The economy is getting weaker by the hour. Every minute of life now somebody is getting laid off. The once safe and secure job idea is now a thing of the past. Every single day 10 million plus people go online in search for a top home based business. People are realizing they need to have a realistic Plan B since Plan A is letting them down.Although people are taking a step into the right direction by looking to take matters into their own hands and not depending on the government they are still like sheep amidst wolves. They have no clue what to expect and no concrete idea of what a real home based business looks like.This is not a how to guide on finding any kind of home based business. This is more of what you need to know how to do when you join one so that you can reap the fruits of your labor. Sadly those that leave corporate America come into this industry with a $9-$14 hour mentality thinking of they work hard enough then they will be rich.This industry is not about working harder but smarter. Eventually if they don’t get the results they are looking for then they either quit or procrastinate on the money making activities that need to be doing. Countless people get into this stage and get stuck. Why?Two things govern humans lives. We either gravitate towards them or move away.Pain and Pleasure.You will face many hardships when striving to be a top home based business. Things that would normally seem easy become difficult. As that happens the natural tendency is to put off doing that particular task. As humans we like to avoid pain as much as possible.That may have worked in the corporate world but in the home based business industry if you do that you will be out of business faster than you got in. Listen up because you will not get this type of teaching in school.If you want to be successful here is the million dollar advice. Change what you associate pain to and replace it with pleasure.If you think it is painful to market or place ads and you put it off, replace that thought with it being pleasurable and you reaping the rewards of your hard. This is not deep and seems so logical but yet people don’t do it.On the flip side if you procrastinate calling a client back think about the pain that comes from not calling the client and how you won’t be in business for long. The psychology works both ways.Always assess what you deem is painful and pleasurable. Usually the pain is an illusion and the pleasurable is justification of staying in your comfort zone.Take action and charge through those limiting barriers. You deserve to live a high quality life that you can’t get in corporate America.
A Home Based Business – Getting Targeted Visitors Quickly
One of the biggest challenges which any home based business is faced with is generating targeted traffic. While there are in fact many free ways to generate the targeted traffic which is desired, they are not as readily apparent as one would hope. Others come to the conclusion that the traffic which they seek is too costly, leaving them with a very slim profit margin, if any. This is something which several online marketers often struggle with, and is often the reason why they end up abandoning their home based business.If you can get a steady flow of targeted traffic to your website, then you have it made. It goes without saying that traffic generation is likely the number one factor in the success of your home based business. If you do not have traffic, you will not make sales. Plain and simple. However, with steady targeted traffic, you will perpetually be in the profit.On a positive note, there are an abundance of methods which you can utilize to steer targeted visitors to your website. With that being said, these methods take time and effort. For instance, you might have heard of Search Engine Optimization (SEO) at one time or the other. This is a method by which you take steps to enable your website to rank prominently in the search engines. Sounds pretty good, right? The only problem is that it takes time. Some home based business owners may be more than willing to put forth the effort, but do not have the 6 to 12 months to wait for targeted traffic so that their home based business can become successful. If this sounds like you, there are a few solutions which we will discuss below.For starters, I am going to begin with what I view as the number one solution. I rate this solution as number one because it serves a dual purpose. First, it enables you to direct targeted traffic to your website immediately. Secondly, it is a key strategy in enabling your website to rank prominently in the search engines. This strategy is what is know as article marketing. Essentially, article marketing involves composing articles which contain valuable information for your target market, the submitting these articles to several article directories and niche blogs. The reason why you will receive instant targeted traffic to your website, is because the article directories receive a high volume of traffic. Each article that you submit to the directories will include a link back to your website. Thus, readers will click this link to be taken to your website. As you may know, the search engines rank websites in large part because of the number of links which point to the website. Each article contains a new link to your website, giving it link value in the search engines.Another method which provides similar benefits to article marketing is what is known as social media marketing. This method involves submitting your writings to social bookmarking and social networking websites such as Reddit, Delicious, Mister Wong, Propeller, Twitter, MySpace, Facebook, Google Bookmarks, etc. Taking such steps provide you with targeted traffic to your website, one way links, as well as the branding as an expert in your field. Just make sure that what you are bookmarking is of value to your niche market, and you are not purely spamming for self serving purposes.As you can see, when it comes to steering targeted traffic to your home based business, you have some options. However, do not just go after traffic in general. Go after the traffic which comes from the niche market which your home based business caters to. In order to do this, it is essential that you identify your niche market from the very beginning. Once you have done so, show them how the products or services which you offer will solve their problems.
10 Best Home Based Businesses For Making Money Online
The internet has opened up a whole new world of opportunity. For those of us with an idea and the willingness to work hard, it is a great way to earn a significant amount of income from the comfort of our home. If you are looking for a way to earn money and still enjoy life, here are 10 of the best home based businesses for making money online that you can start today.Best Home Internet Business # 1 – Affiliate MarketingAn affiliate marketer is the internet version of a commissioned sales person. You make money selling products and services for other business owners. As you can imagine, this can be very lucrative and entrepreneurs have been known to make 6 to 7 figures promoting other people’s stuff.Best Home Based Business # 2 – Consulting/CoachingPeople are always looking for ways to improve themselves. Whether it is to have a better business or a better body, someone will pay you to help them get results. This is one of the best home based businesses for people low on funds. If you have the expertise, all you need is a website and you’re ready to make money.Best Online Business #3 – Website FlipperA website flipper is similar to a real estate flipper. They create a website and then sell it to someone else for a profit. You do need to have a bit of technical know-how and a little patience but if you pick a good domain name and get a lot of traffic, you could make a lot of money.Best Home Business # 4 – CraftingOne of the top home based businesses for creative types is to sell crafts online. Consumers love the charm of handmade products. So if you have a knack for crafts, you can turn your hobby into a profitable business doing something you love.Best Home Business # 5 – eBayThis down economy has everyone pinching pennies and many people are turning to online auction sites to find great deals on the things they want. From games to designer clothes to even cars, if you’ve got a product to sell, you can make good money selling it on eBay.Best Home Internet Business #6 – Freelance ServicesBusinesses are downsizing and laying employees off to save money. But since there is still work to be done, many businesses are turning to freelancers to fill in the gaps. Writers, artists, computer technicians; if you have a skill then you can make money with a freelancing business.Best Home Business # 7 – Virtual AssistantA virtual assistant is equivalent to a freelance secretary. You help your clients with a variety of tasks such as answering calls and making travel arrangements. The internet makes it easy to complete the work assigned to you from the comfort of your home and you can pick and choose the projects you want.Best Home Business # 8 – Shop to Earn Shopping PortalThe Shop to Earn Shopping Portal is a group of big name retail stores who pay you to shop. You earn money, in the form of cash back, each time you or someone you refer makes a purchase at the website. The convenience of internet shopping coupled with the ability to make money even when you are not actively working on your business makes this a great home based business for the stay at home parent.Best Home Based Business # 9 – Citizen JournalistMore and more people are turning to the internet for information about what is going on in the world. This home based business is perfect for writers who have a knack for reporting. You make money by generating advertising revenue on a news portal that deals with national news or even just what is happening in the local community.Best Home Business #10 – InfopreneurPeople are starved for information. With the cost of production and the time it takes to get it to the marketplace greatly reduced, it is easier, now more than ever, to publish a book giving readers the information they crave. And with the invention of the Kindle and the Sony Reader, you don’t even have to put your writing in book form to get it in the hands of readers.Choosing one of the 10 best home based businesses to get started with is only the beginning. The real challenge comes in building a successful business. For help with that, you’ll want to seek out experienced entrepreneurs who can give you tips and tools that will get your business off the ground and making money.
Find Out How A Home Based Business Could Save You!
Home based business could save you! Changing the course of ones career is frightening. Imagine, from a secure professional life to a home based business promising nothing. You may have become an accidental online entrepreneur and have gone to like it in the process, but you suddenly stop and couldn’t believe that you’re actually doing it. So now is the time to go over and reassess the many benefits it has brought to your life:It saves your travel costsTraveling to and fro can be really stressful. This becomes even worse when you have to move from one transportation mode to another. You may have your own car yet the whooping price of gas would kill your budget in the process. But if you have a home based business, all the traveling and jostling around just to get to work will no longer be a problem. Working at home makes it guilt-free to rouse past your waking hour yet still makes up for the work you’ve missed. It saves your expensive dinesOh, those pricey menus you order under duress, those dear lunch out and steep after work night out! All those have taken a big lump sum off your salary every month. But when you work from home and manage your home based business, it is way easier to save money on your every dine. Working from home lets you have your meal at any time you want without waiting for the boss to say you can and most especially without the need to order from expensive restaurants. It saves your corporate clothesIn order to look the part, most companies require business uniforms. However, not all would give you a clothing allowance just so you can keep up with the company clothing policy. Now, this becomes a big hurdle. However, working from home doesn’t necessitate that you look your best all the time. Since you’re not going to meet people while working online, a pair of jeans, shirt and sometimes your pajamas is more than enough to get you going with your job. It saves you from unwarranted activitiesIf you work in a corporate world there’s no way to refuse extracurricular activities such as a night out, company weekend activities, team building, planning and all sorts of activities outside of your work scope. Hey, these are healthy activities, yet if it requires you to shed some bucks each time you go out, it would be the end of your savings. But if you have a home based business to keep you occupied, it’s easier to say goodbye to these leisure interests. Anyway, you can still do these things after your online work. 5. It’s a saving graceA home based business saves you from all sorts of money-spending temptations, expected and unexpected expenditures and provides you of a back up should your other offline businesses dwindle. It is such a good thing that it only requires few things – your online venture, a computer, good internet connection and YOU. Indeed, you can call it a saving grace!
A Few Problems Facing Small Business Startups
It is a well established fact that most small business startups fail within the first two years. Why is this and what preparations can be made to avoid this pitfall?First of all is the shortage of startup capital. It is probable that anyone over 40 years old has tried to start up some type of small business. Since most of them do not have a lot of money to start with many try to start a new business and hold onto a regular 9 to 5 job which is too demanding and hard for most people. The obvious solution for this problem is to look ahead at this need realistically and in some way arrange to have the backing and support to last for at least one year or until there is enough income from the business to make it self supporting.Another common problem with a new small business startup is lack of knowledge. Here we consider a carpenter, or any other craftsman or trade. He/she may know their trade well but be lacking in the necessary business acumen of getting the required license or permits, knowing who to call when something is needed, knowing any hazardous materials regulations, knowing shipping and marketing and advertising practices and so on. The best solution for this is to get to know someone who is already established in business and be able to draw from their knowledge about some of these problems.Another very common problem facing a new startup is the staffing of QUALIFIED help. There has been many a failed attempt to start a small business that failed simply because the owner could not get, and keep, good help to work with him/her. Among the various crafts and trades this may not be much of a problem because the craftsmen generally know the other craftsmen of the same craft that are in the same general area. A bigger problem might occur when the business may need more specialized skills that may be hard to find. The solution to this is to consider the staffing needs ahead of time and ensure that there is a sufficient pool of workers to be able to maintain an adequate stall or postpone any attempt at startup until you can be confident of having the people needed to do the work.Some Availabe ResourcesThe government’s Small Business Administration (SBA) has reams and volumes of printed materials and online help sources to help guide anyone in what they might need to startup a new business. Besides the printed and online materials available there are often counselors and agents that will gladly offer to assist anyone in finding out what help is available through the agency they work for. Many times there may be outright grants or very low interest money available to help them get started.The colleges, schools and technical institutions in the area are also very good sources of help and information. Most of these schools will have several people, professors, teachers, administration and staff members that gladly help people in this way. These teachers will also know the businesses and people that can be a tremendous help to someone just getting started.A Few Problems Facing Small Business StartupsMore Available ResourcesAlmost every town and community has a Chamber Of Commerce that has some members of the chamber who are always looking for ways to attract new businesses to locate in their community. Thse people are a good source of help and should not be overlooked. Many times the community will offer incentives to induce companies and businesses to locate in their community. This can be very beneficial to the new business, especially if it is known that the business is looking for a good place to go. Neighboring towns will try to outdo each other in offering incentives to persuade the business to choose their community instead of a neighboring town. The incentives may be tax breaks, available property, labor supply or practically anything else that might be appropriate.Another very important aspect is the availability of good roads, airports, railroads or sea-going avenues of traffic and transportation. After all. It is not very good to have the capital needed, the facilities to build a product, the knowledge staff and supplies to build it and then not be able to get your product to the market in a timely manner. For this reason anyone wanting to start a new business must consider the market for his business and the availability of good transportation facilities.These Times, They Are A Changing.The days of the small family owned business has just about gone. It used to be that a family might own the same business for many generations and do very well with it. There are still many small family owned wineries in the north central part of the United States and they seem to be doing well. Nevertheless, these small family owned wineries do not compare in any way to the huge wine orchards in California and the Napa Valley wine orchards.This same scenario applies to other types of small family owned business. In Kentucky, Ohio and other coal mining states there are still small family owned mining operations going that provides a stable livelihood for the families that own the mines. Much of the material discussed earlier in this article do not apply very well to these types of small family owned businesses.ConclusionsIt is apparent from theses comments that starting up a small business from scratch is very risky and challenging. To start out with the knowledge beforehand that the odds are very high against a new startup being successful is a daunting challenge itself. Therefore anyone wanting to start a new business should very seriously consider each of the problems presented here and consider what solutions he/she may have to apply in starting up the business. If it then seems that they can make the startup work and build a strong business then they should go for it and do it. But if the startup fails then do not give up and quit. Just consider that you are still in good company because almost every other person that has tried has also failed a few times before. Keep in mind that as long as you are still trying then you are not a failure… yet.
Home Based Business Statistics
When you are thinking of owning a home business, the idea of home based business statistics is going to be something that is suddenly going to be very important to you. You might not know it, but when it comes right down to it, you are going to want to be aware of several home based business statistics before you get started, because you are surely going to want to be aware of what you are getting into and what your chances for success are going to be.
What Are They?
You might be wondering just exactly what the home based business statistics that you are going to be looking for are. Well, when it comes right down to it, home based business statistics are going to be series of information that you need when it comes to home business. The home based business statistics are going to be statistics that can tell you what type of businesses work well, which types fail, and what types just do a middle of the road kind of job.
Another thing that home based business statistics is going to be able to tell you is what kid of businesses are actually out there on the market today, and what the need is for more of them. If you see home based business statistics that state that a certain type of business is doing really well, and you can’t find very many of them, it might be a good idea to get on board with this kind of home based business. However, if you see home based business statistics that state that a certain type of business is only doing okay, but that there are a lot of this type of business, you might want to stay away from it because it might be a sign that points directly to the idea of there being too many of these businesses.
How To Read Them
You are going to want to look carefully at all of the information that you can find in the home based business statistics that you are looking at. Be sure to look at the type of business, and what is good about it and what is bad about it. You are also going to want to remember that often there are reasons that you aren’t aware of for why certain businesses fail, and this information might not actually be on the home based business statistics that you are reading. It might be an idea that you have to come to on your own, but you should always be aware of the possibility that a business didn’t do well not because of the business itself, but of the people running it.
Where Can You Find Them
If you are looking for home based business statistics you are going to want to start by looking online. Remember that there are many different types of home businesses, and when you are looking for home based business statistics you are going to keep in mind that you aren’t going to be helped by home based business statistics that don’t match the kind of business you are interested in. You have to be sure that you are finding statistics that really focus on what you are doing in your own home based business, or what you are planning to do once you start one. You are always going to want to make sure that looking at home based business statistics is something that you do often, so be sure you find lots of reliable sources for them. Remember too, that not everything that you will find on the home based business statistics speaks the whole truth. If you are interested in something, you want to do more research.
Starting Small Businesses Has Never Been Easier
I believe that it’s easier to succeed with small businesses than ever before. There are more opportunities for entrepreneurs to start small businesses today than at any previous time.
Here are some good reasons for why I believe this is true.
A) With the increase in population comes an increase in opportunities for small businesses.
Generally, a sparse population requires a small business owner to provide a wide variety of goods or services to survive. With a denser population, the small businesses can still survive by providing a very narrow range of products or services.
For example, in a smaller population a small business which provides gardening services would probably need to offer many things. Services could include general garden maintenance, planning, tree felling, lawn cutting, vermin control, pond planning and maintenance, hard landscaping etc.
With a bigger population a small business could thrive perfectly well by providing just one of these services, as there are more people who will need it.
B) The costs involved in starting and running small businesses has never been so low in proportion to income.
Technology has replaced many of the things which people used to do, and technology does the job a lot more cheaply.
Today it’s possible to reach literally millions of potential customers around the world very cheaply.
For example, only a few decades ago the cost of mailing to thousands of households was prohibitively high. Unless you had a very good product or service which sold well, a small business just wouldn’t risk it.
Another example, business premises security used to involve security guards walking around checking that all was well. Now a good security system can be bought for less than 1 week’s pay for that security guard, and it will work 24 hrs per day for years, for no pay.
C) Because modern life is so complex today, small businesses and individuals are open to new ideas, products and services like never before.
This creates a huge market for training courses, information provision services, educational aids, specialised products and services, novelties, etc.
With this great diversity come great opportunities to combine different products and technologies, thus making whole new areas of business possible.
For example, you can combine a low-light camera with wireless communications and a bird box. This means a nest may be watched remotely on a television or personal computer screen.
Another example would be to combine voice-chip technology with passive infrared technology to make it sound as though you have a huge dog indoors whenever anyone approaches your house.
In our recent history, these opportunities just didn’t exist.
D) It may not feel like it, but many people today have a lot more leisure time and a higher disposable income than in any previous age.
This spare income (and with the current attitudes to loans, a little more besides) tends to get spent on sports, games, hobbies, crafts, amusements, entertainments, holidays and weekend breaks etc.
This creates many opportunities for the entrepreneur to start up small businesses to satisfy all this extra demand.
E) To thrive in a modern society you need to have a lot of different skills.
Nowadays people cope with a variety of complex tasks. They buy and use a wide range of consumer equipment, fill out many forms, and communicate with all kinds of people from all walks of life (often from different countries and cultures). They also do difficult transactions like house purchasing, and so on.
All this is a long way from the average people who were around just a few hundred years ago. Many were farm labourers who could barely read or write and never travelled more than a few miles from home.
So now, the pool of potential business people is far greater than ever before. If a person can live well in a modern society, they already have the abilities they need to start up a small business enterprise and succeed.
The good news also is that if you lack a certain skill which your small business needs, then you can probably employ someone with that skill far more easily than ever before.
F) More people have access to money than ever before.
Until the late 1960s, most people were paid weekly and spent money as they earned it.
It was normal among manual workers to run right out of money around the time of their next pay packet, which often contained notes and coins!
Today most people have many bank accounts (with overdrafts) and access to credit cards, which alone have spending limits equal to a half or full year’s income.
Savings and share holdings are greater than ever before. A large proportion of the population can raise money on their house and if they don’t mind paying a high interest percentage, they can borrow with no security at all.
A great variety of people and institutions are now willing to lend money for good small businesses proposals.
With access to credit, you can buy the product, ship it to the customer and get paid before you have to pay for the goods which you sold. This just wasn’t possible until very recently.
G) Advice, courses and books about starting small businesses are within easy reach of everyone.
Researching your chosen business area has never been easier with the Internet so readily available.
Not so long ago, you would have needed to buy many books and read them all to get the specific information you required. Now you can ask a search engine very specific questions and get very specific answers, almost immediately.
This frees up small businesses and enables them to be far more productive and enterprising.
H) If you start a small business today you have an immense amount of technology available to you.
Computers, printers, copiers, audio and video recording and playback equipment, telephony and the internet are all easily available to any entrepreneur wanting to get started in a new small business enterprise.
Not long ago, the average multi-national company lacked the computing, communicating and printing power available to the ordinary person today.
You can probably think of at least 6 different ways to get a simple message to someone on the other side of the world. 5 of those messages would typically arrive less than 1 minute after you sent them.
Just 100 years ago, (and remember mankind has been around for about 3 million years) this same message would have involved horses and steam ships and would have taken months.
This massive improvement in technology (especially in communications and information) has really opened up the field to the individual who wants to go ahead with a new small business venture.
I) Small businesses starting up today have far more choices available to them.
In previous times, it was quite common for there to be only a few companies that they could go to, to buy business supplies. Whatever business you care to name, you would not find many suppliers of the materials needed to conduct that business.
Unless your business is in a very specialist area, you will now find you can source your supplies from a great many firms. This in turn drives your costs down, as you can shop around for the best deals.
For example, there used to be very few ways to get your goods delivered to your customers. Nowadays you could chose from literally hundreds of different carriers.
New companies can chose anywhere in the world to set up their small businesses, or indeed where to place any part of their business.
I know of a successful paintball company, which operates in the UK in summer. But when the business falls off due to the cold winter, they find new customers by simply moving the company to Brazil, and then return the following spring.
They also take advantage of the cheaper labour in Brazil to manufacture the paint balling equipment, and when back in the UK use the greater expertise in the UK to program their systems.
Not so long ago this flexibility of operating a small business would have been totally impractical.
Conclusion.
There are far more opportunities to start small businesses than ever before and entrepreneurs who do start new small businesses at home are more likely to succeed.
There are more potential customers, it costs less to start up and you have more choice over the kind of business to go into. Other benefits are a more skilled and educated workforce, and easy access to financial support.
The Finer Points of Internet Auctions
WHAT IS A PENNY AUCTION?
Penny auctions have exploded in popularity with the massive growth of the internet. However, few people know the true origins of penny auctions.Beginnings actually stretch back to the Great Depression. Those were hard times for everyone, but even harder for farmers. Farmers struggled to bring in steady income because of droughts and crops not selling as well as they had previously. As a result, the banks would foreclose on the farmers who couldn’t keep up with their mortgage payments.
The banks weren’t satisfied with just repossessing the house, they wanted to raise as much capital as possible, so they resorted to selling off the possessions of the owners of the repossessed houses. There was not much the farmers could do about it so they began bidding ridiculously low prices, pennies, on the items while threatening others who dared to bid higher than a few pennies.
The auctions of today hardly resemble their tremulous beginnings. Being part of a penny auction today is exhilarating, fun, and addictive. It combines the selling format of auctioning with a little bit of chance factored in.Auctions are a game of strategy but also a game of luck.
The premise behind penny auctions is giving people the chance to win an item at a drastically reduced price.Auctions make that possible by spreading out the cost of the product among multiple bidders. In order for a person to take part in an auction, they must pay a set price for each bid. For example, if a person wanted to bid on a fifty dollar Amazon gift card then he would spend a dollar for each time a bid placed. If he ended up winning the gift card, then he would only have spent a few dollars for a fifty dollar gift card. Usually penny auctions sell bids in packages.
HOW PENNY AUCTIONS WORK!
The main foundation of penny auctions is the pay-per-bid format. It is the key that allows bidders to win items at the fraction of their retail value and allows the auction owners to keep their site profitable. Most y auction sites run on the same premise: people pay a set amount for each bid, whenever a person places a bid within the closing seconds of the auction time will be added, the last person left with a unique bid after the clocks runs out will win the item. There are a large variety of items that can be won, but they tend to be popular electronics or gift cards to popular stores.
There are two types of auctions: lowest unique bid auction and highest unique bid auction. Lowest unique auction sounds confusing but it is actually quite simple. A unique bid is when only one person has a bid at a certain price. Bids usually start at one penny, a bidder can then place a bid at two pennies. Until another bidder places a higher bid, the most recent bidder will be the lowest unique bid because that was the only bid at two cents and nobody bid higher. However, penny auctions generally don’t stop at one penny. It is not uncommon to find auctions that end up at a couple hundred dollars based on the popularity of the item being auctioned. However, the same principles apply for those auctions. Highest unique bid auctions follow the more traditional auction format such as eBay. The person with the highest bid at the end of the auction wins the item.
Auction site owners turn a profit by selling bids. Say twenty people are bidding on a ten dollar gift card at one dollar per bid, at the end of the auction if there were twenty bids placed in total then the site owner would have made twenty dollars with a ten dollar profit.Auctions do seem like a win-win situation:The site owner makes money while the bidder gets an item for dirt cheap. However, not everyone wins in penny auctions. The people who paid one dollar each bid but left with nothing to show for their investments will not be so happy.
HOW TO WIN!
Penny auction has a lot of chance mixed into it, but one can incorporate strategy that will help raise the chances of winning. Playing smart can make all the difference between gambling and auctioning.
The first crucial tip to winning penny auctions is to know how to manage your bids. Your goal should be to win as much as possible without spending a ton of money buying bids. Managing your bids means that you should already know how much you are willing to risk in order to win an item. The amount of capital you are willing to risk will determine how many bids you can use. Once you know how many bids you have to spend on an item, then you will be better able to manage how and when you place a bid. That will keep you from blowing away all of your bids in the first few seconds of the auction.
The next tip is to practice time management. When fighting in the trenches of penny auctions, you have two enemies: other bidders and time. Knowing when to bid is a must if you want to have success. Placing a bid when there is a lot of time left on the clock is never a good idea. You have to remember that the key to winning a penny auction is being the last one standing when the clock runs out and that each bid increases the amount of time left. It would be a good practice to wait until the last few minutes of the auction before you begin to bid.
The final tip for successful auctioning is to keep your emotions under control.Auctions have a lot of similarities to gambling, and just like gambling, your spending can get out of control. If you keep your emotions level, it will keep you from making rash decisions and blowing loads of cash. Keep your mind clear so that you can gage the behavior of the other bidders and outsmart them.
HOW TO AVOID SCAM SITES!
Penny auctions are a great addition to the web whether you want to win an item that otherwise you wouldn’t be able to afford or if you simply enjoy the thrill that comes with bidding in auctions. Unfortunately, scam sites have tarnished the reputation of the legitimate penny auction sites. However, there are ways that you can protect yourself from scamers and enjoy your auctioning without having to worry about losing your money due to dishonesty.
Checking the reputation of the auction site before you start spending your hard earned money is always a good idea. Chances are other people have tried the site before you and some of them have left reviews. The reviews are your way to gage whether a auction site is trustworthy or not. If a site is getting overwhelmingly negative reviews, then that is a clear indication that you should steer your business elsewhere.
Another tool you can use to protect yourself is checking the Alexia ranks of the auction sites. Alexia rank will give a solid view of how much traffic the auction is getting. If you see a huge difference in the amount of traffic Alexia is projecting and the amount of active bidders on the site, then warning signals should be ringing in your head. Some auction sites have been known to set up robots that automatically bid on projects in order to keep the auction going and inflate the price. That is known as shill bidding. You can sniff out those sites by comparing the traffic the site should be getting to the amount of users using this site.
CONCLUSION!
New legislation may come out later down the road that will officially make penny auctions gambling, but until then, it is a fun, exciting auction that allows one to win the item they’ve always wanted but couldn’t afford.Auctions are also quite lucrative for the site owners because of the pay-per-bid strategy they’ve incorporated. Penny auctions had humble beginnings with farmers who just wanted to get back at the banks who kicked them out of their house. More recently, auctions have enjoyed an explosion in popularity with the rise of the internet.
There are two main formats fora auctions, lowest and highest unique auction, however they both run on the same premise where the last unique bid wins the item. Winning a penny auction will require a certain amount of mental tactic and a bit of luck. However, you can increase your odds of winning by practicing certain techniques such as managing your bids wisely, learning how to work with the time, and keeping a level head and your emotions under control. When you combine those three strategies to your bidding plan, you will find that you win a lot more often.
It is important that you do your due diligence to protect yourself when participating in auctions. Not every auction is run by honest and trustworthy people. There are people out there who just want to take your money. You can protect yourself by ensuring that you only bid on sites that already have a very positive reputation from real users.
How to Find Great Live Auctions for Resale Items
Hi, my name is Walt. I’m an auctioneer with 25 years of experience in the auction business and licensed in the state of MA. I own Quick Auction Service, a company that specializes in building and running custom auctions, I’m also the webmaster of my own site and have been on eBay for 8 years. Besides eBay, the types of auctions I run most frequently are antiques and on-site estate auctions, although I’ve run everything from business overstock auctions to charity & special event auctions.
I enjoy sharing my knowledge and stories of the auction business. My goal for article is to help folks get the absolute most out of their auction experience.
Whether your fresh out of the package or a seasoned dealer I think I can offer something in this article to help you with your auciton adventures.
There may be as many reasons to attend auctions as there are types of auctions to attend. Maybe you want to attend an auction to buy items for re-sale on eBay, or some other market. Maybe you want to furnish your home with wonderful antiques, or you want to furnish your home as inexpensively without sacrificing quality.Some folks are just looking for a fun night out. With a little perseverance all these things are possible.
There are antiques and estate auctions, auto auctions, overstock auctions, absolute and no reserve auctions, real estate auctions, specialty auctions where only one genre of items are sold, tailgate auctions, live auctions, online auctions, sealed bid auctions, silent auctions, charity and fund raising auctions and many more.
Can you really buy for pennies on the dollar at an auction? You bet! Many times I’ve seen folks buy and re-sell at the same auction on the same night for a good profit, although be advised, this should only be done after the auction is over.
There are a lot of ways to find an auction, but here are some tips on how to find and attend the best ones.
Visit the genre of shops in the area that apply to the type of auction you want to attend. IE: If your looking for a good antique auction to attend, stop in the local antiques shops and ask for what there are for good auctions in the area. Sounds obvious right? But listen to what they don’t say as well as what they do say. Oftentimes when a dealer speaks poorly about an auction he or she attends, it may be likely that they are trying to keep a good thing secret. Think for a moment, why would a dealer keep attending a lousy auction?
Newspaper ads: I personally like to find ads in the classified ad section rather than flashy display ads. Flashy ads are usually indicative of an auction that will be high priced, may have reserves, (a set price on an item), and usually an enormous crowd. While any auction can be profitable to attend, it is usually best to steer clear of the glitzy ones, at least for the beginner.
Here’s the minimum you want to find out before you go. If there is a phone number in the ad, call and ask for the terms of the sale. What forms of payment do they accept? Is it an absolute auction? An absolute auction is one that has no minimum or reserve bids on items. These are the best auctions to attend! Is there a buyers premium? A buyers premium is like a tax that everyone who makes purchases at that auction must pay above the winning bid price. Most auctions these days do charge a buyers premium, 10% is not unreasonable but I feel much more than that is greedy, and the auctioneer that charges over 10% is counting on most bidders not doing the extra math as the bids quicken in pace.
A fair auction will have ample time to inspect the merchandise, usually at least 2 or 3 hours. Find out when inspection starts and make sure to attend! Never attend an auction if you can’t make the inspection, not unless your prepared to gamble. Most auctioneers sell at a rate of about 100 items per hour, which is why they sell “as is”. They simply don’t have the time to give a detailed description of all the items. Since almost all items at auction are sold AS IS, there are sure to be some damaged, refinished, fake and incomplete items at any given auction. Beware of any auctions that offer very little or no inspection time.
Good auctions will usually have 150 to 400 lots. A lot may be one item or a group of items. The exception to this are specialty auctions, auto auctions, real estate auctions etc.
When you attend your first sale, take note of the 1/2 dozen or so dealers that buy the most often. See if you can find out about other area auctions they attend.
When you do find an excellent auction, attend it as often as possible. By frequenting good sales, you help increase the bottom line of that business. It’s difficult for many auctioneers to keep the quality of merchandise consistent, so good attendance certainly helps. And when an auctioneer gets to know you as a buyer, he/she will go out of the way to accommodate you, to keep you coming back.
Hiring An Auction Company
Estimating your assets value:
Typically, one of the first questions a business owner will ask me is, “how much will the assets bring at an auction”. After taking the time to review the assets, the auctioneer should give the client a conservative estimate of the sale based upon his experience and the current market trends. It is important that the company give realistic expectations so the seller can make informed decisions based on their best interest.
Compensation and Expenses:
Is the company you are considering working for you or against you? The agreement you decide may determine this.
A business owner should carefully consider how the auction company is compensated. The most common commission structures include: straight commission, outright purchase of assets, guaranteed base with a split above to both auctioneer and seller, guaranteed base with anything above going to auctioneer or a flat fee structure.
In a straight commission structure, the company is paid an agreed upon percentage of the total sale.
In an outright purchase agreement, the auctioneer simply becomes your end buyer. The company purchases your assets and relocates them. While this can be an option in some unique situations, keep in mind that they will want to purchase your assets at a very reduced price to make a profit at a later date.
In a minimum base guarantee, the auction company guarantees the seller that the auction will generate a minimum amount of sales. Anything above that amount either goes to the auction company or split with the seller. While a seller might feel more comfortable doing an auction knowing that he is guaranteed a minimum amount for his sale, keep in mind that it is the best interest of the auction company to secure a minimum base price as low as possible in order reduce their financial liability to the seller and secure higher compensation for the sale.
In a flat fee structure, the auctioneer agrees to show up for the sale and call the auction. There is no incentive for the auctioneer to get the best prices for your assets. The auction company is compensated regardless of the outcome of your sale.
What is the best option for business owners? In my experience, an agreed upon straight commission structure. This puts the responsibility on the auction company to offer the best outcome for everyone involved. There is an incentive for the auction company to work hard for both parties, set up and run a professional sale, get the highest bid and sell every item on the inventory. Successful auctions translate to a higher bottom line for both the seller and the auction company.
Auction Expenses:
In most auction agreements the expenses to conduct an auction are passed to the seller. If the auction company pays for the expenses, it is simply absorbed in higher commission rates.
All expenses should be agreed upon in advance in a written contract. Typical expenses will include the costs of advertising, labor, legal fees, travel, equipment rentals, security, postage and printing. A reputable auction company will be able to estimate all expenses based upon their experience in previous auctions. An agreement should be actual costs charged as expenses, not an estimated amount.
Advertising is typically the highest cost in conducting an auction. The auction company needs to set up an advertising campaign that will promote the sale to its best advantage and not overspend to simply advertise the auction company.
Once the auction is complete, the auction company should provide a complete breakdown of all expenses to the seller, including copies of receipts within the auction summary report.
Buyer’s Premium:
What is a buyer’s premium? If you attend auctions regularly, you are very familiar with this term. The auction company charges a fee to the buyer when they buy an item at auction.
The buyer’s premium has been around since the 1980′s and is standard auction practice. It was first used by auction houses to help offset costs of running brick and mortar permanent auction facilities. Since then, it has spread to all aspects of the auction industry. It is prominent in online auctions and allows auction companies to cover added expenses incurred from online sales.
It is the responsibility of the auction company to provide clear disclosure of the buyer’s premium to both the buyers and the sellers. Those not familiar with auctions are often taken back by the buyer’s premium. They looked upon it as an under handed way for the auction company to make more money. Reputable auction companies will provide full disclosure within the auction contract, advertisement and bidder registration.
Typically, an auction company will charge online buyers a higher buyer’s premium percentage than those attending an auction in person. Extra fees are incurred with online bidding and are charged accordingly to online buyers. This provides the seller a level playing field for both online buyers and those attending the auction in person. Without the buyer’s premium, there is no way to do this.
Pre-Sales:
We’ve all been there. We’re looking forward to attending an auction only to find that some items were sold prior to the auction date.
As an auctioneer with over thirty-six years of experience, I can honestly state that pre-sales will hurt an auction. When a company decides to liquidate their assets, it is easy to sell off high-end pieces of equipment through online sources, equipment vendors or to other businesses. The seller receives instant cash and avoids paying a commission to an auction company.
Auctioneer’s find themselves appearing to acting in a self-serving capacity when potential clients say they are planning to sell off parts of their inventory prior to an auction. It’s hard not to consider the auctioneer’s commission when they warn you not to pre-sell anything. Yes, the auctioneer wants to earn a commission on those sales but it is more important that the auctioneer protect the sale from potential negative backlash that comes from pre-selling. The buying public knows when an auction has been “cherry picked” prior to the sale and it reflects in their bidding. It becomes a sale of “leftovers” and that impacts prices.
A buyer who purchases prior to the auction usually does not attend the sale. They already bought equipment at a good price with no competition. If they do attend the auction, they tend to let others know of their great pre-sale purchases which again, impacts prices and the overall excitement of the sale.
It is important to understand that auctions work best with a complete inventory. You want competition on your higher end equipment. The easy to sell items make it possible to gain respectable prices for hard to sell items.
When a business owner decides to liquidate their equipment assets, there is only one opportunity to do it right. Hiring a reputable auction company will assist you with a professional, orderly and timely liquidation.