1.2/5 - (4 votes)
DealDash claims to be fair and honest, and an alternative to all of those penny auctions sites that have become so popular in recent years. It even goes so far as to say that it is easy to win the auctions. But should you get involved with this site, or will you just end up losing money, and getting products that you don’t really want?
Overview
Since it claims to be a viable alternative to penny auctions, it’s important to explain what a penny auction site is. This is where you don’t actually place bids on an item like you would on eBay. You are able to place bids on an item but it costs you to bid. If you are the last bidder when the time runs out you get the item at whatever price it ends up at. That means that potentially you could get the item for a few cents if you only place bid at the right time.
The Claim
Here’s how DealDash claims it works: all of the auctions start off at zero dollars. Every time someone bids the price of the product goes up by one penny. It costs $.60 to place a bid, and every time someone bids the timer gets reset. If your bid is the one remaining when the timer goes out, you win the right to buy the product at the price it is currently at.
So the theory here is if you bid strategically, you could end up with a product for a drastically low price. The flipside is if you really want something you could end up racking up plenty of fees by bidding so much.
The Hype
Penny auctions thrive on hype. The thought of getting namebrand products, expensive electronics, and anything and everything you can think of for such low prices is enough to drive people into a frenzy of bidding.
The Cost
Signing up with DealDash is free, but in order to bid you will need to buy bids at $.60 each. After that it’s totally up to you how much you spend, because you choose how many times you bid on a certain product or how may different products you bid on.
The Commitment
You really have to resolve yourself to spending a lot of time on the site in order to learn how to bid properly and get good deals. Most people think that they can just get lucky by stumbling on the right product at the right time, and placing a bid and getting a product super cheap for just a 60 cent fee. However, there is a bit of savviness that is required in order to have a higher chance of getting the product you want without paying more for it then you should. The site even offers a page filled with tips and tactics that you can outmaneuver other bidders.
Evaluation
DealDash is kind of like gambling because nobody likes to talk about their losses, they only want to tell you about their wins. It might be exhilarating to get a product at a low price, but how many bids did it take to get the item, and does the overall transaction work out in your favor?
The big flaw to every single Penny auctions scheme is all the times you bid on items and don’t actually get the item. This represents flushing your money down the drain $.60 at a time. Essentially that is the main reason to avoid these sort of sites, because there is no joy in spending money and receiving nothing in return. The vast majority of people end up burning through their bids, not getting the product they wanted, or getting it at a price that makes it so they could have just bought it outright directly from the manufacturer.
Case Study
Let’s say you buy 100 bids for $60. You find some products that you’re interested in, and start bidding on them. You place five bids on five different products, and so you’ve already spent three dollars. Of course, someone comes behind you and also bids on the items, rendering your bid useless. So you give it some time and let some other bids roll in and then you think that you have a chance at getting them, so you place five more bids on the five products. You’re now down six dollars and you’re hoping that no one else places bids so that you can get the items that you want.
But that rarely happens, and someone will come by and place a bid, forcing you to make a decision whether to choose a new product, or keep an eye on the ones that you were originally interested in. It all boils down to just a big hassle, and stressing every time somebody bids on top of yours. The only saving grace for DealDash is they have a By It Now option which returns your bids to you if you use it, but then you’re not really using the auction feature you’re just using the site to shop from.
Final DealDash Review
Although DealDash emphatically states that they are honest and fair, it doesn’t take away from the fact that their business model relies on people bidding on products and not receiving products. We recommend against signing up and using penny auctions because frankly they just don’t make any sense. It’s almost like a carnival game at the amusem*nt park. You know it’s probably rigged against you, but you just can’t help going for that big pink bunny rabbit. Save your money and just buy what you want at reasonable prices from online retailers. This way you’ll always get what you want and won’t waste any money doing so.
