Monday, June 05, 2006

Online Auctions – How Much Do You Know About Them? - By Pradeep Agarwal

Online auctions are a great way to find a bargain on almost everything and it is an excellent way of getting the best price for selling something of your own. These are Virtual auctions on the Internet. The seller sells the product to the person who offers the highest price. These products include houses, cars, seized electronics, jewelry, books, antiques and others.

Consumers are increasingly feeling more comfortable in buying
products through the Internet. Through online auctions they are able to bid on state surplus items, using any computer with Internet access.

There are innumerable auction sites, selling everything from a pen to a used car and even houses if you want to bid from them. For sellers, online auctions open up new sales channels for new products and offer buyers favorable purchasing conditions. Just think of the product and you will find it on one of the auction sites. All you have to do is sign up, get registered and bid a price for that item.

The items available for sale can include: airport confiscated equipment, boats, electronics, medical supplies, office furniture and equipment, tools and equipment, antiques, computers, heavy equipment and machinery, vehicles, specialty items, and miscellaneous items.

Online auctions are different from their real-world counterparts. You are free to take your time browsing the listings and bidding takes place over a period of days rather than minutes. Online Auctions offer good opportunity for anyone wishing to start an online business for a number of reasons. If you feel you have the persistence necessary to run your own successful business, this is one opportunity you should consider.

There are thousands of online auctions on the Internet with more popping up everyday. People love them because they can usually find great bargains.

Some of the tips for buyers and sellers at online auctions:

  • You could sell your excess or discontinued products at an online auction. It's an effective way to make extra income without any loss for your business. Thus you can make a profit depending on how much people will bid for your excess inventory. Also excessive inventory can be cleared off cost effectively.

  • An easy way to test new product prices is to see what people will bid for them at an online auction. First, sell your product at three different online auctions. Next, calculate the average selling bid from all three auctions and that will be your selling price for your new product. Hence we can know the exact selling price of the product.

  • There are numerous auction sites for bidding any product. Some of the auction sites draw over millions of hits a year. The key to being successful is to sell your product at multiple online auctions at the same time. Suppose if we sell a product at one hundred online auction sites that would be one hundred sales a day! This way we can increase our sales at one time.

  • You could drive traffic to your web site by starting your own online auction site. Customers will visit your web site to find bargains and to sell their own products. Thus plenty of repeat visitors from people re-bidding on products and adding new products to sell.

  • Lowering business costs is another benefit of online auction. The prices on business supplies and equipment at online auctions are lower. So, do some research work to find which site offers lowest price of the same product to make good savings. For example, a company may be selling them at a lower price at an online auction because they have excess inventory.

  • Drop shipping is used by intermediary and mail order companies who do not wish to stock inventory of the products sold for future delivery through mail order, catalogues and Internet advertising. Manufacturers providing drop-shipping services can gain additional sales, shift advertising costs to middlemen, offer advertising material and reduce inventory requirements. Minimal capital is needed to start.

    Pradeep Aggarwal is the creator of Auction Spectrum the online auction hub. This site is dedicated to helping people build Profit Pulling Websites and start and run a successful online auction business.