Hi Kimberly, Thanks for your question!

DealDash operates on a pay-to-participate basis, so you need to purchase bids in advance to load up your account balance.

Click here to check out our promotional Bid Pack prices: https://www.dealdash.com/buybids

Each bid you place uses up one of the bids from your balance, and increases the price of the auction by 1¢, while setting the auction timer then back to a full nine seconds. It's in this small window that someone else must decide if they will place a bid to outbid you. Auctions go on as long as the bidding continues, but if no new bids are placed and you are the final bidder in the auction, you win the auction at the final sale price!

If you don't win the auction, you can still use the Buy It Now offer to purchase the item for its retail price, and even get back all the bids you used in that auction! Users who take advantage of this option usually have a better experience, since they get the item they initially wanted, as well as to keep all their bids.

For more info, check out our How it Works video for a brief overview of what to expect from the auctions: https://www.dealdash.com/help/how-it-works

Please let us know if you have any additional questions by sending an email to support@dealdash.com!