Are you wishing that you had more time to spend with your family? Are you suffering from a thankless 9 to 5 type job? Are you spending valuable hours of your day stuck in rush hour traffic, instead of spending that time doing the things that matter most? Are you researching the idea of working from home, and are you looking for the three best home based businesses?Here is a list of what I consider the three best home based businesses.1. Healthcare: The healthcare industry is a great opportunity for making money, and having a stable home based business. This consists of many areas, such as medical transcription, which essentially interprets doctors recorded notes into medical jargon that will be submitted into the patients permanent file. Medical billing and coding is also available. This consists of properly coding procedures that were done, and submitting the claim to the insurance carrier, so that the medical provider can receive payment.2. Selling home products: This kind of business can be costly to get started, but many people are making a living doing this. Suggestions are cosmetics, purses, home decor, or even selling items on eBay. Many people spend days searching garage sales and antique shops, and are making a killing by auctioning items on eBay.3. Online marketing: As you know, in today’s world, nearly everything is being done via the internet. There are a multitude of people who have found financial security, and even wealth in their home based business of online marketing. Why not use the resources of the internet to provide you the lifestyle that you have been working towards? With online marketing, your goal is to drive traffic to a website where you offer a product or service. This business does have a learning curve, but once you negotiate that, it is very simple. It is also very rewarding.
Work At Home – A Home Based Business
Being an entrepreneur is very appealing, but not everyone can be a successful entrepreneur. One of the fastest and easiest ways to become a successful entrepreneur is through a home business. There are various reasons why someone may want to consider working from home. These may include – you are a stay at home mom or dad and you want to avoid conflict with the schedule of your children. Perhaps you have physical limitations or are temporarily disabled. Or you have a health problem that does not allow you to work for short periods, and you feel that working from home is better suited. Maybe you just want to supplement the income of your spouse and you want to work part-time, but have the flexibility to dictate your own hours.Many people who are looking for a work at home opportunity take their research to the Internet. And that’s how you found this article but there are some things you should be very careful about and we will cover some of these things today.First, be very careful if you find a source of a job or organization, and they charge you a large fee – this may not be a good idea. However, there are a few legitimate companies and business opportunities out there that require a small startup cost that usually covers the training and other materials that you would need in that business. Whether it’s an ad in the newspaper or an online business opportunity banner, be sure to do your due diligence before you pay for any job.Second, pay attention to the lists you join. The term “homework” if typed into a search engine will return hundreds of thousands of results, if not millions. Remember, scams are out there too, for anyone seeking a home based business – so be sure to protect your email address so that you are not bombarded with hundreds of offers daily. If you are a person that likes to take a look at every opportunity available, you may want to consider creating a separate email address that can be used for mailing lists. That said – Start by evaluating your strengths and weaknesses. After the evaluation, you can now see if you can manage your own online business. Apart from the evaluation process, these are a few of your responsibilities as an entrepreneur:• You must know how to plan and organize.
• You should be able to work independently as now you are the boss and all business decisions will be made by you.
• You must be disciplined with your time
• You are required to test and find best practices for your businessSome say that online businesses can be run without many problems. Well, they are mistaking. Even with an online business, you can face problems and risks. You cannot eliminate such risks that go with any business venture, both for businesses online and offline. However, you can reduce the risk that you are bound to deal in the future by choosing the best home based business for you. Contractors are known to be self-starters. Organizing your time is a difficult task, but if you want to start a home based business, you should be able to do so.Remember, you do not have a boss that you can count on. This is your business and you must be responsible at all times. Running your own business also means you have to deal with different types of people. You will surely encounter demanding customers, moody vendors, and maybe even unreliable staff. To become a successful home business entrepreneur, you need to know how to deal with them individually and know the quirks of each person you meet so you can remedy the situation correctly. Running an online business is all about your attitude and character. According to some experts who have conducted research on the characteristics of entrepreneurs, there are certain traits that they must possess. As mentioned earlier, entrepreneurs take risks, self-starters, and know how to deal with different types of people.
Why Fill Out a Toys R Us Application? There Are So Many Lucrative Home Based Businesses to Consider
Have a look online at all the Multilevel Marketing companies that offer great opportunities. Consider something like ContractXchange where you represent quality big name companies and simply take orders for them through their online system. Have a look at Big Ticket To Wealth and see the dozens of online mentoring programs they offer and the success stories that they showcase on their website and through their daily webinars.You can simply start your own home based business with something that you are passionate about. For example you can design jewelery, you can offer business plans and resumes, you can start a dog walking business, you can offer consultation in something that you are an expert in. So many to choose from however you will have to do some research and find out what would be appealing to you.You should also consider home base business statistics before you venture into it. The one statistic that you should look at is what type of business is doing well and the pros and cons of that particular business. Consider the following statistics:approximately 36.6 million home based businesses in the U.S.
Newsweek magazine predicts that in the near future, almost half of the households of America will be involved in one form of home based business or other.
The Home Based Business Institute is of the opinion that 70% of the home based businesses in the U.S last for a period of at least 3 years or more.
This form of business generates an annual revenue of $427 billion.
70% of the total home based business is run by women.
48% of the home based business owners are graduates while 22% are involved in white collar jobs.
This form of business generates 8500 job opportunities on a daily basis.
The Small Business Administration states that 53% of the small businesses located in America are home based.
Such business concerns have an average annual income of $63000 per year.This is just some information that you can consider before filling out your toys r us application or waiting for your phone call for you interview while they sort out the thousands of applications I can only assume they receive.
How To Search For The Top Home Based Businesses?
Home based business is one of the most lucrative options available today to earn a high profit while sitting at the comfort of one’s home. Home based businesses provide an opportunity to those people who have the potential to do a lot but are restricted because they cannot move outside their home spheres to work.There are a lot home based business opportunities available today but each and every business opportunity does not suit everybody. Some businesses are better suited for some people while others can make do with the other types of businesses. The online home based opportunities include a lot of choices. Before selecting the best business opportunity that suits one the most one must keep a few things in mind which include:Investment: The amount that one is willing to invest is important on determining what will fit one the best. Before starting one’s own home based businesses it is essential to have and endow some money. Money helps to contract out some skills, start their own website and make the business appear more legitimate.Another way to begin a business without spending any money is to present services. Article writing, web design, Data entry and graphic design are some of the ways through which one can build capital.Prevailing Online Trends: SEO (Site Engine Optimization) offers immense opportunities for earning high profits. Affiliate marketing has grown over the years from the time it was subjugated by complex multi-tier plans to the simple direct online marketing privileged today.Skill: The best home based business opportunity is one in which one is skilled in. Innate talent such as drawing, painting or high end skills such as Accounting, Computer Aided Design (CAD) can help one earn a living online.Top home based businesses include administrative support. Independent work portals typically have virtual assistant, administrative, typing, transcription, reception, data entry, and similar employment assignments. Those people who are artistically inclined eBay offers marketplaces where one can sell and buy products. One can also engage in selling crafts such as clothing for pets and people, bath products and candles. Cakes and cookies are gourmet products that one can sell in the online portals and earn a hefty amount. Also among top home based businesses are technical works such as programmers, coders, developers and support positions such as web content developers and designers.Home business for mom is gaining a lot of attention in the present context when most things come with a heavy price. Therefore even the moms at home want to engage in some fruitful work so as to support their family. There are a lot of home based business opportunities available for women. The best among these include: Catering services, Selling on eBay, Crafts products, Online typing, Pet care services, Day care centers, etc.
Small Business Should Invest in Big Data and Analytics
Big data refers to huge volumes of structured and unstructured data; however, processing such massive volumes of data via traditional data management tools is inefficient and impossible. To understand big data you have to realize the devices that are collecting it today e.g. bar code scanners, mobile cameras, CCTV cameras, motion sensors, smoke alarms, web analytical tools, CRMs, etc. From the examples, you can see that these devices collect a vast array of data types hence the structured and unstructured part in the definition. The sheer velocity at which the data is being produced cannot be controlled and processed using traditional methods and tools.However, the use of big data and incorporation of big data analytical technology gives businesses the competitive edge over their competitors.Big Data and Small BusinessesIt is only a thing of the past when terms like big data and business intelligence were associated with large enterprises only. Today, small businesses have to leverage the data they are collecting in order to remain a part of the competition. For years, cost has remained the main reason why small businesses did not adopt big data analytical technologies, but this has changed now. There are budget-friendly tools available for small businesses to take advantage of the data they are collecting today. According to some experts, small businesses can take better advantage of big data since they are able to make the necessary changes far more quickly than large enterprises i.e. real-time response to insights from available data.According to an IDG study in 2016, 78% of the large enterprises agree that big data strategy has the power to change how businesses have always operated. This shows the acceptance of big data technology and strategies for large enterprises and strengthens the fact that small businesses could become irrelevant if they did not adopt the same strategies.Benefits of Large Data AnalyticsLarge Data and Big Companies, a report by IIA Director of Research, Tom Davenport, reveals that businesses are benefitting greatly from big data analytics especially in improving their products, making business decisions faster and reducing costs. Here are some ways small businesses can benefit from big data.• Cost SavingsThe upfront cost of implementing large data tools and strategies is high undoubtedly, but the long term benefits of doing so are matchless. The healthcare industry is a great example of how the use of large data can help businesses reduce their costs regardless of their size. Using predictive analytics, Medicare and Medicaid Services forestalled more than $210 million fraud in healthcare with just 2 years of utilizing the aforementioned technology.In addition to preventing frauds, small businesses can also reduce their costs by steering clear of creating more inventory than needed, including better partners in the supply chain, etc.• Improved Decision MakingThis is the biggest benefit of large data. It allows businesses to expedite decision making by processing the data fast and giving insights in timely manner. In the past, business decisions were reserved for future strategies in the light of available data and the trends that were observed in it. The amount of data that businesses are sitting on today is huge and thus more powerful insights are to be gained from it.This vast amount of data requires the use of modern big data hardware technologies. Once both the things are in place for a business, they can understand customers better, create products that are a closer reflection of what customers want and develop a brand based on most reverenced values.• Impenetrable SecurityBusinesses are more focused today on using large data to improve their core capabilities, but less attended to a more serious concerns i.e. cyber threats and security breaches. Almost every small, medium and large business is connected to the internet today. Moreover, the Internet of Things has broadened the attackable security surface for businesses making it easier for cyber criminals to attack networks and penetrate company databases.The biggest concern for modern businesses is that they have to “respond” to cyber attacks that have already occurred rather than being able to prevent them from occurring. The use of big data and big data analytical tools can be a game changer in this area allowing businesses to prevent any security attacks way before they are executed.Key Technologies Helping Businesses Make the Best of Big DataAs a small business, you will have to familiarize with various technologies that help you store, analyze and take action on big data. Here are some important ones:• HadoopIt’s a framework supporting the storing of large amounts of data using an open-source approach. Once data is stored, Hadoop enables the use of a variety of applications using “clustered hardware” at its base. Due to the cluster of commodity hardware, it becomes possible and easy for businesses to process big data despite its increasing volume.• Data MiningThis is the technology that enables business owners to capture insights, patterns and trends from big data that otherwise cannot be obtained with a traditional approach. Data mining is what allows you to jump in a large sea of structured and unstructured data, make sense of it all and produce analytical insights that help businesses with real-time and future decisions.• Predictive AnalyticsPredictive analytics walk side by side with data mining. Artificial is at the heart of predictive analytics, enabling business owners to adjust their present strategies by giving predictions about what will transpire for the business based on existing data.• Text Analysis and MiningOne huge concern for modern business is to analyze the noise on various web platforms such as forums, blogs, social networks, etc. to understand what customers expect from a particular brand. Finding out about brand mentions and understanding customer’s impression of your brand can help you readjust your marketing approach to gain customer loyalty. Text mining helps small to large sized businesses go through text data from emails, blog posts, social networks, etc. and hear customers “voice”.With the rise of smartphones, artificial intelligence and IoT (internet of things) it has become clearly visible that businesses will now have to handle mountains and mountains of data, and make use of big data analytical and processing technologies to have the competitive edge.
The Main Reasons For The Growth Of The Home Based Business Industry
“Opportunity does not knock, it presents itself when you beat down the door.” – Kyle Chandler
What is the Home Based Business Industry?
An entrepreneurial business is mainly operated from home, mostly by the business owner himself. Some people refer to it as micro enterprises, working online, or small businesses. A small or micro business may not necessarily be a home based business.
It is important for the development of our home business opportunity to achieve financial independence in the global economy of the 21st century, to have a view of the total size of this industry and some views on possible future development and growth. This evaluation of the trends of the industry will help to dream-it-plan-it-do-it.
Very reliable statistical information is not freely available because these businesses are not well defined and are not part of governmental statistical planning and strategic information data. Some research and other information are available and will help us to get a broad view of the importance and trends of this industry.
Some general trends of and comments on the Business Industry:
The prospect of working from home has gained credibility over the years. It is no longer seen as a kind of part time job that the wife is doing from home while caring for her children. Take into account that most companies, about two-thirds of all companies, begin at home. That includes big companies like Apple Computer, Baskin-Robbins ice cream, Electronic Data Systems, Hallmark cards, the Lillian Vernon catalogue, and Purex.
In the USA, the average income generated by the home based business is substantial, as indicated by the following:
“Plus many home businesses do generate substantial revenue. About 35% have revenues of more than $125,000 and 8% more than $500,000. The median household income is $50,233 for households in general and roughly $75,000 for home entrepreneurs. The income for home based business owner is thus substantially higher than it is for the population as a whole.”
The home entrepreneurs business employs about 13.2 million people in the USA. It is estimated that about 50% of these are home based businesses. The assumption is that the home based businesses employs about 6.6 million people in the USA.
The home business industry is developing fast and becomes more important due to the following:
• The growth in the internet and the people connected to the internet. Two billion people are connected via the internet and this number grows by 200 million each year.
• Growth in the availability and lowering of the costs of broadband communication and connections worldwide has a positive influence on people connecting to the internet.
• The internet, increased online purchasing, money transfer mechanisms (notably PayPal), reliable global shipping, the decline in informal trade barriers and networks created through immigration have all made it easier for small businesses to serve global markets. The internet has been particularly important in enabling small businesses to cost effectively serve small market niches (the ‘long tail’ phenomenon).
• The development of computer technology, software, printers, dedicated telephone lines, and mobile phones creates new opportunities for the home based business and makes it more viable to operate a business from home. Affordable and powerful new technologies will continue to create new opportunities for the home based business. These technological developments will help to keep this industry growing.
• New innovations like:
o Express parcel delivery, distribution, cloud based IT services.
o Outsourcing, freelancing, communication technology, and the availability of skilled people in foreign countries makes it possible to not to have to perform all tasks at the premise of the home based business. It is easier to operate from a small premise at home.
o New business models have created new job opportunities for the development of home based business. Two examples are the network marketing industry, or multilevel marketing, and franchising.
• The growth of the knowledge and service based industries requires little office or working space and economies of scale does not apply.
• People are making lifestyle changes and prefer to work from home as it gives them flexibility, it saves time, and it eliminates commuting costs.
• The computer home business is not exclusively dependent on the local market to generate income, or for its financial existence; that makes this kind of business less vulnerable to economic cycles.
• Many people do need an extra source of income due to debt or other financial reasons and start their own home based business part time to generate a second income stream.
• With employer benefit packages being cut and the chances of losing a corporate job increasing, many view starting a home based business as no more risky than traditional employment. Job and income security drives people to start looking for and to develop an extra source of income for them.
• Due to demographic and social shifts. Aging baby boomers, women, Gen Y and others are all seeing home based business ownership as an increasingly viable work option. An interest in achieving work/life balance, flexibility, the opportunity to pursue a passion and working for your self are some of the reasons given for starting a home based business.
• There is a lack of corporate jobs. Large corporations have been battered by the recession. Even if the economic recovery is strong, it is unlikely that these companies will dramatically increase hiring. Instead of hiring full-time staff, they will stay flexible and lean through the increased use of technology, contractors, partnerships, and outsourcing. As a result, starting a home based business will be the best, and in many cases, the only option for corporate refugees.
“Nevertheless, owners are much more satisfied with their quality of life than other small business owners. However, the majority of owners do not appear to have made a financial trade-off in order to secure this quality of life.”
The number of people connected to the internet is growing very fast. Broadband is becoming more available in the world. The internet support technology and mobile applications of communication is growing at an astronomical rate. These developments create new opportunities for the internet related businesses.
It is being considered by some researchers that these developments will have a greater influence on the world economy than any economic revolution in history.
“Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.” – Thomas A. Edison
What Online Advertising Options Are Right for You?
Advertising Options:
Offline advertising has so many outlets that we are all familiar with. It’s easy to understand the differences between TV and Billboard or Newspaper versus magazine, but when you want to advertise in the digital space, the spectrum really gets broad and the pricing differences can be tremendous. I want to explain a few channels where you could digitally advertise that can give you very good returns. The main question is who are you trying to reach?
Who are you trying to reach?
This is a quick one and it’s totally up to you. It is the first question you should ask yourself when thinking about advertising on the Internet. Once you have that figured out, here are a few options that will help you boost your online brand.
Social Media Advertising:
Social media advertising is a great place for small to mid-sized companies to test the waters. Advertising on Facebook, LinkedIn or Twitter are an excellent way to target the very specific audience you are looking to reach. Here is a list of reasons social media advertising is a great place to start: It’s inexpensive On some channels you can spend as little as $5.00 per day It’s familiar You are probably amongst the 600 million people on Facebook, so when you advertise there, you know where your ad is going. It’s highly targeted: On LinkedIn you can target company size, position at the company, rank in the company and of course the area where your target lives – the options are vast. It’s Flexible: If you find that you are talking to the wrong audience, you can make real-time changes to your advertising plan and budget. It has great analytics: You may figure out that your target audience is not men ages 34 – 55 but actually women ages 25 – 30. It’s all in the analytics.
Contextual Advertising:
Between Google, Bing and Yahoo!, you have a lot of options. It’s amazing how targeted you can be with your marketing in search. Not all of the services are offered by all of the channels but a mix with all three can get you: Keyword Advertising: This is the basic function of advertising on any of these channels. Advertising using keywords needs a bit of massaging but it is a great way to target those who are looking for exactly what you are selling.
Highly Geo-targeted options:
You want to advertise to only the people in the neighborhood within 10 miles from your storefront? No problem. Behavioral Targeting: Yahoo! offers this function. This means you can target anyone on the Yahoo! channel who are showing certain behaviors online. For example, if the user is looking at shoe stores online, you can slip your ad in front of them for a special on shoes. Retargeting: This form of advertising offers your business a way to target the user after they have visited your website. You enter a piece of code on the page you want to target and serve ads that are built for that page – after they leave your site.
Mobile Advertising:
Typically mobile is a pay-per-click method of advertising with a comparatively good click-through rate. Mobile advertising is often displayed on games for mobile devices but that doesn’t mean that the CEO of a major company doesn’t enjoy the free version of Words with Friends. Mobile advertising offers: Mobility: Advertising on mobile devices gives you an outlet to put your brand in the hand of a broad audience. Great Branding Opportunities: Videos are often displayed on mobile devices and give you the ability to grab someone’s attention that is standing in line or waiting for a train. The message may not be super timely but it’s one more touch point to let them know you are here. A Broad Reach: Because at the moment, it is very expensive to really geotarget to a micro level, mobile is better for those who want a vast area such as the state where your business offices are located. This broad reach is a great option because the prices for such broad targeting are traditionally less expensive.
Overall, there are plenty of options for targeting your audience online – choosing the right one for you is mainly determined by the simple question. Who do you want to reach? Get that answered and market your company where everyone is hanging our.
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.