online auctions

The importance of online auctions

When people think of online auctions, the first thing they think about is Ebay. Ebay is the largest online auction site on the web and most people only think of Ebay as a resource for buying and selling your and other peoples’ junk. However, Ebay and the other online auction sites can be a powerful marketing tool for your business. There are three main reasons to utilize the online auctions:
To make money selling products
To build a database of customers and potential customers
To drive traffic to your website

1. To make money selling products
As you post your products on the online auctions, you will find buyers for those products. You may not make as much money selling them on Ebay as you would just selling them on your site, but the auctions are a good way to get some revenue coming in.

2. To build a database of customers and potential customers
As you start making sales on the auctions, you will creating a database of customers and potential customers to your website. Down the road, as you have other similar products that you are offering, you could send them an email letting them know about the deals that you could provide them.

3. To drive traffic to your website
The main feature of the online auctions is in the ability to link your website to your auction listing. This is a great way to generate qualified traffic to your website because even if someone doesn't bid on your product, they may be interested enough to go to your website and perhaps purchase an entirely different product. You will want to include your website address in the description of the product that you have for bid.

How online auctions work

There are many different online auction sites on the Internet and they all work a little differently. However, the basic concepts work the same and are outlined in the following steps:
A vendor, or seller, goes to an auction site and fills out a simple online form. On this form, included is all the information about the product, including the minimum bid to accept and the length of the auction time period.
This information then becomes available to site buyers on the auction website.
Buyers will then bid on the products of their choice via the Internet.
If one buyer gets outbid by another buyer, he or she will be notified by an email message, which includes a link back to the bidding area.
Once the bidding time period is over, the top bidder and seller are emailed so that they can get together and finalize the sale.

Online auction companies

There are many different online auction sites out there and Ebay is larger than all of them combined, but here’s a list:
Ebay – www.ebay.com
Ubid – www.ubid.com
Cnet.com auctions – http://auctions.cnet.com
Amazon’s auctions – www.auctions.amazon.com
Yahoo’s auctions – www.auctions.yahoo.com

For an extensive list of different online auctions on the Internet, check out www.auctionsa-z.com.

Selling on the online auctions

Before you begin selling your products on the auction sites, make sure you take some time reviewing each auction’s listing guidelines. Also, make sure to browse around the site and check out what is selling and what is not. It wouldn’t be a bad idea to even post a bid on a product to see how the process works.

Once you feel comfortable with the auction site, then set up an account with them. This will usually be free, and all it takes is providing some personal and contact information from you.

Once you’ve got an account, you will want to do some preliminary work before you post your products to sell. You will want to create the following policies: shipping, international sales, a refund, guarantee, and payment. These policies will outline exactly what you will do and will not do for the customers.

Once you’ve gotten your policies written, then you will want to also choose the type of auction you want to hold. There are four major types:
Straight – Here you will set a minimum opening bid and then sell to the highest bidder. This is the most common auction type.
Reserve – With this type you set a price below which you will not sell your item. Bidders will not know the reserve price, and you only have to sell to the highest bidder if it is above that price.
Dutch – This type of auctions allows you to sell multiple identical items to multiple bidders. Bidders can specify not only their bid price, but also the amount of items they want. All of the top bidders would pay the same amount, or the lowest successful bid.
Private – This type is the same as a straight auction, but the seller and bidders are not revealed.

Once you’ve picked the auction type, then you will want to choose a category for your item. Obviously, you will want to choose the category that best describes your product, but also one that receives a lot of traffic, which drives up the price. Usually, the more popular categories have more products up for bidding on them.

You will also want to take some pictures of your item. Most buyers won’t bid on something unless they can see it. Digital cameras work best for this. The key is to take pictures that persuade people to buy.

Next you will want to write a title for your ad. The title is usually between 40 and 50 characters long. The description is the next element. Your description should anticipate questions, impart detail, and acknowledge any flaws, all while making a compelling and convincing sales pitch. In the description, you will want to include the name of your website, this will bring traffic to your site.

Once you’ve gotten all this preliminary work done, then you are ready to post your products to the auctions. As you do so, you will want to monitor the auction’s progress and make sure to respond quickly and clearly to inquiries from bidders.

Once the auction is over, you will want to exchange information as quickly as possible with the winning bidder so that you can get them your products right away. Once you’ve exchanged information and accepted payment then ship the product out promptly.

Online websites and resources

www.ebay.com
www.ubid.com
http://auctions.cnet.com
www.auctions.amazon.com
www.auctions.yahoo.com
www.auctionsa-z.com
www.auctionwatch.com - this site offers powerful tools to manage your auction listings