DealDash: Not an Auction Site – It’s Gambling Disguised in Plain Sight
Auction in Name Only
Working from home often gives me the chance to have the TV on during the afternoon. It’s fascinating to see how daytime advertising differs from that of primetime — think a barrage of commercials for law offices, reverse mortgages, and, quite regularly, DealDash. This so-called “auction” platform has been around for years, but every time its commercial airs, I’m reminded how misleading and troubling its business model truly is. Despite how it markets itself, DealDash isn’t your typical auction site. In fact, it’s more accurately classified as an unregulated form of online gambling.
DealDash lures users in with promises of scoring high-ticket items for absurdly low prices. An iPad Pro for $42, a Nintendo Switch for $20, or a PS5 for just 50 cents? Sounds unbelievable — and that’s because it is.
The Gambling Illusion
Sure, you might occasionally see someone snag a surprising deal through DealDash. But the odds are slim — much like hitting a jackpot in a casino. While it may stop short of being a full-fledged scam, the system is dangerously close. At its core, it functions exactly like gambling: you’re betting money for a chance at winning something of greater value, with the outcome largely depending on chance rather than skill.
Where the Losses Pile Up
Understanding how DealDash operates is crucial. On the surface, it’s simple: users bid on everything from electronics to gift cards, with each bid increasing the price by just one cent. The person who places the final bid wins the item.
Here’s where things get costly — every bid costs money.
Yes, each bid you place deducts from a pack of bids you’ve already paid for. Typically, bids sell for around 20 cents each, though they’re often offered at “discounted” rates like 12 cents. These packs must be bought in advance, so just the act of participating comes with an upfront cost.
Let’s say you win a $100 gift card for $20 and used 100 bids to get there. Adding the cost of those bids (around $32 at the current rate), your total cost is now $52 — still less than $100, but not the astonishing deal the site implied.
More concerning is what happens when you don’t win. In that scenario, you’re stuck with the losses — the money you spent on your bids is gone. One person wins, and everyone else walks away with nothing — except an empty wallet. Meanwhile, DealDash potentially rakes in hundreds or even thousands off of a single auction.
Chance Over Strategy
So how does this turn DealDash into gambling? Simply put: you’re putting money on the line for an uncertain outcome. You don’t know when an auction will end, which makes the process more about luck than any calculated bidding strategy. Even if you approach it carefully and monitor your spending, you’re still at risk of losing everything you put in if you don’t win.
You just keep bidding, hoping the next one is the last. That’s not unlike feeding coins into a slot machine, waiting for a payout that may never come. Meanwhile, your opponents — many of whom are using automated bidding tools — might not even be actively engaged.
It’s a far cry from eBay, where bidding is free and you know exactly when the auction will end. If you lose there, you walk away without spending a dime.
The Trap of Sunk Costs
The biggest psychological trap DealDash sets up is the sunk cost fallacy — the idea that people continue investing in something because they’ve already spent so much. Combine that with the site’s deliberately vague auction endings and pay-per-bid structure, and you’ve got a recipe for predatory behavior.
DealDash seems to target people for whom the promise of a deal is especially appealing: stay-at-home parents, retirees, the unemployed, or the chronically ill. These are individuals who often have tighter budgets and are more vulnerable to the allure of snagging high-value goods at low prices.
Look no further than an auction I recently viewed for a $25 Walmart gift card bundled with a 50-bid pack (together worth about $31). One winner burned through $82 worth of bids. Another spent over $150, and someone else dropped more than $160 — on an item worth barely $30. That’s not just overspending — it’s exploitation.
DealDash does offer a “Buy It Now” option as a consolation: users can purchase the item they lost after bidding, supposedly allowing them to “recover” the value of their bids. But even that’s questionable, especially when the “Buy It Now” price is inflated well beyond the product’s actual worth.
Bottom Line
DealDash is gambling — plain and simple. It preys on psychological biases, charges people for the mere chance to
- SCCG Management. The Gambling Industry’s Global Connector. Access Here.
- Source: SCCGManagement.com