Raising a family is expensive, and it often means sacrificing luxuries for yourself. But there are corners of the internet where you can find deals on products you might ordinarily think are out of your price range.
One such corner is a website called DealDash, a “bidding fee auction site,” where you can score flat-screen TVs, high-end kitchen appliances, or the latest must-have electronic gadget for up to 90 percent off the retail price.
To give you a sense of the saving you can achieve on DealDash, a user on the site with the screen name elnino18 won an auction for a bottle of Dubois by Bolvaint, a men’s cologne that retails for $250. elnino18 paid $2.37 for the cologne.
How does it work?
DealDash is an online auction site, like eBay, with several wrinkles that make it unique. First, to be clear, the products sold on DealDash are new, not used.
Second, all auctions on DealDash start at $0 – and have no price minimums. Each bid placed on an item raises the price by 1 cent. So, if ten people bid on a flat-screen TV in succession, the price rises to just 10 cents.
Third, auctions on DealDash are fast. Really fast. Each is timed to last only 10 seconds, with the timer resetting to 10 seconds after each new bid.
When the bidding ceases, and the timer runs out, the last bidder comes away as the winner, no matter how low the price may be.
Indeed, the winners page on DealDash shows some mind-blowing deals: A 9.7” leather iPad Case that retails for $99 sold for $0.01. Porcelain blue sunglasses that retail for $540 sold for $0.54. A set of five fancy ballpoint pens that retails for $600 sold for $0.40.
Wait, how is that possible?
DealDash makes its money by selling bids. Each bid on the site costs $0.20, with bids often for sale for a fairly discounted price. So, if ten people bid on a flat-screen TV, the auction winner pays $0.10 for the television, but each bidder – except for the winner – pays DealDash up to $0.20 to bid on it.
DealDash is able to offer free shipping and products at low prices thanks to this fee-bidding system,
as well as the partnerships DealDash has formed with its suppliers.
But the system is not a zero-sum game. If you lose an auction, you can buy the same product on the DealDash site at its retail price and get the bids you used to bid on that auction returned to your account to be used in future auctions.
In other words, DealDash is the perfect place to buy something you’re definitely willing to buy at retail. Try your hand at an auction. If you win, you get your product at a tremendously reduced price. If you lose the auction, you’re out nothing.
Getting started
Getting set up on DealDash is easy. Create a login name and a password, then buy bid credits at the daily price, usually below $0.2 each, using a credit card or PayPal. Then you’re ready to start bidding.
DealDash carries a wide variety of products from electronics and computers to home and garden goods, tools, kitchen appliances, dining accessories, health and beauty products – even cars.
For example, the site will soon be auctioning more brand new cars, like a Magnetite Gray Metallic 2021 Subaru Forester Premium and an Obsidian Blue 2020 Honda CR-V LX AWD CVT. It’s sort of mesmerizing to watch car bids in action on DealDash, seeing late model sedans and SUVs crawl up in price one penny at a time. You could easily sit there for an hour and see a 2021 model car rise in price from $1,000 to just $1,003.60
And therein lies the challenge of DealDash: You sometimes really have to compete to win auctions. Many users, after all, see the value of the site. So, if you see something you like on DealDash, be prepared. You may have to make several bids to win or spend some time on the site to see an auction through.
But again, the investment is minimal at $0.20 per bid, and if you lose, you can always purchase the item at retail and get your bid credits back. You just have to be smart in how you approach it.
