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10 Things You Should Know Before You Bid On A Business Product From An Online Auction 1. Know the value of the product before you bid. If the product is brand new, check to see what price retailers are charging for it. If the product is used or reconditioned, you will want to pay way less than the retail value. 2. If the product's description or picture isn't detailed enough for you, contact the merchant to get more information before you bid. You don't want to take a chance to waste your hard earned money. 3. Know the highest price you will bid for the product and stick with it. Don't get caught up in a bidding war; you may end up paying more than the product's worth. Don't forget to add in the shipping price with your bid. 4. Visit a few online auctions before bidding because some merchants auction the same product in many auctions. You usually can purchase the product for a lower price in a unpopular auction because there are less bidders. 5. Know the time the auction begins and ends. You also want to know how long it will take to ship. If you need the product by a certain date, you'll want to estimate the time it will take to receive it. 6. Know the payment options the merchant accepts before you bid on their product. If they only accept checks or money orders, it may take even longer to get the product because the payment has to clear. If they accept credit cards make sure they have a secure server. 7. Know if the merchant offers a warranty or money back guarantee or before bidding on a product. You don't want to get stuck with a product that does not work or you're not satisfied with. 8. Online auctions will, sometimes, allow you to check the merchants history with their auction. Check to see if people have complained about the their products or business practices before you decide to bid. 9. It's important to place a bid early in the auction to show other bidders you are interested in the product. If someone does out bid you, don't be afraid to out bid them. Remember not to go over your maximum bid price. 5 Ways Your Business Can Benefit From Online Auctions It seems as if everyone is talking about online auctions. And why not. There are thousands of online auctions on the internet with more popping up everyday. People love them because they can usually find great bargains. Businesses are now also seeing the benefits of online auctions. Below are five ways your business can benefit from online auctions. 1. Get Rid Of Excess Inventory You could sell your excess or discontinued products at an online auction. Your unsold inventory is doing you no good sitting around, collecting dust. It's an effective way to make extra income and it won't be a total loss for your business. You could even get lucky and make a profit depending on how much people will bid for your excess inventory. 2. Test Pricing For New Products An easy way to test new product prices is to see what people will bid for them at an online auction. First, sell your product at three different online auctions. Next, calculate the average selling bid from all three auctions and that will be your selling price for your new product. 3. Sell Your Products You can get your product in front of a large audience by selling it at an online auction. Some of the bigger auction sites draw over millions of hits a year. The key to being successful is to sell your product at multiple online auctions at the same time. Let's say you sold one product a day from just one auction site. If you sell your product at one hundred online auction sites that would be one hundred sales a day! 4. Start Your Own Online Auction Drive traffic to your web site by starting your own online auction. People will visit your web site to find bargains and to sell their own products. You will get plenty of repeat visitors from people rebidding on products and adding new products to sell. You could also charge other businesses to advertise on your web site. 5. Lower Your Business Costs You can find lower prices on business supplies and equipment at online auctions. I'm not saying all the time, but before you go pay retail for a new printer try bidding on one first. A company may be selling them at a lower price at an online auction because they have excess inventory. How To Use Online Auctions As Traffic Generators There are thousands of online auctions on the internet. People love them because they can usually find great bargains. If you have an online business, you can use them to increase traffic to your web site. You could create an electronic book or report that relates to your online business, then auction it off at an online auction. You could increase traffic to your web site by placing an ad for your web site in the electronic publication. Some online auctions will even allow you to link directly to your web site. Electronic publications won't cost you anything to ship. You could send them via e-mail or allow people to download the electronic publication from your web site. You can also auction them off for a lower price. When they visit your web site you could offer them a higher priced product. You could also get traffic from people who don't bid or don't get the winning bid. You could direct them to your web site to download and read a free sample of the ebook or report before they bid. If they want more detailed information about the ebook or report, you could also direct them to your web site. You can also get traffic to your web site by auctioning a physical product. Print your web site advertisement on a flyer or brochure then insert it into each product package you ship. Before you start auctioning any product at an online auction, read the terms and conditions. Some auctions may not allow the auctioning of electronic products or directly linking to your web site where you have other products for sale.