Yes i do use online auction sites for the few years i have been into marketing i have made use of some of them. well there are criterials that you must be aware from my whealth of knowlege which am am willing to share with you, you must put into consideration the following.
Characteristics of a Good Online Auction Site
o Site must have prominent privacy policy that guarantees that the site will provide secure link when a customer enter credit card details and do not sell customer information.
o Very clear defined policies and procedures must be enacted upon when and if any wrong transaction occurs.
o Rating of buyers and sellers facilitate the identification of sellers who do not exist to the end of bargain.
o Fees and commissions must be mentioned on the site. Most of the sites do not charge any fees from bidders but sellers often have to pay small fees for listing the items and commission on selling any item. So the bidders must compare online auction sites for the fees and commission rates to get an idea of the current rates.
o A good online auction site must have escrow services option such as PayPal. These services make the selling and buying more quick by preventing buyers and sellers from becoming intermediary. The buyer can directly send the small fees and payment to the escrew service, after receiving funds escrew gives instruction to sellers to ship the goods. When buyer receives the goods in acceptable condition, funds are transferred to seller via escrew service.
o A good online auction site must have the international payment and shipping option. Commercial sites support international sales.
Advantages of Online Auction Sites
Online auction sites offer several advantages:
o Online auction sites do not stop businesses to carry on sales of product through traditional sales method.
o An online auction site also reduces the distribution cost of a product. It can be stored at one place till it is ready for shipping. It will also reduce the packaging cost of items for distribution to intermediaries such as retail stores. It will also protect goods from damages and keep them safe.
o Online auction also helps small businesses to sell their seasonal, discontinued or damaged goods often with profits and eliminate the inventory expense to store them.
o Online auction sites open the door of international markets for small businesses and help to expand global market. That is nearly impossible to achieve via normal marketing channels.
o Online auction sites also help new businesses that offer new products and it becomes easy to set a market price based on supply and demand.
o These sites also help to find out what customers are willing to pay without doing time-consuming expensive market research.
Characteristics of a Good Online Auction Site
o Site must have prominent privacy policy that guarantees that the site will provide secure link when a customer enter credit card details and do not sell customer information.
o Very clear defined policies and procedures must be enacted upon when and if any wrong transaction occurs.
o Rating of buyers and sellers facilitate the identification of sellers who do not exist to the end of bargain.
o Fees and commissions must be mentioned on the site. Most of the sites do not charge any fees from bidders but sellers often have to pay small fees for listing the items and commission on selling any item. So the bidders must compare online auction sites for the fees and commission rates to get an idea of the current rates.
o A good online auction site must have escrow services option such as PayPal. These services make the selling and buying more quick by preventing buyers and sellers from becoming intermediary. The buyer can directly send the small fees and payment to the escrew service, after receiving funds escrew gives instruction to sellers to ship the goods. When buyer receives the goods in acceptable condition, funds are transferred to seller via escrew service.
o A good online auction site must have the international payment and shipping option. Commercial sites support international sales.
Advantages of Online Auction Sites
Online auction sites offer several advantages:
o Online auction sites do not stop businesses to carry on sales of product through traditional sales method.
o An online auction site also reduces the distribution cost of a product. It can be stored at one place till it is ready for shipping. It will also reduce the packaging cost of items for distribution to intermediaries such as retail stores. It will also protect goods from damages and keep them safe.
o Online auction also helps small businesses to sell their seasonal, discontinued or damaged goods often with profits and eliminate the inventory expense to store them.
o Online auction sites open the door of international markets for small businesses and help to expand global market. That is nearly impossible to achieve via normal marketing channels.
o Online auction sites also help new businesses that offer new products and it becomes easy to set a market price based on supply and demand.
o These sites also help to find out what customers are willing to pay without doing time-consuming expensive market research.
