So, all things considered, is DealDash a scam? It’s complicated. If you consider all penny auction/pay-to-bid websites scams, then sure, it’s a scam. But the reality is much more nuanced than that.
If nothing else, it’s not a scam like ArrowOutlet was. There’s no evidence that DealDash is using shill bidders, whether human or robotic, though that doesn’t rule out actual human bidders using bots the same way they have for decades on eBay. DealDash also tries to be incredibly transparent about the retail prices of the items it sells and the actual cost to the bidders, even when it often shows the “winning” bidder paying more than the retail price.
That doesn’t mean that there are no issues with DealDash, though. Its television commercials could certainly be more transparent, particularly outside of the fine print. In addition, as nice as the ability to get your used bids back to use towards buying the item at retail price sounds on paper, sticking the most popular items like Apple products and game consoles in bundles with other expensive items means that those unsuccessful bidders are a lot less likely to re-redeem those bids in practice. And even if you manage to snag a good deal, DealDash is incredibly opaque about whether or not the items will come with their original manufacturers’ warranties.
In other words? DealDash is not necessarily a scam, but using the site brings some inherent risks with it.
