Starting a home based business is advisable, especially now that computers and the internet are almost in every home. You don’t have to remain on the sidelines and keep admiring those that are presently making thousands of dollars monthly from their simple blogs on the internet. The money making opportunities on the internet are so vast at the moment but if you are at a cross road as to how to begin, you can opt for blogging. This is because there is no need for you to learn any web designing skill whatsoever in order to have your blog on the internet.Are you tired of your present job? Have you been thinking of starting a home based business? You may choose from simple freelance web designing, some paid online surveys, freelance articles and content writings, selling tips on some skills you have and so on. The list is quite large but the point is that you just have to look inside yourself to know what you will be happy to do, and you will find others who will be equally happy to pay you to do it for them. It is awesome to note that you can begin to do such things from the comfort of your home, as long as you have access to the internet.Just before starting a home based business, especially if such business is to be carried out through the net, there are certain factors and considerations you must think of. The first thing is for you to determine your strong points or where your strength lies because you will be providing more satisfactory jobs in such niches. For example, if you are a proficient writer or if you always see yourself spotting errors in the newspapers, you may not know that your talent is just being wasted while you complain of your unsatisfactory 9 – 5 job. You can set up an article or content creating portal on the internet and try as much as you can to know what others are doing in the industry. This will help you to price your services right without scaring your potential clients away. Just take it easy with pricing but determine to over-deliver in the quality of the content you create for any client. With time, you will start getting positive reviews from independent sources and you can then raise your fees.The good thing about starting a home based business is that no one will be there to give any directives and you will be able to work on your own time without any form of interference whatsoever. The heart-warming part of it is that if you are consistent and focused, you will soon start making your 30 day pay in just a few days. What you are reading here is the plain truth because lots of folks have done it and are still doing it, so there is no reason to believe that you can not repeat or even surpass the same feat. Once your business is up and moving, it will be time for you to follow some online marketing routes to increase the visibility of your home based business.
Americans Are Looking for the Best Rated Home Based Business
The recession has been particularly unkind to Americans and now they are looking to access the best rated home based business opportunities. According to the 2010 US Census data, 153.2 million workers over the age of 16 were identified. About 5.9 million of them work from home. This represents 3.85% of that workforce. Therefore this industry employs very many people.The individuals who are getting off the corporate ladder are looking for things that are out of the ordinary. They no longer want to be stuck with a job that makes excessive demands on them with limited income generation opportunities. Although some people fear direct sales, the internet has ensured that the level of interaction is strictly controlled in the favor of the client.Identifying the gap in home business provision
Unfortunately all the stimulus packages which have been proposed by President Barack Obama make very limited reference to home workers. The public is still caught up in the paradigm that you are not a worker unless you are based in an office. Meanwhile people who are being laid off are finding innovative ways of earning a legitimate income.Are there guarantees with the best rated home based business? Many of the first trials end up in failure. This happens because the entrepreneur is either not experience or they have really unrealistic expectations of the work that they are supposed to do. As a consequence there is a disconnection between their anticipated revenue and the actual figures that come out.There is no quick solution to unemployment. The critical thing is for the people affected to open their minds up to the opportunities which may be waiting for them. If you have been an effective dental nurse, there is no reason why you cannot run an agency in this field. Lawyers can hold informal surgeries while doctors can open a private practice.The image of home based businesses
Unfortunately some of the stereotypes that are associated with this sector are true. There are some unscrupulous elements which continue to exploit circles of people without any remedy. The national governments have not paid enough attention to the schemes which are not delivering all the advertized benefits which attract the new entrepreneurs.Can something be done to encourage people into cottage industries? The tax incentive is very powerful especially if it is accompanied by full regulation. The best rated home based business is one which can give the entrepreneur the profits which they expert while at the same time improving their outlook.
Home Based Business MLM – Can You Really Make Money With Home Based Business MLM Style?
The home business industry is one of the fastest growing on the planet right now. It’s really not surprising either, given the state of most peoples’ finances. Home businesses are typically a great opportunity to help with cashflow by providing a secondary income stream, or even replacing a working income. There are also tremendous tax advantages associated with a home based business MLM. However, the burning question for most people is can you REALLY make money? And it’s a reasonable question. After all, you have to wonder why over 90 % of people who get involved in the industry don’t make it. The answer, in fact, is an emphatic “yes you can!”, but only under certain circumstances. This article explains.Home Based Business MLM – How To Actually WinIf this is the first time you’ve heard the statistic that the industry has a 90% failure rate, you may be surprised. What you may not realize is that those documented “failures” are really just people giving up. Now to be fair, they’re giving up with relatively good reasons – they haven’t been able to make it work. They haven’t been successful at really generating significant income using their home based business MLM vehicle. But often it’s not their fault.It takes a few simple, critical things in order to be successful with home based business MLM. While these things are SIMPLE, that doesn’t necessarily mean they are easy to create or to find. But if you can find them, and you commit yourself to being coachable and doing what it takes to succeed, financial freedom is virtually guaranteed. It’s just a matter of time.These are the critical Elements for A Successful (Profitable) Home Based Business MLM:Home Based Business MLM – Partnering with the right companyIf you’re going to stand behind something, you’d better be 100% certain that they can stand behind their product, their resources, their infrastructure, their leadership, and their long term sustainability. You’d also better be sure you’ve partnered with a company that shares your values and beliefs about what’s most important. Personally, if a company is ONLY about making money (you can tell if that’s all they talk about) then you’re in the wrong place. If, however, they have a bigger mission and vision that is parallel to your own, you have an opportunity for some great synergy. Partner with only the best home based business MLM company, partner for the right reasons, and partner for life.Home Based Business MLM – Having A Great Team Who Understands What Leadership Really Is So many people think leadership is about telling people where to go. This is especially true when you see someone who has been able to create results for themselves. These people tend to say “do this, then do that…” and then leave a person to figure it out for themselves. The home based business MLM industry is FULL of companies and people who use this model for “Leadership”. But leadership truly is showing someone how they can get from where they are to where they want to be…and then TAKING THEM THERE. I remember when I finally partnered with the right team and what a difference that made for me. We operate from a “learn, do, teach” model with more support than I’ve ever personally seen in the industry. That’s how it should be done.Home Based Business MLM – Understanding What Kills Most Businesses Often the home based business MLM model relies on having a decent number of connections or contacts that you are able to share your product, service, or business opportunity (or all of the above) with. What kills a good percentage of our 90% failure crowd is simply running out of people to talk to. They don’t understand how to market themselves and their business. They don’t understand how to put what they have to offer directly in front of the people who want it. This was another critical element for me personally. When I learned how to have an endless stream of people coming to ME, asking me about what I had to offer, the whole game changed. And nothing is more fun than helping people in my organization experience that same shift.The home based business MLM vehicle is by far the most fair, most accessible, and most powerful tool for financial freedom and wealth building available today. And provided you adhere to and conquer the simple elements above, you will win.
Home-Based Business Vs Work From Home Job – Which Is the Best One for You?
A home-based business is just what it sounds like – your own business. That means that there are going to be some costs involved with getting started and maintaining it. These costs vary from home-business to home-business, but are normally quite low cost and easy to recuperate. Traditional businesses cost thousands of dollars to start and maintain, and include such expenses as: start-up fees, legal fees, overhead, employee salaries and benefits, legal fees, advertising, and much more. Most home-based businesses are extremely cheap to start and run. If it is a Network Marketing business, the costs are even lower. In these types of opportunities you become an independent marketing associate of the company, and simply plug into the system that’s already in place. Your website, marketing tools, the product or service, legal stuff, etc., has all been put in place for you and your job is simply to market the system/product. The network marketing model has been gaining in credibility more in recent years as more and more people earn significant part time incomes from the comfort of their home. The most powerful element of the network marketing business opportunity as a home-based business it the potential for the associate to earn tens of thousands of dollars per month over time, by building a team of associates whom they train and earn leveraging dollars from. Affiliate marketing does not entail building a team, but involves the affiliate learning marketing methods to drive a steady stream of qualified traffic to their website in hopes that visitors will make a purchase, of which the affiliate then makes a commission.A work from home JOB, on the other hand, is simply an extension of the employee/employer relationship, conducted from the comfort of the employee’s home. Examples of a work at home job could include: telemarketing, customer services, technical support workers, writers and editors who work on salary instead of contract, etc. The benefits of having a work at home job as a opposed to a home-based BUSINESS is that as long as you do the work you are hired to do, there will be a paycheque. In a business there is a paycheque only if you’ve acquired business (sales, recruits, etc). In a home-based JOB, there are usually no costs associated, and there is less work and/or responsibility. However, a job pays the employee for their time only, and there is no way to build a residual long-term, growing income. The income potential is limited and the person is virtually renting their time for money. They are not building equity as in a business.It takes a certain mindset to operate a home-based business and it is not for everyone. This is for the: risk-taker, dreamer, visionary, ambitious, wealth-seeking type of personality. If that fits you, take some time to find a home-based business opportunity that you are happy with, learn how to be an effective Internet marketer, and then take massive action.
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.If you do want your own enterprise, you can also use the power of the Internet to carry out good and fast research, and to support your business in many ways. I believe there has never been a better time to start up new small businesses.
MLM Home Based Business – Financial Freedom or Endless Struggle
Thousands of people a month are looking for an MLM home based business so they can sack their bosses and create financial freedom for themselves from the comfort of their own homes but this is not the case for 98% of the people who start in his industry and the major reason they fail is because they can’t generate enough home based business leads, without a consistent flow of leads you don’t have a business.
The home based business industry promotes financial freedom but in in reality the majority of people who enter into this industry with big dreams of creating wealth for themselves struggle to even quit there day job and there really is two major reasons why this is.
1 – They choose the wrong MLM home based business
2 – They can’t generate enough home based business leads
There is really thousands of network marketing companies to choose from when trying to find the right company for you and to make it even worse there are new companies launching all the time so where do you begin when searching for that right company that is going to allow you to have a successful MLM home based business?
I want to give you 5 main factors to look for when searching for that perfect company:
1 – The company needs to have a product that is in high demand and will be in high demand for years to come.
2 – Top tier compensation plan. (If you want to make money fast)
3 – The company needs to have an easy to follow system in place to ensure your success.
4 – A community of successful people within the company that you can connect with for assistance and guidance, there is nothing like learning from people that have led the way to success.
5 – You really want a company that you can feel proud to be partnering up with that way you will love your business and the work that you do in your business.
There are a lot of great companies out there and if you combine these 5 main factors I am sure that you will find a great company that will give you the ability to create financial freedom for yourself and your family.
Finding a company to start an MLM home based business is going to be the easy part now you have to get to work selling the product and bringing people into your down line in order to create wealth, this all starts with home based business leads.
The old school way of finding prospects to join your business is by making a list of your friends and family then make a list of their friends and family, once you have done that hassle them until they either buy your products or join your business, now this procedure works for some people but there is evident reasons why these marketing methods will not work for the majority.
It is not expected that your friends and family will share the same dreams and goals that you have for running a flourishing MLM home based business so you will struggle to build a 6 figure income with home based business leads like this, so people do but the majority of the people who enter into this industry will struggle.
This industry has changed and the way you can create free MLM leads has changed thanks to the technology that we have available these days, thanks to the internet it has never been easier to generate 50+ home based business leads every single day to talk to about your business opportunity, could you envision the work you would have to do to put your business in front of even 30 people a day without the use of the internet?
So the second and the most main part to running a successful MLM home based business is having more MLM leads than time and when you have more leads than time your posture on the phone becomes more confident and you really don’t care if they join your business or not because you have another 49 people to talk to that day not to mention another 50 the next day and every day after.
If you are struggling in this industry or you are thinking of joining a company and starting an MLM home based business then you have to take your business into your own hands and learn how to generate home based business leads online, your goal should be to have at least 50+ leads per day this is not hard if you have the right online marketing training and you take steady action with your marketing.
Why Advertise on Facebook: The Pros and Pros
I know, I know. You may think the title has typo errors being “Why Advertise on Facebook: The Pros and Pros”. But, it is correct and intentionally written that way, because there aren’t really “cons” when it comes to advertising on social networking giant Facebook. Well, there may be, but the “cons” are far too small to be consequential.
Why advertise on Facebook?
This is the most common question of among advertisers and even by some of those successful marketing companies who use traditional Search Engines, Google or direct mail and those small business enterprise owners. The list below will help you think about why advertising on Facebook is different and more profitable compared to the traditional ways of advertising.
1. It has a great advantage especially to small businesses because they can make their business visible to the public even without spending a lot of money just like what successful companies do.
2. With Facebook, the entire globe is your market.
3. It has the New Facebook Insights where you can view who are those people and how many of them like your Facebook fan page.
4. It is very easy to access your customers socially and professionally while talking about what your product is all about.
5 You are paying less to make a big promotion for your brand or company.
6. Customers can immediately get their answers out of their queries directly from the advertisers or the owner of the company.
7. Advertisers who have spent a lot of money for advertisements can maximize and optimize their budget by advertising their own brand in Facebook.
8. Social networks like Facebook are less costly in advertising compared to the traditional advertising.
9. Facebook will give you the privilege to make your creative and innovative marketing plan or advertisement campaigns.
10. Facebook is a place of mix. It allows everyone to connect or reconnect, socialize, chat, and share everything people are interested about. The word of mouth is powerful and Facebook is the new “word of mouth”.
These are still a lot more other benefits, just to answer as to why advertise on Facebook. It’s a big world for opportunities and activities. In fact, Facebook connects more than just from people to people, it also connects:
• People to social group of individuals
• People to organizations
• People to educations
• People to schools
• People to causes
• People to brands
• People to interest and hobbies
• People to events
• People to business companies, etc.
In Facebook, you can make yourself grow and become popular together with your business enterprises. There is no need to spend a lot of money to advertise on expensive advertising company online. In fact, there are companies who have a great fame in the field of advertising but the reviews and comments are not trustworthy.
All you have to do is have an enticing, informative and well updated advertisement on Facebook and be sure to take a look at the important matters to be attended especially when it comes to customers queries. Keep visible and trustworthy; however effective your products and services are, you will be put in trash if you cannot build a strong and trust worthy relationship with your clients. Remember your reason why advertise on Facebook; that’s to generate sales by attracting more customers, and because it’s where your customers at.
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.