Make Online Auctions a Home Business

by John Lynch

Everyone is aware of online auctions nowadays. We all know someone who has bought or sold something on an Ebay online auction site. But how many people know that this hobby can be turned into a profitable business? The fact is online auctions are a new kind of home- based business created by the Internet with no capital investment and no risk. An online auctions business has the following advantages: No start-up costs. No financial risk. Work whenever you choose. Targeted customers brought to you by auction sites such as Ebay. No technical skills required. Start-up in 5 minutes. How do I start an online auctions business? First, if you are not familiar with the process of buying and selling, you need to understand how auctions operate. By far the biggest online auction site is Ebay (http://www.ebay.com), boasting millions of users worldwide. However, this is the tip of the iceberg. Other popular auction sites include: Yahoo Auctions - http://www.auctions.yahoo.com uBid - http://www.ubid.com OnSale - http://www.onsale.com QXL - http://www.qxl.com Start off by buying an item yourself to get the feel of how it is done. This will give you an overall insight into the process of registering with the auction site, bidding, paying for your goods and the delivery arrangements. Don't Feel Forced to Buy As a buyer you should not feel pressured into buying something that you know is overpriced because you think it is the last item. There are many online auctions and there is a good chance that you will come across the same item at another site. Leave Your Bid Late Experienced online buyers will leave their bids until the last few minutes before an auction closes to prevent the price being driven up too high. Use Automated Bids If you don't want to spend a lot of time waiting for an auction to close, you can use an automated bidding service such as eSnipe (http://www.esnipe.com). You can open a free account and type in the auction number and the amount you want to bid. ESnipe can then place a last-minute bid for you just before the close of the auction. If you win the bid, you pay eSnipe a small fee and if you lose you pay nothing. Search for Misspelt Items Savvy buyers know that many items listed for sale at Ebay are misspelt. You can use this to your advantage by searching for wrongly spelt items. You will have far less competition as most people search for correctly spelt items. Once you have bought something and paid for it, you will know how the auction process works from the buyer's point of view. This is vital as it will give added insight into how you can provide good customer service when you set up your own business. So now that you have bought and paid for an item on an online auction, you are ready to sell something yourself as a first step to setting up an online business. At this point, most people look around their own homes to rid themselves of some unwanted items for which they have no use. This is a good way to get started. When you list your item on auction sites, make sure you provide a photograph. This will grab the attention of the buyers. Description of Goods A good description of your 'for sale' items is essential. Give all relevant details including technical specifications and dimensions where necessary. Guaranteed Refund Give a guaranteed refund to potential buyers to reassure them of your integrity. Most buyers and sellers on the Internet are honest but there are a few rogues, and buyers like to be reassured. Positive Feedback Getting positive feedback from your previous customers is the best way to prove you are trustworthy. Always request feedback politely after a successful sale. Reserve Price Set a reserve price to ensure that your goods do not sell for less than you want. Make it reasonable. If you set it too high, you will not receive any bids. Payment Options The more payment options you offer your buyers, the more likely you will be to make a sale. Ebay auctions offer the online payment transfer system Pay Pal (www.paypal.com) which is free to set up. Credit cards also offer security and are popular. If you intend to set up an online auctions business, it is best to specialise in a niche which is a little out of the ordinary. Thereby facing less competition and guaranteeing your profitability. Setting up an online auctions business can become a reality for anyone who is prepared to do the necessary research and put in the effort. The enormous interest in auction sites created by the success of Ebay has provided huge numbers of targeted visitors ready to part with their cash for a great variety of goods. (C) John Lynch 2003 (C) John Lynch 2003 Visit http://www.merchant-account-service.com/auction_ebay.html for a Free auctions course on how to start a successful online auctions business from home.

Auction Titles: Keywords to Bigger eBay Profits

by Mason Hipp

In the world of online auctions, the title is the only way to get more traffic. Traffic equals more bids, more bids equals more money. Sellers who want the most money from eBay will need to learn how to write a good title. Statistically speaking, the vast majority of bidders will find your auction by searching for it. The search is the primary interface on eBay, and the first step to getting customers. When a user searches for an item, say xyz, all auctions with xyz in the title will show up. Keep in mind that auctions with yzx or x y z will not be there. Each term the users puts in the search (xyz for example) should therefore be included in our title if we want to get the most bidders. More bidders makes for a higher final sale price, and that is what we are aiming for. This means that you must, no matter what, include as many potential keywords as possible. In order to perfect these keywords we need to first pretend we are a buyer. Particularly, a buyer who would be interested in your auction. You should decide what search terms you would use to find the item. Start writing down a list of all potential search terms. When you feel that this list is fairly complete, we can move on to picking which terms to include in the title. eBay limits the length of the title to 55 characters, so we have to choose each word very carefully. Deciding which keywords, or search terms, to include can be a daunting process. Luckily for us, there are probably a lot of other people who have sold the exact same item. Why is this a good thing? Because we can search for completed auctions. Pick a keyword that describes your item and search for it on eBay: you will be presented with a list of items. Now, on the lower left navigation bar select "Search Completed Items." This will bring up a new list of auctions that have already ended. There will most likely be a lot of different items showing up, so you now want to refine your search to the point that only the exact product that you are selling shows up. Once that is finished, go to the top of the results. Click on the button that will sort items by price - with the highest prices at the top. What you've just done is created yourself a list of titles, with the ones that work best on the top. Compare the best titles with your keywords, and information about your item specifically (e.g. condition, color), and combine it all into a single line of keywords. Undoubtedly, there will be more words then space to type them in. This is a challenge that happens with nearly every product or item that is listed on eBay. The key to winning out over the other auctions, and making more money, is to check your keywords over and over again. Keep looking at the completed auctions, you must learn to pick the 'hot' or 'best' keywords for your item. If you have narrowed your title down to the best search terms and it is all under 55 characters - then you are finished! Post your item for sale and watch as the price magically surpasses all of the other items in the category. About the author: Mason Hipp is an eBay PowerSeller and a regular contributer to: http://www.selladeal.com/guides , http://www.selladeal.com/products and lastly http://www.selladeal.com/insight

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