Tuesday 10 December 2013

(Almost) Everything You Wanted To Know About Dipping, But Were Afraid To Ask!

by Tami Grosset


You may have heard the term 'dip' or 'dipping' on babywearing forums and you may have wondered what you're missing out on. Perhaps its a special way to carry your bub or maybe a new SSC?

Nope! Its a fantastic way to buy a hard to find wrap or exclusive, high end carrier with out breaking the bank or winning the lottery. It is in fact its own lottery. Here's how it works...

First you need to find a dip. Dippers are secretive for a good reason. Even though its a simple online raffle it is actually gambling. Gambling is against the rules of Paypal and dipping relies on Paypal accounts to keep it simple and easy for buyers and sellers alike. If you're keen to find a dipping club you need to approach, via PM, some other mamas in your preferred babywearing group. To protect any and all dipping clubs I will not be naming any or providing any links to any in this post, and any links and names listed in comments will be removed.


When a dip takes place the seller first has to decide a total price that she would like to get. Lets say she is selling an Uppymama and she'd like $1500 for it. She then has to decide how many dips (or raffle tickets) she'd like to sell. In this example we'll say she wants to offer 150 dips, which would have to be sold at $10 each for her to get the full $1500 value.

In most Dipping Clubs admins will check the value of the wrap for sale and ensure that it is being sold for a fair total price. An admin will usually work with the seller to ensure the process is fair and unbiased.


Once the value of the item is verified and the price is set the dips will be offered to dipping club members. Members will be allowed to buy as many dips as they like for $10 each (or whichever the dip price is set). An online form is created and members are invited to complete one form for each dip they wish to purchase. When all the dips are accounted for the seller posts their Paypal details and dippers have an agreed amount of time (usually 24 hours) to pay for their dips.

When all the dips are paid for the dipping club admin uses random.org to find a winner. Each dip ticket has a number allotted to it. To ensure fairness the running of the random.org selection is video taped and time stamped and the clip is posted online for all dipper to see. When the random.org selects a number, the dipper with that number wins the wrap!

In fact everyone wins! The seller wins as she has got her $1500. The winner wins as she has got an Uppymama valued at $1500 for just $10 and everyone else wins because they had fun and only spent $10 each.


Dipping started when hard to find and high end wraps became so highly priced it became hard for owners (who had paid after retail price) to resell their beauties. Dipping is a great way for many people, even those with limited budgets, to win a highly priced and exclusive carrier. Some clubs have also started putting less expensive, more available wraps up for dipping to enable even more people to enjoy the love of wrapping and wearing.

If you know of a dipping club please only share it with super special people who will enjoy sharing in this exciting and  special game, and to protect the dippers in the club.

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