The Web's Best Online Auction Sites

by Sydney Johnston

The best online auction links for buyers and sellers are - not surprisingly - eBay, eBay and eBay. eBay began the entire wacky world of online auctions back on the Labor Day weekend of 1995. By any definition, this is one of the most successful sites in the world, and certainly offers the greatest number and variety of goodies for buyers. Generally, sellers make more money on eBay than elsewhere. Sometimes, though, we might wonder about the future of eBay, because the sheer volume of goods for sale might bring this giant to a halt. Today, for example, there are 425,641 sports card auctions. Many of these are dutch auctions - meaning the sellers are offering multiple items. So the actual number of cards for sale is even higher than the gigantic list of auctions. If you are a seller trying to auction a few cards, and you aren't really skilled in the business like Auction Genius Course students are, what are your chances of selling? Is it possible that in the future sellers might be looking for other options if they can't sell their goodies? Here are some of the best online auction links if you're looking for life outside eBay: Yahoo Auctions: (http.auctions.yahoo.com) Being Yahoo, this is naturally the biggest competitor to giany eBay. Amazon Auctions: (http://amazon.com) Amazon was more serious about their online auctions in the past, but has added many more retail buying features in past years. ePier Online Auctions: (http://epier.com) One of the best alternative online auction links is ePier. These folks stuck it out for 2 years before making a profit, but are doing well now. As sellers, we can only cheer about the competition. Bidville: (http://www.BidVille.com) This general online auction site is small fry, compared to the giants, but depending on what you're selling, this might be a big advantage. uBid: (http://www.ubid.com) uBid is one of the best online auction sites for buying multiple items for resale. Its claim to fame is "bid on brand names starting at $1". Bidz: (http://web-1.bidz.com) Bidz is the home of the "2 minute" auctions which are fast and lots of fun. Warning: it's easy to get caught up in the auction fever of the moment and get carried away, so approach with caution. These are some of the very best online auction links, but it's by no means a complete list. The opportunities for online auction selling are truly staggering and there are other articles on this site that might give you more clues. About the Author Sydney Johnston, the AUCTION QUEEN, was one of the original sellers on eBay and has been selling on eBay since the winter of 1996. She is the originator and teacher of the famous Auction Genius Course, a powerful 16 hour multi media seminar on the Internet that teaches her students how to sell on ebay.

Can dropshipping work for your online auction efforts?

by Troy Breitmeyer

There is much discussion throughout usenet, chatrooms and forums about drop shippers, and I have sat through many heated threads about the subject. Many will tell you that drop shipping is a scam, it don't work, you'll never make any money...But I know these things just not to be true, as I have talked with those doing it, work with those who do, and am the webmaster of the site belonging to someone who manufactures and drop ships his products. I have also used this method in the past. First of all, using drop shippers is not a get rich scheme, or is the answer to all of your problems, and, like any home based business, requires some research and some work, but done correctly, can be very profitable. Let me explain the proccess in a nutshell. First you decide what you are going to sell online. You then find a drop shipper that carries the product. You place the images and descriptions on your website or auction. When you make a sale, you send the order on to your drop shipper, who in turn sends the product to your customer. The profit that you make is the difference in the price that you charge. That is the process in a nutshell, but it is a bit more complicated than that. Let me explain... Deciding what to sell is one of the most important decisions that you will make, and this is where many trying to get into the business fail. You must take the time to research the market. This research involves finding out these things... 1)Pretend for a moment that you have decided to sell remote controlled coffee makers,(I am using this as an example, as one of these sounded real good yesterday morning. Pardon me if I sound like your Junior Achievement teacher in high school.) and Is there alot of people selling these handy little devices? If there is, this just might not be a good thing, as an oversaturation of a product makes it difficult, or impossible market to compete in. You can find this out by going to eBay, or to search engines and looking at what others are doing. An over saturated market such as home electronics is just about impossible to compete in, without cutting prices, and right square into your profits. This is why someone selling rolling pins or dog shampoo might just make a killing, while the guy selling car stereo systems is not selling anything but a pretty cool website. 2)Are there people actually buying Remote Controlled Coffee Makers? One way to find out, is by going to eBay and looking at how many bids and clicks that those who are selling these coffee makers are getting. Of course there are many other ways to research this,such as market research software, and I will get into these in a later article. There must be a market to sell your products to, or you are just chasing your tail. This part is called "demand". Demand for the product that you are selling. This is why those home based businesses that are involved in "niche markets" seem to thrive. Before you should start selling these jumped up java makers, you should find out if there is a market of people who will by them from you. 3)Where can you get these coffee makers. are you getting them from the manufacturer or authorized wholesale distributor? If you don't you might be getting ripped off. Research your Sources! Do they drop ship? If not, then you will have to stock your inventory. You can save a grip of money by doing this, if you have the room to do this. Buying in bulk can save you money, if the shipping fees (do the research first!) don't eat all of your profits. If you are just starting out on a shoestring budget, then drop shipping might be your better bet. 4)Do the math!!! Figure in all of your costs! After you have decided what to sell, you must figure what you are going to sell it for. Once you have added in selling fees (if you are using auctions to sell), you must consider shipping fees (if you are not using drop shippers), taxes, and any overhead that you might have. License fees and hosting fees, if you own your own site. (I hope these things that I have mentioned here do not discourage you, because these are the same things that you need to run any business. If these things do overwhelm you, you might want to consider affiliate programs for your first internet venture, as they cost nothing). With all this considered, you should still be able to make a profit with the product that you choose to sell. If the math don't add up to profit for you, then you should find a different product to sell. I have only touched on the basics here, but I hope that this article has explained the basics. I hope this helps you to understand how drop shipping works. Regards, Troy Breitmeyer http://dropshippers-directory.com About the author: Troy Breitmeyer has been a full time webmaster and affiliate marketer since 1996. Troy has been interviewed on Chris Malta's "Common Sence Internet Radio", and is currently writing an ebook to help affiliate marketers.

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