A recent three-year Online Auction survey conducted
by Charles Wood, at the Mendoza School of Business at the University
of Notre Dame in Indiana and colleagues at the University of
Minnesota reveals:
1. Item Auction Ads with a photograph, yield 11
per cent more profit, compared to a similar item without a picture.
2. They also found that auctions that last longer
attract more bidders and end up attracting higher sale prices.
Many Auctions benefit higher profits from recreational bidders.
Those bidders that are using auctions as a form of entertainment.
3. Trusted sellers will get higher prices.
Also another recent Auction Survey results have
revealed the following:
4. Most people bid in an online auction because
there looking for bargains.
5. A seller's track record is almost always checked and if no
info is available, other information sources are considered.
If no information abbot the seller at all is found, most won't
bid.
6. The average auction item price is under $100.
7. Most buyers prefer paying by check or an online credit card
facility such as Paypal.
In Addition:
The Auction community has been plagued with service
charges that are outrageously high. Pay for services for auction
assistance costs have skyrocketed to $15 - $49 per month. Every
auction offers some services that are a real value that can
help a users sell faster and at higher profits. These too, however
are priced outrageously.
OK So What Does All This Mean? There are:
10 Steps
To Maximize Online Auction Profits
1. Use Pictures to accentuate your Auction Items.
There is a caveat here, however, slow loading Ads will lose
viewers,
so put some effort into creating images that are compressed
and use thumbnail images for fast load times. All the images
in an Ad should add up to under 50,000 bytes. See our How Tutorials: Image
Compression, Make
Thumbnails and then use our Ad
Templates.
Our members can use the
WYSIWYG editor
"What you see is what you get" editor to make all
their attractive, eye catching Ads without knowing any HTML
code. If you can use a simple word processor application, you
can use this tool.
2. Use 10 day auctions instead of 7 Days to get
in 2 weekends that attract the Recreational Bidders. Use our
tutorials to Automate
Auctions Submissions to always post at peak time cycles.
3. Be accommodating to your Bid Winners.
Ask for good feedback and build relationships with your
bidders. It will pay off in the long run.
If you are new to auction selling, Give information to
validate you credibility. Use an About Me Page and create
a web page where you post a picture and a biography
(Link it to Your About Me Page).
Create an e-Auction Card
to maintain a permanent web presence.
Create professional Ads. Use our great
templates. Don't forget to add links to both in your AD.
ALWAYS accept reasonable return and refund requests.
Members can use our Bidder Mail Form to
collect valuable leads to bid on upcoming auctions.
4. Offer a bargain over standard retail sources.
That means that your items must start out as super bargain for
you if you're serious about creating a profitable business selling
at online auctions..
5. Specialize in items the will win auction bids
for under $100. You should pay an average of under $35 for this
item. Always set your starting bid to a break even then add
traceable shipping, insurance and handling (it's best to make
this payable by the seller). Dutch auctions are an exception
to this rule.
6. Accept checks, money orders and use credit
card services to attract the most bidders.Paypal is a great
service.Exception: When dealing with Non-US Buyers from countries
who are not accepted by Paypal, accept only eChecks to your
Paypal account. This method should also be used for Buyers with
un-confirmed Paypal addresses. Check the Paypal
site for details aboyut these free services.
7. Use inexpensive services and advice such as
those found at Auction Essentials4u.
Auction Essentials 4U services run the range of assistance for
Ad Creation, Image Modification, Image hosting, Auction Management,
Item Research and How To Tutorials. These services are available
with both online and off-line software tools. All these services
are available at no or low costs without obnoxious advertisement.
Donate, only if you see our value
and wish these services to continue or use our membership
services. Follow our advice and your profits will rise dramatically.
Compare Us
8. Follow-up on your sales using out Wining Bidders
Packing Slip. Also, create a list of
bidders contacts using our Bidder Mail Form
integrated into your Ads.
9. Offer more options to your buyers. You might
want to offer gift wrapping for special occasions or mailing
options such as priority overnight shipping. All for an additional
price of course. This options may be just the difference from
your competitors to sway a bidder to your item.
10. Do your homework upfront. Use our search tool
to reseach the current pricing trends for your item at ebay.
Use the data to determine a good staring price and reasonable
reserve.
Also check the fees for ebay and paypal to determine
how best to price shipping, handling and transaction fees. The
fees will even differ if your item is from an non US paypal
account. To avoid losing money use this 30 day trail software
Fee FInder calculator from HammerTap
Online Auction Software
If you're planning to sell your home via online
auctions, there are some to do things to help you increase your
chances of the highest profits attainable. Use the same great
home seller tips the professionals use. I've located this Home
Resource Site that offers A-Z tips and how to's to make
it happen for you.
Use Our Donation
Based Services - Suggested donation
$3.99/mo.
Or Use Our Member Only Service$6.99/mo Stay in touch with
bidders using any computer
Collect bidder leads with our hosted Bidder Mail Form
Maintain your own personal permanent file storage
No maintenance 60 unlimited AD image Storage
Beginner Level
Intermediate Level
Advanced Level
Download 
How To
Tutorials
Tips 
Recommended