All Online Auctions are Not Created Equal

There are literally hundreds of on-line auctions. Each one is different. Some generate income from advertising and others from charging fees for different features. Still others are totally free. Whatever the case, it’s important to know what’s available and which ones may be right for you

When deciding to use an on-line auction, be sure and read the terms and conditions and their privacy policy. That can tell you a lot about their integrity.

Thing to Check about On-Line Auctions:

• Insure that your private information is not shared . Follow this link and click the lock in the browser. A real lock should provide options when clicked. (In a Fire Fox browser there should be a blue page before the http:/)
• Are Buyers and Sellers responsibilities outlined?
• Check out the Fee Schedule. Is it competitive?
• Is “Contact Us” and “About Us” information offered?
• Is the auction local, national or International.
• Satisfy yourself with these issues before deciding to use any on-line auction site.

We’re about to go over several features and conditions that on-line auctions may or may not include. When considering an on-line auction, use the information below to compare.

Get ready, there’s a lot to go over.

Types of Listing Include:

• Regular Auctions Straight forward – you bid and if you win, you own.
• Dutch Auctions Multiples of items are up for sale. Generally, the price is fixed.
• Reverse Auctions An item being requested is for purchase for the lowest offer.
• The listing is for purchasing and not for selling. That’s why it’s reverse.
• Fixed Price Items are being sold for a fixed price. There is no bidding involved.
• Trade Listings Listing for trades and not for sale.
• Classifieds Personal or business ads. Not an auction.
• RFQ Listings Request for Quote Listings – Not an auction.

Look in the On-Site Help Section for further information

Types of Listing Options Include:

• Category Selection: Is there an adequate number of categories for your listings?
• Duration Is a selection as to how many days you wish your listing to be active.
• Number of relists How many times can your item be automatically relisted if it does not sell.
• Relist Charge Is there a relist charge?
• Start & Stop Dates Do you have control as to when your listing starts and/or stops?
• Images Can you upload images to include pictures in you listing.
• Are any images free? What is the maximum # of images allowed?
• Payment Options Does it provide a selection of payment methods that you accept.
• Consideration might be Paypal, Check, Money Order, Credit Cards, and of course, Cash in King.
• Google Base Does the auction site communicate with Google.
• This helps in selling your listing by promoting it on Google.com.
• Shipping Does the auction offer a choice of shipping options?
• Bid Increments Review the bid increments provided by the auction site. Are they OK?
• Buyers Premium Is there a buyers premium? Most auctions do not charge it.
• Types of Fees may Include:
• Listing (or Posting) Is there a fee for listing? It could be fixed or tiered to the value.
• Bold Listing Adds bold to your listing. It helps to make it stand out.
• Category Featured Features your listing in the category that your listing is in.
• Home Page Feature Features your listing on the home page. It rotates with others
• Dutch Auction Is there an extra fee for Dutch Auction listings?
• Pictures Are there fees for using pictures?
• Selling Fees They can be fixed or tiered. Check in the Fees section.
• Gallery Features Is there a fee for having a picture appear with your basic listing?
• Highlight This feature places a background to your basic listing.
• Store Creation Are on-line stores offered? What are initial and/or monthly fees?

Other Features an On-Line May Include:

• Proxy Bidding The ability to place your maximum bid. Your bid will be considered until you limit is reached. This allows you to place a bid and not have to watch the bidding as it progresses.
• Sniper Protection Sniper protection does not allow a bid to be won at the very last second. It extends the auction a fixed amount of time each time a bid is placed until there are no more bids for that fixed amount of time.
• On-Line Help Review the on-line help to see if it is helpful with explainations.
• Membership Plans Are membership plans offered? They provide savings for active users.
• On-Line Stores They provide a place to post multiple listings in one place. It provides for promotion and is an excellent way to have viewers see only their products.
• Easy to Navigate How easy is the auction site is to navigate? Is it simple or cluttered with advertising and offers. Often it is difficult to figure just what to do as there is too much non auction related things going on.
• Number of Postings How many listings are posted? Some on-line auctions offer thousands of listings and other only a few. Browse the site by category to see how many listings there are in any particular category.