Auction Site Home Business

Online auction sites are one of the fastest growing businesses on the Internet today. Almost everyone knows at least one person who has either bought or sold a product through an online auction service such as eBay or Yahoo! Setting up an auction Web site may seem easy at first glance. However, the popularity and success of online auctions has led to an explosion of these sites. This has resulted in stiff competition among auction sites.

You must find a niche market—for example, rare collectibles, baseball cards, celebrity memora¬bilia, or autographed items—to set yourself apart from the competition. If you decide to open an online auction site, you will be using a special computer program that places items up for auction on your Web site. People interested in the auctioned item place bids. If you are using a good auction program, then your computer will keep track of these bids and will finally close the auction and notify the seller and the successful bidder. The bidder and seller must arrange for the shipping of the item privately.

Your sources of income will be the commission earned from the sale of each item on your site or the fee charged to submit an article and banner advertising revenue. Some auction sites also include a membership fee for access to selling on the site.
What you’ll need to embark on this opportunity is basic Web publishing and digital imaging know-how, and an in-depth knowledge of the auction software program you are going to use. You will also want a robust list of contacts with items available for auction on your site or knowledge of Internet marketing to spread the word about your business online.

The cost to set up and run this type of business ranges from as low as $10,000 into the millions for a presence like eBay. The most expensive elements of the startup will be the auction software and the extensive marketing needed to launch this type of business. You will also have to pay for the design, develop¬ment, and hosting of your Web site.

The number of employees needed may change as the business grows. It will depend on the volume of business you handle and the degree of automation of your online presence. To start, one competent person can handle operations.

Online auctions have strong international potential. Unless you are a specialty site, anyone can place anything up for auction. It is the customer’s responsibil¬ity to arrange for the transfer of auctioned items. So it is entirely possible for someone in Zimbabwe to use your site to buy a lock of Elvis’s hair from some¬one in Greenland.

There is already a saturation of auction sites; some have proven to work and others have flopped. Getting the buyers to your site will be the biggest chal¬lenge, so once you build a somewhat dedicated audience, it’s important to be responsive to their needs by incorporating a rating system that is regulated by the users of your auction site. You want to develop a system to ensure that you are paid your fee or commission if you don’t handle the financial transaction from your site. Niche auction sites still provide a great opportunity. Stamp auctions, coin collector auctions, and similar types of niche auctions provide for easier mar¬keting.

For online marketing techniques, By asking if your customers would like to be kept updated on any great deals in their field of interest, permission marketing could be one of your greatest assets. For example, an Elvis fan might be interested in knowing when an Elvis-related item comes up for auction. Banner exchange and banner advertising on sites that have the same target market you do can be very effective. Consider using viral marketing. This will allow your customers to in¬vite friends to join the auction site. If users see something a friend might like, they will most likely pass on the information. Develop a sponsored listings campaign to bid on appropriate keywords with the popular search engines. Develop and implement a comprehensive link strategy.

Online example, http://www.ebay.com, eBay is synonymous with online auctions in the same way as Nike is synony¬mous with sneakers. http://www.ubid.com, Another well-designed auction site. Not as omnipresent as eBay, but a well-laid-out site nonetheless.