Wednesday, November 5, 2008

Reverse Online Auction If You Want To Save Money Reverse Online Auctions Are The Way To Go

Writen by Richard Verker

By now everyone knows how eBay works. You list an item you're trying to sell, and buyers place bids on it. After a predetermined length of time (commonly seven days), the highest bidder "wins" and gets to pay that much money for the item. That's great for sellers, but what about buyers? Wouldn't it be better if sellers competed for a buyer's business, instead of the other way around? That's where reverse online auctions come in.

Reverse online auctions work in the opposite way from eBay- style auctions. A buyer lists the item he's looking for, and sellers compete for his business by offering their lowest possible prices. In effect, the buyer is playing hard-to-get. Rather than running to eBay and flinging himself at the seller -- "Please sell it to me! Look how much I'll pay for it!" -- the buyer plays it cool, letting the sellers come to him.

As a result, buyers in reverse online auctions usually pay less than people participating in regular auctions. A DVD that's only worth $12 might have its price driven up to $20 or more on eBay, due to buyers competing with each other for the right to buy it. With a reverse Internet auction, that price will stay low, because buyers aren't getting in each other's way, artificially driving up the price. Instead, the sellers are driving DOWN the price because they want your business.

There are two ways of running an auction online: open and closed. In an open auction, all the bidders know where they stand in the bidding, i.e., whether they've been outbid. In a closed auction, each bidder only knows his own bid. Therefore, he must put forth his very best offer at once, since he won't be able to make a better one in response to someone else's bid.

Sellers know that e-procurement -- where items are bought, paid for and sold over the Internet -- is more lucrative than traditional brick-and-mortar stores simply because there are fewer overhead costs. So it's in their best interest to attract new online customers, and they know one way to do that is to participate in reverse auctions on the Internet. Connect on oltiby.com and take advantage of this new way of making business.

Richard Verker has been writing business articles for 15 years. After studies in general economy and e-commerce, his work on online auctions make his articles top-rated by magazines and thousands of readers.

Tuesday, November 4, 2008

Writing Ebay Titles That Sell

Writen by Shari Ode

What are titles? They are the headings above eBay auctions. It's my opinion you write a better title after you have written out your auction information. After all, you have all the product information right in front of you, well organized and well written. Writing the title is then straightforward and easy.

Writing titles is not for selling and not necessarily for marketing or advertising. Writing titles is purely for getting "found" by the eBay search engine.

Simple & Straightforward

What does a title for one of your eBay products need to do? The title should:

• Completely identify the item
• Contain appropriate keywords for the eBay search engine
• Indicate exactly whether the item is new,2nd hand and if used, indicate the condition that the item is in.

It's that simple. Don't try to make it more complicated. Notice that I didn't say the following:

• Try to attract attention
• Hook prospective buyers
• Start the sales process off

Indeed, the need to use hype is a misconception that many eBay sellers make. They are not clear about the purpose of the title therefore tend to offer information in the title that is NOT needed. Let's say you are selling a Canon Powershot Digital Camera, a well known brand with several models. Prospective buyers get to the list of digital cameras via the eBay search (i.e., keywords = digital and camera) If a potential buyer is looking for a Canon Powershot, you want him to be able to immediately spot your title in the very long list of titles for Canon digital cameras.

The following title says it all:

"Canon Powershot Digital Camera New"

A prospective buyer can read the list quickly and spot this title easily. You've done your job well. Once prospective buyers have found your ad, they will read your ad copy. That's where you make your sales pitch. Anything that detracts from potential buyers finding your auction ad easily will result in fewer bidders and ultimately lower sales prices.

For instance, look at some of the following titles:

CANON CAMERA POWERSHOT FABULOUS DIGITAL CAMERA!!! ***Great Fast Action - digital camera, new in box **** Fast Action camera !!! - Canon - award winning !!! – in the box!!

The first is in all caps, which is hard to read. The second uses characters that interfere with skimming. In addition, it doesn't say much that's concrete. It doesn't even include the brand. The third is difficult to read due to the exclamation marks. And what does "in the box" mean? It probably means new, but it could mean used but put back in the box.

"Award winning" is OK for an auction ad but not for a title; it doesn't help identify the product. These titles will cost you potential buyers. There's no reason to make an art out of writing titles. They are Straight forward. Just identify what's for sale using words that potential buyers will use to search.

Shari Ode - Ebay, Clickbank marketplace and Adsense web publisher. Check Out My Cool Little Website That Makes Me Money With Every Click! For details visit: http://www.moredollarsonline.com

Monday, November 3, 2008

Secrets To Selling Successfully With Online Auctions

Writen by Jason Ziarko

The Internet has literally hundreds of auction web sites, all trying to cash in on the online auction craze. There are five basic techniques I will discuss that will dramatically increase the success of your online sales. I have actually put these to the test myself and they really are successful.

1) Keywords in the Listing – The single most important element in an auction listing is carefully selecting the keywords you use in your listing. Start with your title and fill your title up with keywords that accurately describe the item. Do not use keywords that are not relevant to your item, you will only waste the buyer's time and yours. Use as much of the allotted characters allowed to write your title. In the description, write it using keywords to best describe your item. The more keywords you use there is a better chance a potential buyer will find your auction. Be careful not to use spamming techniques of any kind, it is a waste of time for everyone and could result in being banned from the auction site.

2) Misspelled Keywords – A technique that is commonly overlooked is the use of misspelled keywords in your listing. Intentionally including misspelled words can increase the audience of your listings. For example, on eBay as of right now, searching for the term "jewelry" – correctly spelled, there are 192,701 auctions with "jewelry" in the title. If you create your auction with "jewelery" also in the title and description, there are 2,018 items listed, so by misspelling words you can increase the traffic to your auction.

3) Low Starting Price & Reserves – Start your auction at a low opening bid price and secure your desired selling with a reserve price. Lower opening bids will encourage more bidders to bid up the price to an amount they are willing to pay. For example, I recently listed an older Dell Latitude laptop on eBay and started the price at $0.99 with a reserve price of $150 and successfully sold for $197.50. Coupled with a low opening bid, you want to make sure there are plenty of keywords in the title & description so there will be sufficient traffic to your auction. A well-written auction would not allow an item to sell for $0.99, since we know the item will sell for much more than that.

When we set a reserve price, it means we do not have to sell the item unless the bidding price meets or exceeds the reserve price. A reserve price insures the seller of not having to forcefully sell the item if the reserve has not been met, but the seller has the option to do so if desired. The reserve price set by the seller is not shown to the buyers, in order to encourage bidding up the price to find out what the reserve price is.

4) Timing of Auctions – An important technique to know is the timing of your auction as to when it closes. The auction should be timed to close during the late evening hours, such as 10-11pm at night. Research indicates most ideal time to close an auction and encourage the most bids is Sunday at 11pm. The idea is to time the auction when the majority of people are home and able to place final bids. I've researched this myself with several auctions and had them close at different times and the ones that close late at night receive a higher number of bids than those that close during the day.

5) Pictures – Pictures are a vital element of listing an auction on any site. Buyers want to see what they are purchasing before placing a bid. Include multiple pictures of your item, such as different angles, back side, or inside if it can be opened. Be sure the pictures are professional looking and is presented clearly to the buyer as to what they are bidding on. Typically, picture sizes should be under 100K to ensure fast loading for users with slower Internet connections. If they have to wait too long for a picture to load, they will click off and go to the next auction, thus you have lost a potential bidder.

The techniques outlined here are just the beginning of creating successful auctions. There are several books & websites online that are dedicated to successful selling. However, implementing these techniques will dramatically increase the success of your auction sales.

By: Jason Ziarko
ejzBids Auctions - Online Internet Auction Site

Sunday, November 2, 2008

Online Auctions How Much Do You Know About Them

Writen 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.

  • Saturday, November 1, 2008

    Bidding And Buying On Ebay Bonus Or Bogus

    Writen by Ron King

    You're undoubtedly heard about people getting great deals on items they bought through eBay. If you're a bit envious and ready to try your hand, here's your chance to learn more.

    Exactly What Is An eBay?

    It's an online auction website, in fact the biggest one in the world. You know how an auction works -- someone puts up something they want to sell and then buyers come along and place bids on it. The highest bid wins the item.

    Being an online auction makes eBay a bit different, though. eBay accepts almost any item, no matter how small, and will then advertise it on their sites all over the world.

    How Does Bidding On eBay Work?

    Bidding on eBay is a little more complex than a normal auction. On eBay, you enter the maximum amount you are willing to pay for an item, and then eBay places the bids on your behalf. You could enter a maximum bid of $100 for something, and end up paying only $25, if that was sufficient to win.

    The best introduction to eBay is to dive in and give it a try. First, you need to go to the eBay website for your country. If you don't know the address, just go to www.ebay.com and you will find it. Once you have the front page of your country's website, you should see a big box marked "esearch." Just type into the box anything that you'd like to buy.

    When you enter an item, say an opal ring, the website gives you a list of opal rings for sale, along with how much people are currently bidding for them, and the time when bidding ends for that item. Click on each of the listed items, and you can read the description. If you find an item you want, and are willing to pay more than the current highest bidder, then it's time to enter the fray.

    How Can I Buy What I Want?

    On the item's description page, scroll down to the bottom and type the maximum you are willing to pay into the box. Then click the "eplace bid" button. At this point you will need to sign in, or go through a quick registration process if you are new.

    eBay will let you know if someone else's maximum bid on that item is higher than yours, and you'll have an opportunity to change your bid. Otherwise, you're now the new highest bidder! You can sit back and wait until the end of the auction. Meanwhile, if someone else outbids you, eBay will notify you by email, and you can revise your bid.

    Sounds like a fun shopping experience, doesn't it? Well, if you're ready, it's time to jump into the eBay.

    Visit Shop Ebay to learn more. Ron King is a full-time researcher, writer, and web developer, visit his website at Website

    Copyright 2005 Ron King. This article may be reprinted if the resource box is left intact and the links live.