Hi Richard. We operate on the "pay to participate/bid model" so it's required that you purchase bids in advance. This loads up your account balance. Each bid you place removes one of your bids from your balance and increases the price of the auction by 1 penny, then resetting the clock to 10 seconds. It's in this small window that someone else must decide if they will place a bid to outbid you. If no new bids are placed and you are the final and highest bidder in the auction, you win the auction at the final sales price.

If you do not win the auction you will see the buy it now button. By using the buy it now option you will get the item for retail price and all bids back to your account that you used in the auction. Users who take advantage of this option usually have a better experience, since they both get the item they initially wanted, as well as retain all their bids.

Please let us know if you have any other questions and be sure to read more about us here: http://www.dealdash.com/how-does-it-work