a camera so I focused my other bids on a camera. I bid on like 10 or more cameras. Interestingly, some cameras will win at like $1.45 and the same cameras normally worth $249 will bid all the way up to $33. I find this extremely odd, I’m not saying the site is rigged, but that’s why I decided to bid on multiple cameras instead of focusing on one or two. I kind of started to use it more of an experiment after a while once I realized how a few would bid.
The main issue is the “Bid Buddy” feature. Penny Auction sites are all about lucky and hope anyways right? You’re hoping no one else bids after you bid and you’re lucky if you win. However, unless you buy a 800+ bids or if you have no life and unless are stuck in the house all day and/or a lonely unfulfilled stay at home mom, your chances of winning are extremely low. And if you’re on the east coast and have a life, you’re most likely to lose to those on the west coast. The “Bid Buddy” features makes your luck even worse. Bid Buddy lets you place automatic bids for when you’re away from the computer. Which is fine, during my research, other penny auctions sites have this as well. However, I’ve noticed some other penny auction sites also set a limit as to how much you can auto bid. Therefore, if you have a 4000 bid pack, you can place 1000 auto bid and walk away from the computer. Eventually you’re going to win.
Another issue is that in order to increase your chances of winning, you have to already have a lot of money in which you can just purchased the item without bidding. Here are the current prices as of today, and remember that I wasn’t stupid enough to buy bids for this much.
So as you can see, the prices are ridiculous. Granted, other penny auctions aren’t cheap however, they do have smaller bid pack options. So you basically have to have a lot of money for a lot of bids. To dive more into my experiment of bidding on this site, I downloaded an auction software called “Bidfellow”. It’s an awesome software if you do decide to become an experienced penny auction person. It tells you at what second someone bids and how many bids a person makes. That’s how I came to conclusion that the Bid Buddy feature and buying a ton of bids is how you really get what you want. I was bidding for a few cameras and noticed that the people who won usually auto bid 400. Again, this is not always the case, but it was always the case for the 10+ digital camera auctions I was monitoring. And usually those most likely to win items are only winning gift cards and small ticket items.
Another thing I noticed is that the website sort of misleads. Granted, it’s true that those winning the auction gets the items for less…but how less? Here is a typical image I see when I visited the camera and computer sections of the website.
I shouldn’t even have to explain when doesn’t make sense here and how they chose to promote items that “won” at a low price. Lets look further at those cameras that won.
These cameras were won at varying times of the day, typically during the time when theres already a lot of people bidding on items on dealdash. How did these ‘people’ get the cameras so fast? And how were so few people seen bidding on the item? It doesn’t even make sense or seem logical that these cameras really went that cheap. They’re blatantly promoting items that were “sold” for less to make people think it’s just THAT easy and that it’s possible that you too can be lucky enough to win a camera for 49 cents.
So here’s why it’s more likely that you’ll lose to someone with a bunch of bids. And here’s why they’re idiots. I’ll use the example of one lady who bid over 400 bids for a camera that only costs $200 by the way, the same Canon PowerShot camera that only goes for $119 online including shipping and tax on the Canon website, and in 2012 we should all realize that usually manufacture websites charge more than other sites, which only charge $99 including shipping and tax for this same camera. And to use an example on this site. One of my favorite sites BuyDig.com sells the Pentax blue crushproof/waterproof camera for $219 and as of this time you can buy it on eBay for $248 and this site is selling it for $359!!!?!
So lets say that person bought bid over 400 times bought the 800 bid pack for $240. That’s 30 cents a bid. That’s $0.30 x 400 = $120. BUT WAIT! On top of that, the person has to pay over $44 (the bidding for this item went on for 1 and half days, I stopped tracking after a while. Therefore, I don’t know how much higher the price went up), to give this loser the benefit of the doubt on their motivation behind their bidding, DealDash had a 50% off any won auction so really this person would only pay around $22. So that’s $142…oh wait, $1 shipping, so that $143 on an item you can get online for $99. And this is using the calculations factoring in that the 800 bid pack is sold at promotion cost and not the regular cost of $480.
Oh and what about the people who only bid 200 and lost the auction? They can buy the camera via the website and get their points back. Lets see how the math here adds up. Lets be nice and say they only bought the 180 bid pack for the half off price of $54. That’s $0.30 x 100 = $30. BUT you lose the auction, now have to pay $200 for the camera that typically cost $99 elsewhere online. Even with getting your bids back and making back the cost of the bids, your total expenditure is $170….for a camera that only cost $99 online……
I’m not saying the site is bad and I’m still under the impression that it is possible to win items, I just think it’s geared towards people who have time to be on the computer all day or buy the expensive bid packs. Also, I do love capitalism and have no problem with them making a profit. I support making money, I’m just that type of jerk off that always needs to point out how dumb people are. Common sense must prevail. I am happy that I had this experience. Though I only won 4 items for my promotional 200 something bids for $36…all of the four items I won, though not grande, at least they were worth more than $36 that I spent to have what turned out to be a very educational sociological (or may be psychological) experiment. Bye, toodles!! 
Did you read my two lenses (articles with photos, on Squidoo? One is called “DealDash Review” and the other is “How to Bid Smart on DealDash.”
I am very interested in that tool you mentioned called “Bidfellow.” Where could I buy such a tool and how much does it cost?
Barbara
bsUPSgrad82@aol.com
I was curious to know where penny[-auction customers were getting this
Bidfellow software until I learned that it is totallly illegal for anyone to download and use it. If anyone uses anything like this they will most likely be caught, kicked off, and prevented from using the site, which is pretty much what I figured.
I read all online sources I could find about bidding smart, my opinions and analysis still stands. The name of the site to get the tool is called Bidfellow, it’s free through a trial, you have to buy it if you want to autobid a lot.
Thanks for your response.
I needed a speech topic for my technical manual in Toastmasters and decided to speak about penny-auction sites and that is how I first got interested.
I ended up conducting a 150-hour in-depth study of 8 penny-auction sites and when I compared them, DealDash was by far the best one because:
1. Postage and shipping is always FREE;
2. The BIN (Buy-It-Now) option is good for seven full days. Most other sites do not offer a BIN, but one had a BIN good for two hours and another one had a BIN only good for only one hour and that is NOT enough time;
3. Bidders earn FREE bids;
4. Bidders can put any number of bids into BidBuddy — which I like because then I am not constantly tied to my computer.
5. DealDash has one of the best selections of products up for auction.
6. DealDash is the longest-running penny-auction site in America.
Barbara
Penny auctions like DealDash can be a great place to score a deal, but their advertising can also be a bit misleading. As a co-author of a book on penny auctions called Penny Wise – and the manager of http://pennyauctionlist.com – I appreciate the time you took to do a fair review of your experiences at DealDash. They’ve proven themselves to be an honest site over the last few years, but they are also one of the tougher sites to win at. Beezid, QuiBids, and YouNeverLose are some sites that we also recommend, since they offer a Buy It Now option for most auctions.
Thanks again sensico!
Thanks for reading
For me, the FREE postage and shipping is a huge benefit offered by DealDash that most sites do not offer, because some sites add more on for postage than what the item costs.
It used to be easier to win on DealDash when they did not have so many customers, but if customers play it smart, like bid only on certain days and/or certain times of the day or night, they can still win more than they lose. Thanks for your honest review, too. Barbara
Thank you for reading as well. I didn’t realize penny auctions varied much in shipping costs. In addition, I checked out Josh’s penny auction list website. He has other options and an auction calculator which you may want to check out. Though I probably wont be penny auctioning anytime soon. An auction calculator seems like a really helpful tool.
I can definitely see how more people can make it harder to win if you can’t afford thousands of bids. I forgot to add the note that DealDash also sets limits as to how many items people can win. I believe one person can only have 6 wins a week. Which I believe may be their attempt to make the auction process fair.
No, customers on DealDash can win up to 9 auctions per week — six auctions that are $200 or less, and three auctions that retail for more than $200. DealDash customers are also limited to $3,000 per month. If a customer wins more than that limit, they are limited to only winning one item under $200 and one item worth more than $200 per week. Deal dash also sets limits on certain items designated as “one per household.” I have maxed out on my weekly and monthly limit before, but I still believe all of the DealDash limits are fair and honest. They help prevent successful players like me from getting too greedy. I believe it is fair to spread the wealth. I do not mind having fair and honest limits imposed on everyone, including myself.
I won more than $3000.00 worth of stuff in the first month that I was on dealdash, and dealdash is the only penny auction I ever utilized. I signed up for one other one, but then realized they add a hefty amt to the end of the auction like a surcharge or something. 10% of the value of the item I believe is what I read so I wasn’t interested in that, and they charged for shipping. I liked dealdash initially, it took me a minute and some money, to figure out how to win, but that was okay. My only problem ever was that shipping was horrible. In the beginning, which was just the end of this past October when I signed up, I got some of the items I won pretty quickly. But the more I won the less they shipped. There weren’t any real complaints on the internet on Oct 21st when I signed up. I searched for customer complaints and reviews and didn’t see any, other than people that didn’t like it that they lost their bids and won nothing. But I was aware of the fact that you could definitely not win anything and you would lose money if you didn’t win. I was okay with that. I wasn’t okay with winning stuff and not receiving it. I was also not happy with being told what I won was no longer available and substitutions offered were not of equal or greater value. IF YOU WENT BY DEALDASH’S valuations of the item you bid on. They inflate the value of those items by a fair amount. I am pretty sure that the reason they do that, is so that when you lose, and you buy it now, you get your bids back FREE…lol…not free, you are paying for those bids, by paying an inflated price for the item you were bidding on. So that’s really a dishonest practice if you ask me. But that’s just my opinion. I have been receiving the items I won or the items I agreed to substitutions on. I should say some of them, I don’t have everything in my hands yet, but I am receiving some of the items. I will say I have by now received the MAJORITY of the items I won or used the buy it now feature or agreed to a swapped out item. So I do believe now that dealdash is trying to settle up with me. Still a camera valued at $699.00 has not been received, a nintendo wii game, and a bunch of gift cards. But at this point I do think I will get all of it….My opinion on the site is that you can win, if you use your head, watch auctions, read about auctions etc. You can lose money, obviously. You can win stuff at a fraction of the price, even if you count the cost of the bids, you can wait 6 to 8 weeks to get your stuff, or it can come pretty quickly. You can end up getting a notification that the item you won, isn’t available and you would have to choose something else. They only give you 2 options to choose from though, more bids or another item. Dealdash is okay, I would give it a C- rating. Only because they over value the items they sell, so you have to go research the value of stuff before you can decide what the max number of bids would be that you will use on this site to win any given item and I don’t think you should have to verify the prices they use, I think they should just be honest. I also give them a below average rating because their customer service doesn’t respond in a big hurry when you have a question or concern. It can sometimes take a week, or may not be answered at all. The C- also stands for the fact that you can not get anyone on the phone ever and I don’t like the horribly slow shipping times. I don’t like the false tracking info they give on your dashboard, I think that those should be legitimate links to the shipper. AT LEAST HOWEVER, I didn’t have to give them an F….. I really didn’t want to get ripped off, and at this point I feel much better about dealdash. I still think they need help in their customer service dept. But that remains to be seen.
Debbie,
DealDash now has extremely fast shipping. One of its main product providers now is Best Buy. All of the problems you describe here have been correctedl.
Unfortunately, you joined DealDash.com during a timeframe when they were going through one of their most difficult transitions (october to December of 2012) of its four years in business. DealDash.com rapidlly went from about 250,000 customers to about 1.5 million customers within a few months. They had to hire a bunch of new people to “catch up.” They also had to change to a different retailer who could better handle the increased volume of auctions.
The main thing for potential DealDash.com customers to know is that much of this is now old information — no longer relevant. The business is constantly changing, improving and correcting past customer complaintsl. I would definitely give DealDash.com a grade of A+ in responsiveness to customer needs. They listen and they implement changes accordingly. DealDash.com also would receive a grade of A+ in having the courage to try brand new ideas that no other penny-auction site has tried before. DealDash has put together an outstanding team that thinks outside the box. I have nothing but the highest admiration and respect for the entire DealDash team because they always put customer satisfaction first and foremost. They know what it takes to remain a leader in providing a positive and enjoyable online shopping experience.
Hello, I signed up for DealDash a little over a month ago and really don’t have anything negative to say about it. Although, it seemed easier at first to win. Now it’s almost impossible because it’s the “new ebay”. I’ve won about 4 items, all together the items were priced under $50 (not bad for a beginner;-). I’ve purchased bids twice ..been lucky to catch the specials, normally 240-260 bids for under $37. There’s def a strategy to winning the auctions that I have not quite figured out yet, and probably never will ..lol, but I will say that it’s been fun. So for those who have high hopes of thinking you’re going to win a gazillion items ..don’t fool yourself. Like previously said, research the auction. Get a full understanding of how it works before bidding and for goodness-sake, have fun! This is a game you CANNOT take seriously. It’s just like gambling ..you win some, you lose some. So Enjoy!
I would NOT compare DealDash to eBay. If customers try to play like eBay, they will lose a lot more than they win because it does NOT work like eBay. Customers who do not allow the clock to go down to 1 second or zero, will only waste bids. You must double click on the item you want most and put your bids into BidBuddy, the automated bidder. The bids in the automated bidder only get used when the clock is allowed to get down to the last second or zero. Therefore, single bidders could waste hundreds of bids and lose to someone with only a few bids in BidBuddy. To win consistently, you must study the site and know what you are doing. I explain in great detail most of my winning secrets in Squidoo — “DealDash Review” and “How to Bid Smart on DealDash.” I won 104 auctions in my first four months. Now that they have so many customers, it is all the more important to know all the winning strategies. Screen Name: SorryMyTurn
You won! DealDash.com’s sweet words of victory! I contemplate my navel about the victory, I imagine a soldier who has just won his objective, but when looking back see’s absolute devastation and the mangled bodies of his dead or dying friends. Hearing the screams of pain of those shredded and torn to pieces from the battle…yes, I guess I had “won” my DealDash battle, but at what cost?
It started out innocently enough. My laptop had perished and I was in need of a replacement. After hours of careful research, extracting the extreme minutia of dozens of possible candidates, then judging them more harshly than a child beauty pageant, I had finally found my prize for a mere $340.00.
As I was about to hit the “Enter” key and consummate this transaction, I was halted by my sister entering my office and gasping two words: DEALDASH! Apparently, she had just seen their commercial on Television where you can “win” a brand new laptop for $1.50. They had a commercial on TV, so they must be legit.
So I open my trusty search engine and type in this magical concoction of letters and voila, a wondrous plethora of links espousing the Awesomeness of DealDash loyally adorn my screen. I see that Teresa in California “won” her laptop for $0.14! That is what I am talking about! Another site shows Barbara Sellers, a mom, who has “won” 104 auctions in four months! Astonishing, and a mom would not lie about such things, especially on the internet!
Now I cannot type fast enough open this treasure box and loot all of these prizes from this unsuspecting website. I have to beat this gold rush before the rest of mankind finds out.
I sign up. The first thing I see is that each “bid” in the auction costs $0.60. Ok, a little air escapes my balloon, but I am immediately cheered up that I can buy 800 bids for only $0.10 each! I believe I sprained something pulling out my credit card. 800 bids? Just think of the storage unit I am going to have to rent to put all of these winnings in! I pick up my 800 bids and open the auctions. OMG! There are too many trophies to count! I have to calm down and focus. I am here for my $1.50 laptop.
I find the section where laptops are, but none really fit my deal, so I settle on an ASUS Tablet. I find it comforting that the website has figured out a way to keep “unwanted” bidders out by not allowing any new bidders after $5.00. At this point, if you have not calculated by now, math is not a second language to me, but a distant something. It did not dawn on me that this would actually allow up to 500 bidders into the pool. I dutifully put in my bid around 8:00 pm on Saturday night and began to watch the bidders go. I have since found out I committed the “newbie” mistake of watching the bid clock almost run out then, placing my bid before it went to zero, sometimes at the same time another bidder placed a bid. Going crazy with one finger on the “bid” button, I begin to look for strategies to save on bids and then I stumble upon the DealDash Genie! BidBuddy! He will submit my bid, guaranteed, regardless if I am distracted. I find this will become invaluable later.
As the night wanes on, I put the “BidBuddy” on and find out it is dutifully doing its job and taking all of the bidders and putting them in a cue and spending our bids one at a time to keep us in the auction. Whew, what a time saver, but wait, do I really need to be spending money when there are 10 bidders?
As the auction has progressed, I find that there are 128 bidders, and we are at $5.00. I am a little sour now, because I these fools don’t get I am here for a $1.50 tablet, not a $5.00 tablet. I start writing down the names of the bidders so I can start to see which ones might be serious.
It is now around midnight. Now I am in too deep. I have been tracking this like an LSD junkie mesmerized to a pinwheel. I have to watch the bidders; I can’t let the number fall below three unless that coward drops from the fight. Each time it drops to two bidders I activate my “bidbuddy,” the only friend I have in this desolate hell hole of purchasing. I am vested, I must conquer…I must “win!”
3:00 am is here. My eyes are burning. I have bid too much money, so if I back out now, all is lost. I will clarify that the site tells me that not ALL is lost, but that I can buy the tablet and they will give me all of my bids back and I can start another mini purgatory. I continue to battle bidder “Rocketman13”, or as I refer to him – The Spawn from Hell. What is he doing? He started at $15.00 and is now at $90 using his “bidbeast.” That jerk is probably sleeping and does not even know what kind of monkey wrench he has thrown into my brilliant plan for the $1.50 computer.
It is 6:30 am; the power drinks are not even making a dent. I am dozing off. I have had a few intruders into the wire but have successfully repelled them. Only RES842 and Rocketman13 (DemonSpawn) remain. I am running dangerously low on ammo, I must replenish my “bid” stock. Thoughtfully DealDash keeps my credit card information handy to restock my gambling chips, I mean “bids.” If you are too delirious to find the multiple recharging icons, they are conveniently located next to places you need to click on to prolong the pummeling.
07:00 hours: I turn on my “BidBattleBuddy” and let him fire salvos at the last two enemy bidders to keep them from “winning” my war.
13:00 hours: I wake from my slumber and curse that I have been so lazy and not attended to the matters at hand. No time for a shower, I must get back to my fighting position. Drat. DemonSpawn 1 & 2 has now dug in. It is just us three warriors that have vanquished 118 souls that had dreams. I notice I am hungry, but I shrug of such life necessities. It is only a matter of minutes that these two must succumb to the bidding onslaught I am bringing down on them. I have built spreadsheet calculation that shows when each of these robots entered the conflict and the estimated costs they have sustained during this engagement. It now calculates my damages next to theirs. I have only spent $364, still below the tablet $500 stated value. Faded memories of a process where I would have touched a button and owned the product outright flitter through my clouded thought processes, but I push them out. I must be strong and eviscerate these two.
00:00 hours: Exhausted. RES842 has been vanquished. Only that idiot Rocketman and I remain. Doesn’t he realize he has already overspent the value of the product? Why does he continue to fight? Is he a descendant from Deceptacon? Hasn’t it sunk in that I am too stupid to surrender? I realize I must sleep. I pit my trusted “BidBuddy” against his “BidBeast” and pass out to evil dreams of monsters hurling huge coins at each other.
07:00 hours: I turn on my DealDash Dashboard to triage my damages and begin to devise my battle plan for the day. As I open it, I see the sweet sight of VICTORY. Rocketman13, that warrior that fought as if he were a robot finally was defeated at 00:58 hours after he had miraculously driven my auction bid winnings to $548.59. My war had driven me into debt $48.59 over the cash price of the prize, but I had vanquished those who would oppose me. Additional to the cost overrun, don’t forget there were two grueling days in a vicious mêlée that put any pleasures of life on stand still.
I am not saying that DealDash is a scam, or that they have robot bidders that inflate auctions, but after going online and seeing how much time the “winners” seem to fight to uphold the reputation of the sight on various non-affiliated websites, I become a little more skeptical of the website integrity. Regardless, even if this site is run by Mother Theresa, bring your pads and helmet, you are in for a fight.
Thanks for the info you really did your research! Our site is not an penny auction it is a kinda co-op-shop shopping platform. We dont make money and people say how do you do this?…I say we are weirdos haha… nah! The platform was created for the community to reduce prices for expensive high end items, just by the very action of looking at the items price. I see you are a level headed consumer, would like to hear your opinion of our site…www.dropopp.com. Blessings to you…Theresa Kennedy
Heya! I know this is sort of off-topic but I needed to ask.
Does operating a well-established website such as yours require a massive amount work?
I am brand new to running a blog however I do write in my diary on a daily
basis. I’d like to start a blog so I can share my experience and feelings online. Please let me know if you have any kind of recommendations or tips for new aspiring blog owners. Appreciate it!
If you go to Squidoo, I think some bloggers have written about this. You might go to Squidoo.com and do a search for “blogging” or “How to be a successful blogger” and I’m pretty sure you could get some good information there.