Deal Dash Archives - Page 43 of 80

Using the Tactics & Tips to Help You Win on DealDash

Sometimes starting a new hobby can be hard. Why not use the free Tactics and Tips section that DealDash offers to help you win?

Hello fellow DealDashers! This blog is mainly aimed at the newbies, but some more seasoned DealDash players might even learn a thing or two. Can we all really say that we read all of the instructions when we started? Here’s a refresher course.

DealDash offers a Tactics & Tips section available here for anyone who would like to read the original text. In this blog I am going to go through all of the tips and try to give a little insight on how they can help you.

Tip 1 – Conserve your bids. Bidding rapidly will only waste your bids and inflate the auction price. Bid strategically, or book a BidBuddy to do it for you. It makes absolutely no sense to hit your bid button rapidly and without thought when you are in an auction. Most people have their bids booked through the BidBuddy anyway, so it’s very unlikely you will win this way.
Tip 2 – Book a BidBuddy. The majority of auctions on DealDash are won by using the BidBuddy. The BidBuddy strategically places bids for you. It waits until the last second to bid. You can put a limit on how many bids will be used. And you can cancel it at any time. Basically, you put the number of bids that you are willing to spend into your BidBuddy and it will bid for you against other people’s BidBuddies that have been set. They take turns with each other, and this way you don’t waste any bids by accidentally (or on purpose!) stomping on people’s bids.
Tip 3- Earn FREE bids. When you are the Highest Bidder, you will earn time towards your next level. When you reach a new level, you receive free bids. There is a meter at the bottom of your bidding screen that will show you how far you are from getting free bids. Once the meter is filled up you just click the “claim bids” button and they are automatically credited to your account and you can use them immediately.
Tip 4- Study the competition. Who else is bidding on the item? Watch and learn. Some people keep a notepad to track bidders and what type of bidding strategies they are using. I personally keep an Excel spreadsheet on bidders that I frequently run into on the particular auctions that I enjoy. If you find yourself bidding on the same genre of item often, such as video game systems, you will probably run into the same bidders pretty often. If you keep track of their names and at what auction price they stop bidding then you have a pretty good idea of how they might bid the next time you run into them.
Tip 5- Buy It Now (BIN) and get your bids back. If you do not win an auction, you can get your bids back, by taking advantage of the Buy It Now option. If you bid 100 times on a $50 Walmart Gift Card and don’t win, you can just buy the item for $50 and get all your bids back for free. You can now re-use your bids to try to win another auction! The bids are automatically credited to your account and you can use them immediately.
Tip 6- Check out the winners. The winners page reveals recently won items and the final auction prices. I love to look at the “Winner’s Page”. You can see the link to it up at the top of the DealDash screen. It shows all of the recently won auctions, who won them, where they are from, and what the final auction price was. I love to see who got an awesome deal like a video game for .10, and I also admit that I have to chuckle a little when I see someone WAY overpay such as “winning” a $25 gift card for $27. When you see someone overbid like that you know that either they weren’t paying attention or that their competitive “gotta win” attitude cost them money.
Tip 7- Try different times. Auctions might be easier to win at different times of the day. Auctions are only open to the US. I agree that this can sometimes be helpful, however in my experience it seems that the “ultimate prime time” to bid can vary from week to week. Study the auctions and see if you can find yourself a sweet spot to bid in.
Tip 8- Mind your budget. Try bidding on less-expensive, less-popular items. There will likely be less competition. If you stick with items that are $20 or less it’s easy to just BIN them (see tip 5) and get all of your bids back to try again.
Tip 9- Buy bids on sale. Make sure to visit DealDash regularly so you can keep up to date on promotions and save on bids! Bid prices change every single day, but generally fluctuate between .12-.18 per bid. If you go “Like” the DealDash Secrets page on Facebook here you can check back daily and it will tell you the price the bids will be the following day. And if that’s not an awesome tip I don’t know what is!

So my fellow DealDashers, those are just a few helpful tactics & tips for playing on DealDash. Remember to pay attention to the tips, check out the auctions and see what you would really like to bid on, and try your luck! See you on DealDash everyone! Good luck and happy bidding.

Hi Newbies, Welcome to DealDash!

Hi Newbies! I’m glad that you decided to join DealDash. Here are a few hints and tips to get you started.

Now that you have joined DealDash the first thing that you are going to want to do is check out the House Rules which are found here. There are really only a few basic rules, but they are really important to familiarize yourself with them so you don’t jeopardize losing your bidding account. These rules are in place to make things as fair as possible for everyone. Here’s a quick overview of the rules– but please check out the full version so you don’t accidentally get yourself into trouble.

Each person can only have 1 account, no exceptions.
You can win up to 9 auctions per week. The system will not allow you to bid after you have reached your limit. All remaining BidBuddies will be automatically cancelled and your bids will be returned to your account.
You absolutely may not bid in the same auction with your family members, friends, or acquaintances.
You may not use any type of bidding software to automatically bid for you except the BidBuddy which is provided to everyone free of charge.
Your user name cannot be vulgar or obscene, and it also can’t mislead people into thinking that you are a DealDash employee, either.
DealDash employees and immediate family are not allowed to bid on auctions.

That’s basically it! As you can see there are really only a few rules, and they are really very easy to follow.

So you’ve bought your first bid pack and have brushed up on the rules, what’s next? Well, I would personally suggest that you don’t start bidding right away, but instead observe the auctions for a day or so to really see how things work. Once you have familiarized yourself with how the auctions work I would suggest you start with bidding on smaller auctions and also bidding on items you would buy anyway such as gift cards for Target and Wal-Mart, or even household items that you use daily such as toilet paper, tissues, or laundry detergent. Remember, if you have over-bid and reached the BIN price, use the “Buy it Now” option and pay retail price for the item. DealDash will when refund all of the bids you used on that item, and you can try again another day. This is really a great win-win situation for everyone.

So newbie DealDashers, those are just a few helpful guidelines for your first few times playing on DealDash. Remember to pay attention to the rules, check out the auctions and see what you would really like to bid on, and try some easier auctions to start! See you on DealDash everyone! Good luck and happy bidding.

That’s My Pet: Saltwater Fish

We have already talked about freshwater fish here on DealDashBlog before, but I think it’s time we progressed on to the next challenge: saltwater fish!

In this DealDash Blog series we have been highlighting different pets, given some basic facts about pet ownership, and hopefully helped you make informed decisions about your new furry, feathered, or finned family member. Having a saltwater or marine aquarium is a significantly harder challenge than a freshwater tank, and some would argue much harder and more time-consuming than a cat or dog.

As a person who had worked at a pet store as well as having my own freshwater aquariums for years at some point I decided that I was ready for a saltwater tank. To be honest…I wasn’t! I jumped in feet-first and tried to make everything beautiful as fast as possible. It had always worked with freshwater aquariums before, and I was very surprised when all of my tank inhabitants died. I was very upset, and went back to freshwater for a while. I got the marine bug again about a year ago, and I am doing things correctly this time. Hopefully I can share some of my helpful tips so you don’t make the same mistakes that I made.

Hawkeye 2 Gallon 360 Starter Aquarium Kit with LED Lighting

There are a huge variety of different aquariums that you can get for your first set-up, most people find that the easiest thing to do is to get a kit that is already pre-assembled. DealDash has a few adorable nano tanks that some some equipment to get you started. Check them out in the Home, Garden, and Tools sections. However, if you would prefer to pick up the pieces yourself, here are the very basics that are recommended for a saltwater fish aquarium:

Fish tank or aquarium
Light source (LEDs or other strong lighting if you plan on doing corals)
External Filter, Protein skimmer
Water additives depending on if you keep corals or not
Power head for water movement
Thermometer
Fish food
Heater
Live rock
pre-made saltwater or RO water, bucket, and salt mix
Hydrometer (to measure how salty the water is)
Water testing kits (ph, ammonia, nitrate, nitrite at a bare minimum)
Sand (optional, some people prefer “bare bottom”)
UV light (optional, kills bacteria)
Magnet scraper (optional, to clean algae and salt deposits on glass without getting wet)

The size and type of aquarium that you purchase can determine the type and quantity of fish that you choose to put in your new aquarium. When doing saltwater fish, space is KEY. If you want a very small nano tank (10 gallons or less) then you probably just want to go with one small fish such as a clownfish (Nemo), or clown goby. Clown gobies aren’t quite as well known as clownfish, but they are amazingly cute and come in many different colors like yellow, blue, green, etc. Along with your one small fish and live rock you could also put in a small shrimp such as a peppermint shrimp. You can also add a few marine hermit crabs and snails. If you have good lighting you can also add some beginner corals such as kenya trees, pulsing xenia, mushrooms, or zoas.

If you are interested in having more than 1 or 2 small fish in your tank then you will need to go much bigger, I would say 40 gallons is the smallest tank that you should go with, but with saltwater, bigger is always better, because the water quality is more stable the bigger you go. I currently have a 90 gallon tank, and it’s definitely been the most successful (and biggest) tank that I have ever had.

Setting up your aquarium for saltwater is a simple process, but the key is patience. With freshwater you can basically go from no tank to a tank full of healthy happy fish in the span of a week. No so with saltwater.

Put your aquarium on whatever surface that you will be keeping it on long term, be it an actual aquarium stand, a dresser, table, desk, etc. If you’re looking for a nice sturdy piece of furniture to put a smaller tank on, check out DealDash.
Get your pre-made or mixed saltwater and add it to the aquarium, leaving a few inches unfilled at the top
Put in your sand if you will be using it
Install your heater, filter/protein skimmer, and thermometer
Add your live rock and arrange it how you would like
Finish filling the saltwater to the top
Plug in heater and filter/protein skimmer
Wait
And wait
And wait some more
Add fresh RO (reverse osmosis) water every day to make up for the evaporated water. Make sure you don’t add saltwater! As the saltwater evaporates every day the water leaves, but the salt stays in the tank. If you top off with saltwater every day then your water will be much too salty after a few days.
After a few weeks add a few snails and hermit crabs
If your snails and crabs seem to be doing well then use your water testing kit and test the water after your tank has been set up for 6 weeks or so
If your water tests well 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite, 20 or less nitrate then you just might be ready to add one fish. Please pick and small and inexpensive fish such as a damsel fish, don’t go for an expensive tang right away.
Try not to add more than one fish at a time, and wait a few in between adding fish. Before you add any more fish do a water test in between to make sure that your water parameters are safe.
Sit back, relax, and enjoy your new pets!

I hope that this article has helped you understand a little bit about setting up a saltwater fish aquarium. If you are in the market for an aquarium, pet store gift card, or any other pet-related items head on over to DealDash and see what they have up for bid today. I have gotten so many pet store gift cards from DealDash. And the best thing is, if I don’t win the auction then I can just buy the gift card for face value, they ship it to me for free, and give me all my bids back to try again. It’s really win-win! Good luck and happy bidding everyone!

Baby Talk: How to Encourage a Reluctant Older Sibling

Having a new baby is always so exciting, especially for the parents and grandparents. However, some kids are not quite as eager to meet their new tiny sibling.

I am currently pregnant with baby number 3, and I certainly remember how my oldest first reacted to the fact that we were going to have a new baby in the house – Let’s just say it didn’t go well. Since I have already lived through that experience, I am hoping that this one will be more smooth. Some new baby anger is inevitable, though the degree depends on the ages of the two (or three!) children, whether or not their personalities are similar, and quite a few other factors that may or may not apply in your own personal case.

Children over age three or four usually welcome a new baby into the home, and sometimes these children, at least on the surface, don’t seem to be jealous. For instance, my daughter just turned four, and she is very excited to meet the new baby, and she even said that she would change diapers! Being verbal helps them deal with the changes. However, it’s not unusual for kids younger than three to be upset for a while.

One of the best ways that I have found to “soften” the blow of having a new baby intruding into the household is to give both of my older kids more responsibilities and freedom. One of my daughter’s favorite things is jewelry, and I decided that it was about time she had a grown-up jewelry box. I was actually lucky enough to win a beautiful jewelry armoire on DealDash. They have them up for auction every so often, and I was very happy to win the one in the white finish to match her bedroom furniture. If you’re interested in furniture of any type check out the Home, Garden, & Tools section on DealDash.

Acme Didi Jewelry Armoire, White Finish Linon Grace 4-Drawer Jewelry Armoire

My son will be 8 when my new baby is born, and I have already started giving him extra chores as an opportunity to prove how “grown up” he is, and he loves being able to earn extra ipad time in exchange for loading laundry or bringing in the garbage bins for me. If you’re looking for an ipad, try DealDash. They seem to have them up for auction almost daily.

Apple iPad mini 4 64GB Wi-Fi, Space Gray

Besides these small suggestions, the biggest one that I have is to try and spend the most time with your older kids as possible, before and after the baby arrives. Before the newbie is born tell your kids about when they were a baby. Even if they have heard the stories a million times before they still enjoy them. Look through old baby pictures, and if you have any of their old favorite outfits or toys bring them out and exclaim about how tiny and cute they were when they were babies…And how they are still cute, but so grown up now! When the baby is napping or with another family member try and take that time to spend some 1-on-1 time with your other children. Kids thrive on attention, so try to give them as much positive attention as you can on your limited time schedule.

After reading this article I hope that you have a better idea of how to deal with sibling rivalry with a new baby. If you’re looking for any baby or kid supplies check out the Toys, Kids, & Baby section to find some awesome products. Good luck and happy bidding everyone!

How I Decide What to Bid On

There are so many great items to bid on when you go to DealDash sometimes it’s hard to choose what you really want.

I really think that the most important thing to do before you make any kind of bidding commitment is to do your research! Once you have found something that you would really like to win and you feel like you can commit yourself to going all the way to the BIN price if you have to, then start checking out every auction for the item you want, as well as similar items.

For instance, if you are interested in a certain outdoor grill then make sure that you put every grill that’s even remotely similar with the similar BIN price on your watch list. You can put them on your watch list by clicking the little star in the upper right corner, and DealDash will save the auction for you so you can come back later and check it out. It’s one of my favorite DealDash features.

George Foreman Indoor/Outdoor Electric Barbeque Grill Backyard Grill 17.5-Inch Charcoal Grill Char-Broil Patio Bistro Electric Grill

The reason that you want to put the other similar grills onto your watch list is that some people aren’t too particular about name brand, color, etc. and they are just trying to win a grill, any grill. You will especially find this to be true when people are doing their Christmas shopping and they are bidding on DealDash to pick up gifts for people.

Once you have all of these grills (or whatever item you are interested in of course!) on your watch list you should try to watch each and every grill auction, and take note of what day and time they begin, and what the final auction price is. That way you can get a better idea of when might be your best time to take the plunge and start bidding. Just make sure that you get your first bid in before the auction hits $5 or you will be locked out.

So, DealDashers, that is how I decide what to bid on when I visit DealDash. Sometimes the plan works out beautifully and I won an awesome item, and other times I end up Buying It Now and using my bids a different day. That’s the fun of DealDash, you never know who will win! So go ahead and check out the auctions and see what you would really like to bid on and WIN! See you on DealDash everyone! Good luck and happy bidding.