So you are giving serious consideration to starting a business and running it from home. Thousands of people just like you make that big move from the corporate office to the home office. While this is a great move for quite a number of those who do take that decision, the fact is the majority of small businesses fail in their very first year of operation, as much as 80%.While there are numerous reasons for this, one striking reason is an inadequate skills set of the business owner. In a home business environment this is even more crucial as there is usually only the owner running the business. So a critical question you should be asking yourself if you are thinking of starting a home-based business is, are my job skills transferable in a manner that will benefit my business?Obviously you would have to do a match between what you believe your business would need in terms of a skills set to execute your business plan effectively and your own skills set. So one of the first things you really need to address is your own skills inventory. Basically you will want to answer two questions with your personal skills inventory exercise – what are the work-place skills you now have, and at what level of competence each one is.Your next step is to go through your business plan which should give you a good idea of what skills you will need where and when. Determine those tasks that you will need to perform as the business owner, how often and in what time frame. Your objective here is to come up with a skills requirement chart outlining the requisite skills, how critical each is to achieving your goals, who will be carrying out the tasks, how often the particular task will have to be done, and over what time frame.You now have a fair idea of what your business require in terms of skills and what skills you have to bring to the business. It is now time to find the critical skills gaps that you will need to fill somehow. Once you have identified the skills gaps, you need to give some consideration how these will be addressed.Some steps you can take to fill the skills gaps identified are:* Take additional training to upgrade your skills.* For those tasks where you do not have the necessary skills set to perform, consider contracting these out.* Take on a partner to complement your skills set.Ensuring that you have the requisite skills in place to make your home-based business a success is one of the most important things you can do for your business. It will save you a lot of unnecessary headache and frustration as you are now much better equipped to execute your home business plan.
Most Successful Home Based Business Information
The most successful home based business is something that you’ll never find in your life! Why? Because it’s not the idea that makes it successful, it’s you! Obviously you are going to get a lot of ideas from the internet. A few of them are really good. But depending on your skills and type of work you like to do most, success can come from any type of business. However, there are several home based businesses that I would really like to include here but I’m only going to focus on one which is affiliate marketing.If you are specifically looking for something that has lower risk than a conventional business and can bring you much profit, you should start looking into affiliate marketing. You want to be careful because there are a lot of scams out there and you need to really be mindful to find the right program. A program that offers education and mentoring, something that is not going to leave you hanging asking the questions “how do I get started?” Or, “what do I do next?” Even with the most successful home based business you will go through trial and error. With the right program that teaches you and mentors you, trial and error will be minimal.A lot of people all over the globe are now earning thousands and even millions from the comfort of their homes working this business. It’s an online business, so you’ll need a computer, an internet connection, and some knowledge of Pay Per Click and some very basic HTML coding. The start-up budget is relatively low and in most cases you’ll need about $100 to start affiliate marketing. The steps to start affiliate marketing are really simple. Just join an affiliate marketing program and choose suitable products that will attract customers. Become a master at advertising your products on the internet and you are well on your way. It’s all about driving traffic to your products. Make sure to treat this business as if it were a full-time job and you shall be successful. If you can work regularly the potential with affiliate marketing is endless!Although it is not guaranteed that you will make thousands or millions of dollars through affiliate marketing, it is very possible! If you have the drive and determination to make it your own business and work the business day in and day out with a sense of compelling passion, then I am confident you will make this the most successful home based business for you and your family. Find out for yourself with a simple online search and you will see some of the success stories and the people who are making this happen everyday.
Your Home Based Business Plan
To get started with your home based business, the first requirement to activate your status is to prepare a comprehensive business plan. To encourage people to invest in your business; this is the first and foremost requirement. In fact, many investors like bankers, angel investors, venture capitalist can help you start your business and provide fund, if only you possess a good plan.To create your business plan, you don’t need any writer to develop it. All you need to keep in mind is that the plan should be realistic and focused to the subject. Additionally, you will also have to show them that you are 100% capable of accomplishing the target because you have the required talent, tools, system, workforce etc, and all the necessary arrangements in place. This particular document is not a one-time requirement to either start or expand a business, in fact you will often have to refer to it and also update it from time to time.Do you require a plan for business?
The answer to this question is no. Not all home based business entrepreneurs develop business plans. However, if you are seeking financial help from investors then you surely need a business plan to pave the road to success.However, you don’t need to produce the business plan always. For instance, if you approach a venture capitalist then you obviously need a business plan. On the other hand, if you approach a banker for loan to start your home based business, then production of the business plan is a must. Now, if you apply for a loan to expand an already established business, then the banker might skip the business plan.How to write a plan for home based business?
Before I answer this question let me explain the contents of a business plan. Your business plan should clearly state that the business has the capacity to generate enough returns for not only clearing the debts and loans but also covering the general business expenses. The plan should not be too long but a very concise write-up, just enough to put forward your ideas and convey the message across the table.1. The first part will be an “Executive Summary” that will highlight your business plan. Your writing should be convincing and worth considering, which should not be more than two pages.2. Second part is called the “Company Summary”. As the name implies, it is all about your company. In this area you will have to mention the company’s background history, ownership details and everything about the company.3. In the third section, mention about your “Products and or Services”. Here you are supposed to describe your products and or services. Moreover, you will also need to give the distinguishing features of your products or services. In other words, highlight the points that will make people consider your products and or services to be helpful.4. The fourth part will be about the current “Market Analysis”. In this section you will have to state the current market condition of your product and or services.5. The fifth part will deal with your “Strategy and Implementation”. It’s more like how you are planning to sell your product and or services in order to accomplish your targets and generate revenue.6. The sixth point is all about “Management Summary”.7. Though this is the last point but I think it is the most important one. You will have to write the “Financial Plan”. This deals with all money related matters like profits, sales, cash flow etc.These are also applicable for Internet home based business, if you need funding.
Establish A Mechanism for Home Based Business Sales
Are you struggling to generate a steady significant stream of home based business sales? Are you tired of not having enough home based business sales to offset your costs?What I’ve realized learned from some of the best retailers of home based business sales products is that you need to do this one thing really well to boast your revenues. It could be true that you may be an excellent one-to-one salesman and can probably sell ice to an eskimo. However, that is a very difficult skill to duplicate down an organization. Let’s face it: super salesman do not grow on trees, and very few amounts of people that you will come across will actively and passionately go out and sell for the sheer love of it.The truth is that most people are deftly frightened of sales.They don’t like it, they secretly feel embarrassed of the products they have to offer, and they feel sleazy for selling to people. So as a team leader, you must find a resolution that will take the individual pressure off of them but still be able to tap in to their networks. And what do the top retailers do?The best home based business sales retailers run events!OK… maybe that’s not a well-kept secret, but there’s a science to how you run events that determine whether or not you leave with a sale or empty-handed. Here is what separates a typical event from a selling event:1) You must provide value -Our most effective home based business sales events occur when we dispense valuable information to our target customer base. Case and point, my wife is a great retailer. She specializes in cosmetics, and as a company trainer, she is also a certified makeup trainer. She invested in herself to make herself in to a makeup expert and uses her expertise to boost her sales. She conducts general education classes and makeup workshops that target ladies who are interested in learning professional-grade makeup techniques that are simplified for everyday use.By providing this value, she is able to attract a larger volume of guests, which increases her chances of completing a sale, a powerful form of attraction marketing.2) Product Demos – If you’ve never done a product demo for your home based business sales events, you are losing valuable sales opportunities. One of the lessons that I’ve learned being in network marketing and seeing so many affiliate products, mine and others, is that most products are top-notch. Very few network marketing companies carry inferior products, but the downside is that they also don’t invest in mass market advertising, which is why you are involved in your home based business franchise. You are the marketing mechanism for them.Think about it: if demonstrations weren’t powerful, why would infomercials, Costco, department stores, and kiosks at the mall all utilize this strategy to draw you in?When you host your events, you should always focus on doing some sort of demonstration of your product after the general information has been covered. Make sure you pick products that have symmetry with the topic that you are covering at the event, else it loses its value.When doing your demonstration, be sure that if you are promoting a health and nutrition product, have a control piece as well. What that means is that you should have a demo without using your product to demonstrate to the audience the difference of using your product, and what it means to not use your product. For my website company, we have programmers sit down with the prospect and show them the capabilities of the website via live webinar to demonstrate the ease of use of our platform website builder.3) Have Roles -A well-run home based business sales event needs to have team unity where each team member knows their role in the sales process.- You always have a presenter who gives out the information. That person also does the demonstration.- Another team member sets up the demonstration while the speaker is engaging the audience.- A team member needs to greet the guests as they come in and help them get situated by filling out a questionnaire to extract extra information (i.e. “What question do you wish to address in terms of health and nutrition?”)- You need to designate a sales person. That person should be the “closer” that collects the payment and is responsible for upselling packages and promotional items.If you have a team that is well-versed in these tasks, then you will watch your sales revenues spike because it’s not reliant on one person doing everything.4) Build Packages and Promotions – Sales sell in a traditional business, and so too in a home based business sales event. Try to create promotional packages grouping several products together, or run a special on promotional items to entice customers to buy at the event. Make sure you stress that the sale is ONLY for this event so it creates a sense of urgency.Promotions that work best for us are bundles of several low-end items, as well as offering tiered pricing and incentives for purchasing a certain dollar amount. In comparison to events that don’t have packages, sales for packaged items always increase overall sales by 33-50% at our events.5) Always Promote the Next Event – We have a saying in our company: “Who’s the best speaker? The next speaker!”What that means is that one of the keys to genuinely strong home based business sales teams is that they always promote the next event before the current event is over. It opens up the opportunity for you to book your guests for the next appointment. It also allows your team to provide incentives for guests to invite their friends to the next event, which will organically grow your retail audience and increase potential of sales.Make simple, effective, and professional flyers for the next event and have them ready to distribute to the attendees. Give them a few extra to give to friends. If you use that incentive suggestion in the previous paragraph, they will no doubt be motivated to promote the event for you. We offer discounts for customer from the current who attend our next event.Conclusion: At the end of the day, it’s all about teamwork and commitment. When you have a group of entrepreneurs that are dedicated to generating significant revenues for yours and their home based business sales events, then you will have the beginnings of a fantastic lasting formula of success. If your speaker does a good job, they will have already done half the sale because they stressed the importance of why the product is needed. The demo moves the customer to want to buy, and the closer comes in and finishes the job. It’s a fluid sales process.Now that you have learned an effective mechanism to boost offline home based business sales, let me introduce you to a way to leverage the internet sales aspect too. Would you rather have only one channel of distribution, or two? Multiple streams of revenue are always a plus, especially if they work in unison.There are a lot more tips that we can share for running events, but to go on and on would take all night. If you can’t wait until our next piece for more retailing tips, then reach out to me via my blog and I will be glad to help.
Making Taxes Easy for Small Business
Many economic scholars see small businesses, to be the largest contributor to economic growth and employment creation on the planet. The ratio of small business, to big business in different countries varies. It is predicted that small business as a collective, will eclipse big business as a force in the economic landscape in future years. Be that as it may, fact remains that small business, is crucial to every countries economic development.Limited research however, has been conducted on a variety of issues affecting small business. The global small business failure rate remains high, at an unacceptable rate of 80%(some say 95%), within the first year of formation. Common concerns about small business are confined to only cash flow problems, and under capitalization. Whilst these two, are major culprits in business failures, they not the only factors. Weak marketing, skills shortages, bad management, capacity are other factors, contributing to business failure. Taxes can also be added to the list as a cause of business failure.Since many start-up businesses cannot afford to procure the services of a tax consultant/ advisor, they eventually fall foul of the taxation requirements of their respective tax authorities.
A small business is treated no different from a huge multinational corporation in many tax regimes around the globe. This treatment comes with its own set of problems. The one being the failure of the small business. Tax authorities, vigorously pursue errant taxpayers, be they big or small. In fact, it can be proven that harsher enforcement by tax authorities are reserved for small businesses!Governments have yet to honestly acknowledge the role of small business and stop paying only lip service to its promotion. The current tax system for small business, in most countries will have to be revisited. No one is suggesting that tax authorities should grant small businesses “special treatment” forever. Just a breather, so as to enable them to grow at a faster pace.To accommodate a small business and its growth, whilst being fair, a concept known as “thresholds tax”, can be implemented for small business. It is in place for individuals, and also known as progressive taxation. Simply put, it means, the more someone earns, the more they taxed. Many countries levy a fixed percentage tax on “profits” of businesses, big or small. This tax is not fair, and fairness is a prerequisite for a good tax system. Even the slightly different tax regime for “Small Business Corporations”, in most countries still does not address the problem.The controversial “profit” in business accounting, especially small business has not been thoroughly researched by tax lawmakers. Profit does not always equate to positive cash flow.
The working capital factors tied into profit, results in severe cash flow setbacks for small business. It is therefore unfair to tax the small business on profit, like the bigger companies, since bigger businesses finance their profits and/ or working capital via many methods, internal and external. These avenues are not available to smaller businesses.Herewith some suggestions on making taxes easy for small business.
Give small business a tax holiday of about two years after start-up.
Simplify tax legislation.
Tax small business only on “cash generated by operations”, up to a certain threshold.
Profit less working capital (debtors and inventory on hand) plus depreciation equals cash generated by operations, which in turn becomes taxable income.
Exempt small business from employee; value added or general sales tax up to certain thresholds. (Already in place in some countries).
Taxable income thresholds could be, 0 to $200 000; $201 000 to $500 000(for small business), depending on the definition of a small business in the respective country.
As soon as the taxable income exceeds $ 500 000, a higher progressive rate applies.
Taxes on “cash” income could also fall away at this level.
My suggestions are in no way exhaustive. More substantive research is needed. If we accept that we live in a global village, taxes will also have to be harmonized and standardized, between the different countries. What International Accounting Standards have done for accounting; can be suggested for taxation also.
Home Based Business! What Do Donuts Have to Do With it?
Internet World Statistics tell me that there are over 6.7 billion people living on this planet. The latest figures show over 1.6 billion of them use the Internet while in the year 2000 there were just under 361million users. That is a growth rate of almost 450%. In the US alone and back in 2005 there were 13.8 million Home based Businesses (info. provided by Entrepreneur.com) and in my own country, Australia in the state of New South Wales there were 254,000 in 2004. Today there is more. Tomorrow there will be more again!
The idea, concept, consideration of a home based business is for the most part is a noble and popular one. The reason so many people are thinking about or have already started a home based business is as varied as the individuals that choose it. However, for the most part it can be said that most home based businesses are borne out of convenience.
Single Mums find it convenient to work from home while they can still care for their children. Stay at home Dads are much more common in today’s day and can find it convenient to keep an eye on the “little ones” while they do business from home. Maybe commuting is a problem and navigating the hallway in ones own home is far more convenient than the city streets or country roads. Whatever it is though the thought is there – “work from home”. This doesn’t mean though that we have a “Home Based Business”.
Of course there is a difference between “work from home” and a “home based business” and often (I think) we get the two confused a bit. We speak “home based business” but think “work from home”!
The differences are considerable and may be found in the definitions themselves. You see when you research the word “Business” you will find something like this (depending on your source):-
Business: The purchase and sale of goods in an attempt to make a profit (Macquarie Dictionary).
We also see in association a Business Name:
Business Name: The name other than a surname under which a person carries on business or profession, such name being necessarily registered.
If we dig a little deeper from the same source we identify the people that do business are described as the following:-
Businessman /woman: A person who engages in business or commerce.
And
Businesslike: Conforming to the methods of business or trade; methodical; systematic.
And finally:
Business Plan: A formal statement of business goals, the reason why they are believed attainable and the plan for reaching those goals. It may also contain background information about the organisation or team attempting to reach those goals.
Work on the other hand is something different. (According to Wikipedia) being thus:
Work:(1) Exertion directed to produce or accomplish something; labour; toil. (2) A productive or operative activity (3) Employment; a job; especially that by which one earns a living.
So this is what I’m getting to. Sometimes we focus on the hole in the middle of the donut and don’t look at the whole thing! We can say we have a home based business but we don’t see the big picture and therefore we are working from home instead. If we are serious about a home based business then we must see the whole thing. Build from the right foundations and bring clarity to our vision.
There is nothing wrong with work from home at all. In fact if we are to have a home based business we will indeed work from home. It will be an integral part of our business but, if we don’t have a business plan, a registered business name, or if we are not attempting to buy (or create) and sell something for profit, conform to business principles and conduct ourselves in a businesslike manner we don’t have a business at all… we are just working?
You may have started like a “bull at a gate”, you may be going “great guns” or you may be struggling to get your focus or organise your day. Don’t fret! Take a moment to reflect on your foundations. Have you got a business plan with goals and a systematic approach to achieve them? Are they realistic? Are you structured properly? If not then take a little time to get these things in order. Then get back into it and gain the rewards you deserve for having a go, not giving up and enjoy the lifestyle you have chosen.
Just a word of warning! If you don’t have a Business Plan you can lose your way. If you don’t have a Business Structure you may well have problems with taxation in the future and if you don’t have a business mindset you will struggle to enjoy and achieve your dream. I heard this saying today and can’t remember who quoted it but it goes like this “Goals are in concrete, plans are in sand!”
If you are interested in getting educated in the successful use of the Internet and additionally want the opportunity to market top tier education material may I suggest that you visit the website below?
Yellow Page Advertising For Lawyers – Where Have All The Calls Gone?
I get calls every week from lawyers saying they’re not getting calls anymore from yellow page advertising. Having done quite well in the past, they’re afraid to discontinue the advertising. They want to know what’s going on and what to do.
Apparently, lawyers are not the only ones. In his article “Quit wasting money on Yellow Page advertising” by Peter Fernandez, D.C., a yellow page, print advertising and practice management consultant for chiropractors, Dr. Fernandez answers the question, “Why has advertising in the Yellow Pages changed from one of the best ways to advertise to one of the worst in just a few years?” (See 1, below)
This article will attempt to explain where all the calls went. I believe lawyers began advertising in the Yellow Pages much earlier than on TV because of the cost; most lawyers were reluctant to become pioneers of TV advertising; and lawyers were pursued by yellow page salespeople, but not by TV salespeople. Since 1976 through the mid-1980s, the Yellow Pages and classified newspaper ads were virtually the only place a potential client could find a lawyer advertising. Consequently, lawyers advertising in the Yellow Pages did not have much competition and had very good results.
Many more lawyers flocked to the Yellow Pages which then became very crowded. In the last few years, and after a few pioneers, many of the lawyers advertising in the Yellow Pages discovered what every other business has long known, that TV is by far both the most effective and cost-effective media. According to TNS Media Intelligence/CMR, from January 2004 through September 2004 lawyers have spent $287.3 million on TV compared with only $71.3 million on print media, $11.4 million on radio and $4.1 million on Internet advertising. According to research done by the Television Bureau of Advertising, the public’s perception of television gets the votes for Most Authoritative and Most Exciting. Both influential and persuasive, TV wins over other media, in both categories, by a wide margin among Adults 18+. TV scores 81.8% in the Most Influential category, with newspapers a distant second at 8.5%. TV scores 66.8% Most Persuasive with newspapers, again a distant second at 14.2%.
Just as buying something wholesale or in large quantities, your cost per person reached from advertising is reduced when you buy media that reaches more people. Broadcast TV reaches many times more people than a county-wide yellow page book and therefore costs much less per person reached. In the New York DMA (broadcast TV market), there are 29 counties reached by TV. If there was only one yellow page book in each county, you would have to advertise in 29 yellow page books to reach the same geographic area as TV. Unfortunately, there are several yellow page books in each county. Smaller community yellow page books produce even less of a return on investment because they reach even fewer people. Many lawyers have found out that for the cost of a full-page advertisement in just two county-wide yellow page books, you can advertise on TV with a respectable budget and reach the population of an entire DMA.
Today, due to the large number of lawyers advertising on TV, potential clients are being diverted away from yellow page books. Additionally, in the field of personal injury, the problem is compounded. Seriously injured people are usually in bed in a hospital or at home watching TV. Lawyers advertising on TV reach potential accident clients long before they can even
get to yellow page books.
When lawyers first began advertising, there was only one yellow page book. Now there are commonly three, four or even five county-wide yellow page books and several village, community or neighborhood yellow page books as well. Some advertisers have even lost their position in the Yellow Pages because they signed a contract with another yellow page book not realizing it was a different book and they couldn’t afford two books. Because a consumer will typically keep one yellow page book and throw out the others, the question an advertiser faces is which yellow page book to advertise in or to advertise in all of them. Will your advertisement be in a yellow page book that’s thrown in the garbage? I keep only one book and it stays in the closet, rarely used. Today, I use the Internet instead of a yellow page book.
While there was once only one Yellow Page book in town receiving 100% of yellow page advertising revenue, they are now losing a large share of that revenue to several competing yellow page books, but their operating costs remain fixed. All of the yellow page book companies must print and distribute the same number of books. Unless all advertisers advertise in all three yellow page books, the publishing companies have to increase advertising fees thereby increasing the cost of reaching a yellow page consumer. In an effort to increase revenue, yellow page books have even begun creating new real estate to sell including advertising on the covers, spine, tabbed pages and even Post-it Notes style ads. These high visibility advertisements also divert yellow page consumers from regular full-page advertisements.
Simply stated, there was once only one yellow page book in town; it was cheaper to advertise in the book; there were fewer lawyers advertising in the book; there were few lawyers advertising on TV; the Internet was not what it is today; and there were far more people using the Yellow Pages than there are today.
So what’s a lawyer to do with yellow page advertising? If you’re one of the three or four largest advertisers in your market with an advertising budget large enough for a substantial TV advertising campaign including billboards and radio, you may want to consider advertising in all of the yellow page books. If you’re not one of the largest advertisers in your market, my suggestion is to discontinue advertising in yellow page books and to spend your money on TV. If you have a 1-800 vanity telephone number available and extra money in the budget, you should also advertise on billboards and radio.
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.