Your best life now comes in the form of a home based business. Working for someone else is alright, however it does not compare to leading your own home based business.Every since 9/11 people have been using their home as a sanctuary and or retreat. Given these tough economic times, homes have become fertile ground for generating revenue. Justifiably so, if given a choice of commuting to work every day, walking down the hall and or in your basement to work, which one will you choose?As for me, I chose to start a home based business because it gave me the comfort and control I always wanted. For example, with technology today I can start a new business, market and promote it on the internet and take the online business and transition it to a offline business to conduct live training, deliver speeches, write books, participate in tele-seminars and or panel discussions in the business community.It looks as though I am pretty excited about my home based business. Why not? I encourage you to consider starting a business, perhaps it can be information products, live talk radio show on the internet, host your own YouTube channel, podcast or a virtual business.Incorporate your business with the internet and the possibilities are unlimited. People are making a ton of money from their home. Some people ask, “Where do you meet clients?” I respond by telling them to meet with prospective clients at their office, at a hotel lobby and or there are a number of free office spaces one can reserve to conduct meetings, many come with administrative staff and diverse office oriented facilities.In my opinion, being able to manage your day is one of the greatest advantages of a home based business. You get to call your own shots, begin and end your day whenever you want to and depending upon how you structure your business, you will encounter very few interruptions.It is easy to see why I am so happy, I get to live my life on my own terms. Granted I still work hard and I have to find new customers, the bottom line is, I would not have it any other way. A home based business is about choices, decide if this is for you by writing down your goals and going after them.Here is to your home based business success, embrace the opportunity and forge ahead no matter what. If I can do it, so can you.
Low Cost Home Based Business Opportunities
One of the most important characteristics of good home based business opportunities is low-cost. So how much are you willing to spend for the first time with your low-cost home based business? Is it under $500 or $100? Usually any business which can be started by investing only $100-$200 is referred to as a low-cost business. Well there are many low-cost home based business opportunities but the best of them are obviously online businesses! Although you can still start something without utilizing the internet, like dog walking, private tutoring, pet service etc. Think about what you are most skilled at and go ahead with whatever feels right for you. You can research the internet to find out what is most suitable to you. There are many creative ideas for you if you are looking for just that! Just pick one and start when it feels right. Starting a low-cost business is not always the most profitable. But if you work hard and have the desire to succeed and improve, believe it or not, anything is right for you!Internet affiliate marketing has always been the best choice for home workers for several years now and the demand of product promoting is still increasing! Who knows? May be affiliate marketing is the future of marketing and those that have the hang of it are certainly well ahead of others. However, if you haven’t started anything like that yet, don’t worry, you still have time. Just join an affiliate marketing program and start promoting! Yeah, it’s that simple! If you have other skills that’s a big plus for you. You can start blogging, write articles, and use back linking, whatever seems suitable for you. Remember you don’t need money to start earning but courage to start progressing.I think you will agree, nothing comes absolutely free right? The question is, “how much are you willing to spend?” But the more important question is, “will this be worthy enough for you?” Well several low-cost home based business opportunities include, e-bay marketing, becoming a mediator, starting a telephone answering service, starting a first aid kit supply service and cleaning services. There are a lot more out there to list here but these are certainly low-cost, innovative, practical and profitable companies but they may not allow you the freedom and satisfaction an online company with affiliate marketing may.You certainly need some skills for any low-cost home based business opportunities but even if you don’t think you have any, I’m willing to bet that you do! Either way you are going to benefit from it and it’s never too late to learn something new! So go ahead, challenge yourself, you never know what’s waiting for you out there!
Don’t Risk Taking a Nosedive – Factors to Consider When Plunging Into the Home Based Business Market
So, you’re ready to join the ranks of the self-employed and start your own business. You’re tired of corporate instability and employment uncertainty, and you’re ready to control your own financial destiny. Terrific. But wait just a minute, have you really considered some of the critical factors before taking the plunge into the home based business market?Many eager entrepreneurs, especially those unfortunate souls who have recently (or even not so recently) joined the unemployed, drive into the home based business industry without truly considering whether the decision to start up a new business is a wise decision.As a result, much time, money and eventually heartache is spent trying to launch and build a business that, with a little preparation and research could have been avoided. So, let’s get started with some basic factors to consider when determining whether should start your own home based business.First, determine whether the home based business you are considering is legitimate. Home based business scams abound and unfortunately in today’s climate, many individuals fall prey to unscrupulous operators looking to make a quick dollar on the unsuspecting potential business owner.When evaluating work from home opportunities, try a quick Google search by entering the business type and the word “scam” in the search bar. Generally, reviews for that business or product will appear, which will provide you with a good indication of whether your business opportunity is legitimate. Additionally, perusing online forums are a great way to see what others are saying about various home based business offerings.Second, make sure that you can truly afford any start-up costs associated with launching your new business. It’s important to understand the start up costs associated with launching and maintaining the business for the first year, and to ensure that you have the funding necessary to weather any slow cycles or seasons. Trying to scrimp and squeeze out the funding to launch, especially if you’re taking from other critical expenses such as your household budget, can place a strain on you both financially and emotionally.And finally, ask yourself whether you have the basic experience, knowledge and passion necessary for that particular business. It’s oftentimes much more difficult to start a business in an area in which you have little or no experience, knowledge or expertise. And, while it can be done, the most successful home based businesses are those where the owner has some level of understanding about the business opportunity or product offering. Thus, it’s best to try and ensure that your skills match the prospective business.Remember, regardless of the type of business you ultimately choose, any successful operation will require many hours of your time to manage and work the overall business. Initially, there will likely even be a period of hard work for very little results, as is the case with any new business venture. Therefore, the more passion you have for the business, the more willing you will be to put in the long hours required to build and maintain a successful home based business. For more information about home based businesses, visit http://www.thehomebasedbusinessreview.com
The Importance of Home Based Business Scripts
I was having a conversation with one of my business partners tonight, and the topic came up about home based business scripts. We were actually talking about how much of a struggle it is for new business owners to get on track in terms of getting over the anxiety to call their people to promote events, products, or services. My response was that it’s just a natural part of the sales process, and that people should get over it. We discussed various ideas and threw around some new ones to help people overcome the fear, but it all came down to home based business scripts.Without having home based business scripts in front of you to sort of act as a verbal guide, it’s mortifying to so many individuals who start a home based business that they need to pick up the phone and actually talk to people. I know many people who will actually take the time to come up with excuses just so they can get out of a call workshop or calling their people. It’s very sad, because if they only knew how much their friends, family, and acquaintances actually thought of them, then they wouldn’t be so fearful. The truth is, they rarely think of you, so why waste your time fretting over people who don’t even think that much of you?Do you ever wonder why movies have scripts? It’s because it doesn’t ruin the flow of the movie, because it allows the actors and actresses to follow a rubric so they won’t stall and create more “NG” clips. I think people refer to these as bloopers, but you get the picture. Home based business scripts are equally important when it comes to your own success, because if you had to “wing it,” you would probably be stumbling and bumbling and the exchange would be an utter fail with the customer or prospect, because they would soon realize that you have no idea what you are doing.I know that some of you are rolling your eyes, because you think that you are a superstar in the industry, and that you can make any call, without home based business scripts, and you’ll be successful. Well my friend, I can tell you this: superstars only come once in a lifetime. Everyone else learns how to be professional through scripted performance.Any good home based entrepreneur knows that the key to success is through duplication of teachable techniques that everyone can do. Establishing home based business scripts is one of those duplicatable techniques that can trickle through your organization. Flying by the seat of your pants is definitely not considered duplicatable.So what comprises really great home based business scripts? Let’s take a look:1) Good script packages cover almost every occasion possible so your new business partners always have a way to get in a conversation and get out with contact information.2) The script is clear, concise, and easy to follow without any real pre-coaching3) Scripts are made with ever-changing dynamics in mind, such like a decision tree, where different scenarios that are presented are already covered in the tree to guide the prospect through the conversation4) Scripts are so well-written that they don’t really leave any room for interpretation or modification of the wording. 5) Good scripts should have a setup and follow-up system before and after the script content, so the prospect knows how to open, and more importantly, CLOSE!6) Scripts are generally free of foul language or slang, so it removes any angst or ambiguity. 7) Scripts have good use of emotional language and trigger words that the prospects can identify with to create value.During that exchange with one of my business partners at the beginning of this article, I actually came up with some fantastic home based business scripts that are virtually fail-proof and get the job done every time. If you want to create your own scripts too, I would highly recommend it! It’s good practice, and it can help to improve your writing ability and imagination.If you are just starting out and want pre-made scripts, there are a number you can find online. Just figure out what works for you and is a script that you are comfortable using during a phone conversation. Anything you can do to make that experience easier and less nerve-racking is a plus.
Strategic Planning in Small Business – Is There Such Thing?
“The vast majority of small business owners do not plan”, I think that we can regard this statement as a ruling. But why is it so? As far as my knowledge reach, the reason for this derives from two different aspects: First, the lack of time that every small business owner face, which exists mainly because of the centrality of the small business owner in the day-to-day management tasks that are crucial for the maintenance of the small business. Second, the skills, or lack of skills, to establish a profound strategic planning process that will evolve into strategic plan that will lay out the small business goals and objectives and the necessary resources needed to achieve those objectives. Such skills are not as common even when we are dealing with large business top managers, but contrary to small business owners large business top managers do have the access to professionals in the field of strategic planning and the necessary resources to hire them, and this is what makes the whole difference.After saying all this, several questions needed to be answer: do all small business owners sentenced to lag behind their corporate colleagues regarding strategic planning? Is there something that the small business owner can do in order to narrow the gap? And if there is, what will be the benefits to the small business owner?Small business owners will never have the necessary resources needed to close the gap with large businesses regarding strategic planning process and implementation. But frankly I don’t think that they should put neither their time nor their money in the elusive quest to narrow this gap. What small business owners can and should do is to understand that a small business is not a large business regarding its abilities and needs with the only exception that it’s employ fewer employees. If this understanding become a common knowledge to the small business owner, it is rather obvious that he or she should adopt different approach regarding strategic planning.The idea that strategic planning at small business should not come in a rigid form, that dictate a step by step formula what the small business should do and how it’s need to act at every possible situation, opens a whole new set of alternatives to engage at some sort of strategic planning from which the owner and its business will be the main beneficiaries. The benefits to the small business from engaging in any sort of strategic planning could be as follow: The understanding of the small business owner how he sees the objectives of its small business as for today and what he plans to the future. Defining the resources needed to achieve those objectives and plans. Insight what are and will be the risks while trying to implement its present and future plans.
Proven Home Based Business Gives You What You Truly Desire
When you join a proven home based business, you are lifted by hope that you too can live the life you always dreamed about. In fact, you should even feel yourself have 100% conviction that your life as you know it will change forever. That change will look exactly like the life you have always dreamed about. With a proven home based business, you can achieve success like you have never experienced it before. You can spend time doing the things that you honestly desire.
You will be shown how to run a business like any other CEO with the benefits of mentors showing you exactly how to do it. You will have business partners that align with your vision, and support your success. This proven home based business will finally take away the financial burdens, time restrictions and let you live life from anywhere YOU want to be.
Imagine having mentors every step of the way showing you how to generate a income within 90 days. You will no longer be relying on deadbeat bosses to increase your income. You will be living the life of your dreams – on your terms. You will join forces with the most powerful business partners who will teach you what it takes to become a successful entrepreneur. You will learn how to invest in your proven home bases business without fear that your investment will be lost, or costing you an arm or a leg.
You will learn how to leverage residual income like the wealthy, and have your money work for you while you are doing other things. A proven home based business is tested and result driven. It is not a fly by the night operation, or a small scale affiliate system that has you peddling goods for peanuts. It is a lucrative income opportunity that real business owners are flocking to as they close the doors on their traditional brick and mortar businesses.
There is so much verbal garbage, you have to do your research to qualify a business for your time. A proven home based business will reveal itself when you look at who the people are, and if they can show you how to succeed. You will be able to plug into a system that teaches you from the minute you begin. You will surround yourself with people who are driven like you to live their dream lifestyle.
A proven home based business is not a typical mlm. Most serious brick and mortar business owners will not close their doors to join a group of non-professional MLMers peddling to everyone in their three foot radius. It takes a proven business model with a real formula for six and seven figure income results to catch their attention.
A CEO of this level will look at the profit margins to ensure there is up to 80% profits for a personal gain. They will also look at proven marketing strategies, and demand in the market. They implement cutting edge strategies that ensure their audience is being reached. There is no magic tricks or illusions, just straight facts on how you can achieve great financial success with this proven home based business model.
If you are not a former business owner or a CEO, you might be asking if it is possible for you to have success with a proven business model. The one thing that will ensure you too can have the same success is for you to follow through and take the opportunity. The only difference between you and an existing successful business owner is that they already took the risk, and found it can work.
You might be asking, can I afford it, and will it really work? You have to decide how serious you are about owning a business and what you will do to get it. Some people would rather buy a flat screen TV than invest into their future success. You can afford it – if you make the decision. The money always comes after the decision is made. It will work when you decide it will work.
A proven home based business is not in testing. It is proven because it has been tested on others and if you follow the path of success, it will work for you too. No one can do it for you – it is up to you to overcome your fear and align your actions with what you want in the future.
The home based business industry is riddled with unproven, and highly unsuccessful opportunities. Many former brick and mortar business owners don’t take MLM, or many home based businesses serious. That is because many are not proven, many will not allow you to make a significant income quickly. If you are serious about joining a proven home based business, it is critical that you align with people who have success and take their business seriously.
Don’t be afraid when you see testimonials of people in a proven home based business that are making multiple six figures a year, and may make more in a month than you make in a year. You should feel confident that you have found the right vehicle. 95% of home business owners fail, you have to set yourself apart and put yourself around the top 3% if you want to see success for yourself.
There is no guarantee in life that you will be successful. All successful business owners know that they are responsible for the success of their business. You will have to do the same things that the accomplished people do. A proven home based business will guarantee their product, or service. You should be able to make any investment with them, and always know that if you are not happy with the product you purchased as part of your business, you can always refund your money. There should be absolutely no risk in what you are doing if you follow through with a proven solution.
In today’s economy it is more important than ever to get your assets, and income in line with your dreams. The dollar is weak, and it will not get any easier any time soon to make an easy buck from a less than lucrative opportunity, or get raises from your boss that secure your future. You want to invest into a business that will actually build your financial goals with you immediately. You can work on tomorrow by taking action today.
There is no way to get what you truly desire other than taking action. It is up to you to decide how bad you want to start living life on your terms. If you want to set yourself apart from the pack, and become the top 3% to acquire wealth in a downward economy, get an application today with a proven home based business.
How Pay-Per-Click Advertising Drives Profit and Brand Awareness
Plus, How PPC Helps You Reach Your Customers
Pay-per-click advertising plays a significant role in any marketing strategy. That can be a bold statement for some, especially since this advertising strategy intimidates many small- to mid-size business owners. And if you’re like many people, you can’t help but wonder, “Does pay-per-click work?”
You figure that if you pay Google even a small amount-say, $1.00 per click-your ad budget will be drained in short order considering all of the Google searches that occur daily.
Let’s explore why this assumption could be holding you back from growth and how pay-per-click advertising drives profit and brand awareness.
First, What Is Pay-per-click?
We’ve all seen the search engine results labeled ‘Ad’ at the top and bottom of a search engine results page (SERP). Pay-per-click (PPC) is a marketing strategy that allows advertisers to place ads online and pay the hosting platform (e.g., Google or Bing) when someone clicks on their ad. The marketer using the PPC strategy hopes the ad will lead a user to click through to the marketer’s app or website and purchase a product or service, or take some other valuable action. Search engines host PPC ads, displaying ads at the top and bottom of SERPs that are relevant to their users’ search queries. Pay-per-click with Google AdWords is one of the top choices. Bing is another, since many computers today come loaded with Bing as the default search engine.
Google AdWords – Paid Search
One of the most popular PPC advertising platforms by far is Google. What could be better than placing your ad in front of the very person searching for what you’re selling in real time? The moment they input their search query, Google pulls up a relevant paid search result to show them exactly where to buy that product or service.
How Paid Search Works
Every search engine results page (SERP) search query spot triggers an instantaneous auction for the keyword(s) the user input into the search bar. Advertisers bid for these keywords in advance when they set up their marketing campaigns through the advertising account. The search engine then determines the winning bid for that keyword based on a combination of factors, including bid amounts and the quality of the ads. The winner gets the top position, and others fall below them on either the top or bottom of page one, page two, etc.
Bid Adjustments
Not seeing any results? Advertisers can adjust their bids at any time, depending upon the best criteria for their campaign. For example, suppose a particular marketing campaign does well on mobile devices. In that case, the advertiser can increase their bid by a certain percentage to ensure their ad shows up more frequently on cell phones and tablets.
Conversion Tracking & Cost Per Click
Why is conversion tracking important? Because you need to know how much money you’re making (or losing) from an ad. It’s the only way to determine whether your cost per click (CPC) is eating into your profits.
Negative Keywords – Google
With so much emphasis on bidding for the best keywords, you might not think about adding keywords you don’t want to rank for. Yet keeping those words in mind can weed out unproductive clicks (clicks you pay for whether they convert to sales or not).
For example, if you’re a pizzeria targeting the keyword phrase, “Florida pizza,” you don’t want to attract people looking for jobs delivering pizza. So you may want to enter “pizza jobs” as a negative keyword in order to prevent your ad being shown for searches on the key phrase.
One real-world example we’ve encountered involves a company offering cold therapy to reduce “saddle bags” on hips and thighs. In advance of launching their PPC campaign, we entered “Harley Davidson” or “bike saddle bags” as negative keywords. This tactic prevents the client from being shown for those search results or pay for any inadvertent clicks.
Simply scroll down to the section where you can add negative keywords to your campaign, click the + sign and add a negative keyword phrase to make sure Google doesn’t show your ad to users who input an undesired key phrase into their search query.
Remarketing Pixels
With the dawn of user data collection, retargeting programmatic advertising has become one of the prime strategies to stay top of mind for someone who may be getting ready purchase your product or service. Remarketing pixels allow you to show targeted ads to specific individuals who have already interacted with your digital properties (e.g., website). You can embed these pixels on your website, in emails, and when setting up your pay-per-click ad on a search engine or social media platform.
HTML code that’s invisible to the user tracks the behavior of your email subscriber, website visitor, or social media follower from the moment they interact with the digital media you’ve embedded with the tracking pixel. The data these tracking devices collect provides insights regarding user behavior that could help you formulate your content strategy, including personalized email marketing sequences. If you use them in Google AdWords PPC ads, your ads could follow the user, popping up on other websites or social media platforms they visit after interacting with your remarketing pixel.
Video Remarketing
Video remarketing, also known as retargeting, is a form of PPC advertising that uses a tracking pixel to collect identifying information about users who have previously visited your website, watched a video, or engaged with your digital content. Video remarketing then serves video ads to that list of contacts. For instance, if you’re using YouTube, you can set up video ad campaigns that serve specific YouTube videos to users who have watched a specified video. They watch that video, then YouTube will serve up the video you want them to see next (e.g., a video you created to advertise your product or service).
Tending to Your Pay-per-click Marketing Strategy
Pay-per-click is not a marketing strategy you can set one time and forget about it. To get the maximum return on your investment, you need to tend to it-daily. From budgeting to analytics to bid adjustments, everything you do to stay on top of your PPC campaign will improve your gains. Click here for an easy-to-follow PPC checklist.
Social Media Advertising and Reach Ads
As an advertiser, you may also want to consider social media advertising as another way to reach more potential customers. Social media advertising consists of putting some money behind an already performing social post, then deciding your demographic (gender, age, location radius, even interests), and setting a budget and time frame for your promotion. Facebook is one of the top social media platforms for advertising, but there is a difference between social advertising and pay-per-click. On social media the advertiser pays for impressions, not clicks.
Facebook: boost a post or run an ad
Instagram: Sponsor a post
Twitter: Promote a tweet
LinkedIn: Promote a LinkedIn post
More Pay-per-click Tips
Design multiple ads in batches, and refresh ads quickly to prevent ad fatigue and banner blindness.
Look at your campaign numbers daily and tweak creatives, bids, and negative keywords as needed to improve results.
Use remarketing pixels to trigger your ad to show up on other sites your prospects visit.
Do a remarketing video explaining what it would be like to be a customer of your business and include a testimonial.
Use opposite messaging (e.g., if your funnel is emotional, your video should be logical and vice versa).
Remarket with a video ad showing what it’s like to buy your product or be one of your customers.
Use multiple headline variations, and A/B split test your ads.
Pay-per-click advertising can play a significant role in your marketing plan if you know how to maximize your results.
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.