Knowing when & what to auction | The needs of the buyer
Consistency
If you will be auctioning off several items or you plan to auction items on a long-term basis, keep the look of your auctions consistent. Over time, you will develop several buyers that follow your auctions because of the quality of your items and professionalism.
They will become accustomed to seeing information laid out in a certain way. Keeping your auctions consistent will help them navigate easier and therefore you will make a quicker sale.
Youth Auctions
Auction items that focus on youth such as games, collectibles, clothing, body jewellery, etc. should end during the week or on a Sunday night.
Ending them on Friday or Saturday nights is not a good choice since they are generally not home on these nights and therefore, the bidding is not as good.
Retirement Age
If your auctions include items that would appeal to people around retirement age or moms and dads that stay or work at home, the best time to end your auction is mid-morning during the week. This is the time when older people spend most of their time on the Internet and the ideal time for parents who have smaller children taking a nap.
Item's Use
Tell the buyers what the original use of your item was. For example, if you are selling lawn and garden items, you should express that you purchased them for your home but then moved to an apartment or whatever the case. This helps confirm to the buyer that the item's is fine the circumstance for its use changed.
Accessories
Some people fail to include information about accessories. This is very important since many times people are looking specifically for the accessories/attachments that go along with the item's. What if you were buying a weed eater but had a bad back? You need one that has a good shoulder strap. If the buyer visits your auction and finds the weed eater, you are selling to be exactly what they are looking for and the price is right but there is no strap, you have lost a sale. Include all accessory/attachment information even if you think it has no value.
Personal Website
If you have a website where you have many items or even services that would not sell online, consider promoting your products auctions through your personal website. This will help increase the traffic to your site and build up the sales.
Auction Insight
Auction Insight is a great service that you should look at before you list your auction. Auction Insight is a search engine that will go out and review all of the larger online auction sites, looking for your item's specified. In return, you will get a list of prices this same item is selling for on the other auction sites.
Build Feedback
If you are new to auction sites and have no feedback ratings, you should consider purchasing a couple of items yourself to establish a buyers feedback. Because both the buyer and sellers feedback is rolled into one, building some buyers feedback for yourself will help show buyers for your merchandise see that you are a good risk.
Escrow Service
If you are selling high priced items such as a car, computer or other technology equipment, a home, etc., you might want to consider offering buyers the use of an escrow service. Before the auction closes, you and interested buyers would need to set up an agreement as to how the item will be paid for and any other detailed information.
Delivery Confirmation
Unfortunately, some buyers will try to say they paid for an item but never received the auction item's. When shipping, you should consider using delivery confirmation. This service is generally inexpensive and can end up saving you a ton, especially if the item's is higher priced.