Online College Education a Boon For Working Professionals

There is no such thing as having too much education. In fact, more and more professionals are realizing that further education can actually help them in their careers. There are certain positions in companies that in which eligible job candidates are required to have either a Masters of Doctorate level education or even a second degree in another specialization that is more in tune to the responsibilities that the position entails.

But the inherent difficulty of pursuing any type of additional education among professionals is time. There is just not enough of it to go around. In between the demands of the workplace, there are also responsibilities and expectations that need to be fulfilled at home (as a father or as a husband). This makes it so much harder for working professionals to squeeze in going to school into their already tight daily schedules.

Fortunately, new avenues have been opened with regards to the pursuit of higher knowledge among busy individuals. The rise of online college education has been able to meet the specific and highly specialized needs of working professionals. With an online education – gaining knowledge has been freed from the confines of a school building and has now entered the domain of the individual in whatever place or time that is convenient to him. This liberation of education has truly revolutionized the way we as individuals and professionals can attain additional knowledge and skills.

Because of the very nature of online education, it effectively offers two enticing benefits to professionals – cost and flexibility.

Since a large number of working professionals have families or are planning to have a family, the cost advantage of online education makes it a very attractive proposition to them. Although the tuition that needs to be paid may be the same amount that is paid with “regular” schools, you get to save on other education-related costs. Some of these costs could be the commuting expenses to and from the school, school-related materials and supplies, miscellaneous expenses that are usually incurred when in a school but is eliminated because of the virtual nature of online education. There are also some intangible costs, like the stress an individual feels when he has to rush from the office to the school and from the school to the home. Online education effectively eliminates this cost. Yes, there may be other incurred costs related to getting an online education – most notably the internet connection fees – but since most homes already have a ready connection anyway, this cost becomes insignificant.

Another important benefit of online education is flexibility. This could probably be the most important benefit of getting an online education. For people who have to juggle time between work and home, the relative flexibility in time with regards to online classes is a great enticement to enroll and further their personal development. An individual who wants to pursue higher or specialized education using online channels will never have to worry about commuting to a school (except for certain programs that require minimal visits to the campus). He can just rush home from work and learn from the comfort of his own home.

This flexibility benefit has not gone unnoticed by the employers themselves. In fact, more and more business owners are realizing that online education is a great tool for them further improve the skills of their workers without sacrificing productivity or incurring too much in terms of the cost of education. What’s more, employers are finally realizing that investing in education for their employees returns in the form of a more trained workforce that can more effectively do their assigned tasks and roles in the company – and this alone makes this investment all worth it.

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How To Start a Home Based Business Using a Foolish Idea

Unemployment rates are still high and many people have been unable to find a job. With so many people out of work, there are far more applicants than job openings. It is staggering to see there are thousands of people struggling everyday trying to make ends meet. On any given day, you hear a story about families living in their car, or forced into a homeless shelter because they simply ran out of money and have nowhere else to go.

I thought this was America, the greatest country in the world. How did we get here? It seems that somewhere along the line we lost our vision, our dream. Take a look around. If we are not careful, there will be nothing left for our children and grandchildren. So, what can you do to survive? Be creative. Use experience from jobs previously held to start your own home-based business. Most people have transferable skills that can be applied to another job or business.

There are numerous free ad websites such as craigslist, community newspapers, or classified ads, that you can use to get an idea of services people are looking for. But you must use caution and beware of scam artists who might be waiting to exploit you and steal your identity. NEVER pay anyone who advertises, “if you send them money”, they can find you a job. They know you are unemployed and more likely than not, will victimize you in some way. A little bit of common sense goes a long way. If it sounds too good to be true, then it probably is.

Ideas to Start A Home Based Business

Lawn and garden. Everyone needs their lawn cut. Many older Americans are no longer able to keep up their yard. Equipment needed: lawn mower, edger. Start advertising by getting some business cards and flyers made and distributing them.
Car or Van service. Start a carpool and charge by the week. With high gas prices, people are looking for alternative ways to save commuting time.
Cooking. Make up a menu and take them to barbershops, hair salons, or other professional businesses, and offer to take orders and deliver meals. Many of these professionals do not have time to prepare a healthy meal and would welcome a home cooked meal.
Kiddie Cab. Children have doctor and dental appointments. Sometimes it’s difficult for parents to get time off from work.
Avon. $10 to start. You can leave books in your neighborhood, church, doctor’s office, etc.
Translation services. If you are bilingual this could be an excellent opportunity.
Cleaning services. There are many foreclosed properties sitting on the market. Visit or call real estate companies and negotiate a flat fee to clean the properties. Good way to also offer lawn care services.
Piano lessons. Offer in home lessons.
Event planner. Everyday someone is planning an event, whether it be a wedding, church function, family reunion or party.
Alterations services. Check out what stores charge for alterations and beat their price.
Hair braiding. Very lucrative (check for licensing requirements)
Elder care services. High cost of insurance prevents families from providing quality care for their elderly parents or relatives. If you have a background in the health industry, you could offer to do in-home care.
Relocation and Moving. Providing information to people relocating to new city.
Car detailing
Window tinting

The possibilities of starting a home business are endless. Think about what you really enjoy doing. Many of the suggestions listed above do not require spending large amounts of money. Search online for grants that may be available. Start off small and put back any money you make back into the business for equipment or advertising. Whatever your case may be, you have numerous ways to select the right home-based business.

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Why Do Most Home Based Businesses Fail? (Part 1 of 3)

Are you thinking about starting your own home based business? If so, you’re not alone. The recent economic climate has caused many people to rethink their long-term financial plans. Most people are in desperate need of additional income and thousands of people are crawling the Internet daily looking for jobs and business opportunities. An extra job can offer a little wiggle room to your existing situation, but a home based business can offer you what you really want – Wealth.Many of us have tried different home based businesses; MLM’s, Direct Sales, Network Marketing, whatever you want to call it, with no success to show for hours of pitching but damage to our relationships with the friends & family we’ve pitched to. Frustrated, we vow to never get duped into another “scheme” again. Here’s the truth about most home based MLM’s and Network Marketing Opportunities: they have too many variables for failure.Variable for Failure #1 – The Product: Many MLM’s pitch a product that is only popular with a specific demographic. Not everyone wants or needs over-priced cookware or expensive skin-care products. Not everyone likes candles. Not everyone takes vitamins. Some of these products may be used by a large percentage of people, but they can be purchased much more conveniently at the grocery store with all your other shopping vs. ordering them online or waiting for a consultant to deliever them to your house. If you are looking to start a home based business, look for an opportunity with a product that is useful to a majority of people regardless of age, gender, health condition or economic status. I recommend finding a product that doesn’t have a competing brand sold at Walmart.Variable for Failure #2 – The Compensation Plan: 30% commission is a joke, especially if you’re selling “small-ticket” items. How many $100 bottles of lotion would you have to sell at 30% commission to replace your current income? You will never gain wealth that way, you’ll just work yourself even more ragged then you already are. When looking for a home based business, you need to search for an opportunity that markets “big-ticket” items. You do the same amount of work, but get a much bigger payoff. Look for a company that pays 50% and upwards in commissions.

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5 Rules of Home-Based Business Success

The purpose of this article is to share with you, my dear friend the home-based business owner, some rules that I try to live by when running my own home-based business that I think may be useful for you when running your own business from home. In many ways, these are rules for life that can help you live a life that is happier, healthier and more prosperous. You need to take my advice.Treat everyone they way you want to be treated- The golden rule is “do unto others as you would have then do unto you.” You should live your business life like this. Yes, you are going to have customers that annoy the hell out of you and you may have issues with staff or contractors. However, chances are that you are not perfect and you have made mistakes in your life. Forgive easily and treat everyone with respect. If you work hard to get along with people then you are more likely to have them return the favour to you.Act in the best interests of everybody- Don’t be selfish. You should not do something that will definitely end up with someone else being put down or disadvantaged. You can make decisions that benefit you but also benefit society in general. You need to make sure that you act in everyone’s interest not only your own interestAct in a way that farms and cultivates, not one that hunts and destroys- We all know the story of the greasy palmed networker who works in to an event, thrusts his business card into the hands of anyone that will take it and tries to sell his product to everyone. This is not going to be successful in the long term. Networking should be about developing relationships and fostering long term development of everybody’s businesses.Be thankful, but prepared to toot your own horn- If someone helps you, make sure that you acknowledge it. Conversely, don’t be humble. If you are good at what you do, tell people about it. Toot your own horn in case nobody else does.Push boundaries and challenge yourself- You need to make sure that you keep pushing boundaries in your home based business, constantly evolving your marketing and constantly looking at your product or service. There is no benefit to staying stale- In fact there is no quicker way to set your business up for failure.True success involves making sure that you follow the golden rules- those rules that I have mentioned above. If you constantly work to make sure that you live by these rules then I am confident you will see more success almost immediately.

Virtual Phone Systems Help Home Based Businesses Compete With the Big Guys

Virtual phone systems, also known as virtual PBXs, are a sound solution to help facilitate any home based business. Home based businesses today have many of the same communication needs as their larger counterparts. Customers and vendors need to be routed to the right person within a company; and when a business is home based, this is usually one person-the owner. Like any other company, a home based business needs to be competitive, with such communication tools as voice mail for messaging and toll-free numbers for customer convenience.Even though the communication needs may be similar for most companies, the unique circumstances of home offices often make finding the right type of phone system difficult. Home offices are usually too small for elaborate systems with lots of equipment and hardware. For many home based businesses, a virtual PBX is a viable alternatives.Virtual phone systems manage communications at an off-site location without the need for additional land lines or new hardware. This process is generally cheaper than traditional systems. Moreover, because the maintenance of virtual phone systems is done off-site, there is never any interruption to the home business. A virtual PBX does not require extensive training to learn how to use either. Finally, all of the customary features of traditional systems are available with the virtual systems as well.When home based businesses use virtual phone systems, in-coming callers will not be able to discern any noticeable difference. The system will be easy to use and will project the same professional image as a traditional phone system. With a virtual PBX, businesses will be able to create a unique message for in-coming callers, as well as an extensive menu of options from which callers may choose. If a home based business has more than one employee, the virtual phone system will be able to route calls to the appropriate person based on the callers’ menu choices.Call forwarding is another important feature of virtual phone systems. In-coming calls can be routed to the appropriate people wherever they happen to be-at work, on the road, or at home. Routing can be changed simply by logging into the system-a user can choose to receive calls at the home office in the morning, and then by mobile phone in the afternoon, all with a few simple commands. This feature makes virtual PBX systems truly portable, an important advantage for any home based business owner.Besides voice communications, virtual phone systems can also manage both in-coming and out-going faxes. In-coming faxes are received as email; out-going faxes are handled like any other fax sent from a computer. Customers will not notice any difference when faxing to the home based business. Even more, all faxing will now be paperless saving valuable space, money and resources.Virtual phone systems can substantially reduce a company’s communication costs. Installation and set-up expenses are substantially minimized. Existing hardware usually does not need to be replaced. With the customized menu options, there is no need for a person to be on duty simply to answer the phone. Digitized faxing eliminates the need for fax machines and paper.Beyond cost savings, virtual phone systems make good business sense for reasons of productivity. Because faxes are digitized, they can be saved more efficiently on a computer and then printed out only when needed. Users can have in-coming calls routed by the auto attendant to wherever they are during the day, resulting in fewer missed calls and greater responsiveness to customers’ needs. The menus can be customized to provide customers with important information without a live person answering the phone. When a live contact is needed, the menus help the customer to get the necessary support more quickly. This will have a significant impact on customer satisfaction.

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Ways to Choose the Best Home Based Business and Make It Succeed

Choosing the best home based business is not an easy task, especially with all the business ideas out there. Every opportunity will be described as the best at-home business opportunity, but not all of them deliver on these promises. For you to choose the best at-home business, you need to know what you want from the business and how it best suits your needs.To find a good, legitimate home based business, you need to do a little research. First you need to find out if the business opportunity has a good track record. For it to be categorized as a good at-home business, it needs to have been around for at least one year and there needs to be other people having success with it. If these aspects are present, chances are it is legitimate.For the business opportunity to be classified as the best home based business opportunity it also needs to provide high levels of training and support. Even the best at-home businesses can fail when there is not enough training and support offered. How else will you know what to do? So make sure you consider the business ideas that offer ongoing training, support and guidance. By doing this, you are assured of choosing the best from-home business on the market.You also need to understand that even with the best from-home business; you are going to have to work at it for it to succeed. Some business ideas do not require a large investment, but with every legitimate business opportunity you will be required to invest your time. There is no getting around it, you may have the best home based business available, but working from home still requires actual work.Another important factor to consider when trying to find the best home based business is that even the most legitimate businesses will require a little time to get off the ground. You will not find any business ideas out there that guarantee success overnight. If it does, it is most probably not legitimate.You need to be extremely disciplined for even the best at-home to succeed. Be prepared to put aside a period of time each day to spend on your business. The time you devote to your business will influence its performance and subsequent success.If you know what to look for, finding the best home based business is easy. Follow these simple guidelines when looking at prospective at-home business ideas and work hard at the business you choose to make it the best at-home business for you.

Top 3 Reasons Small Businesses Fail

Before You Say “I Do”Before you say I do, before you make the investment, before you hang the sign, before you set up the company, there is something that you should know. Small businesses are similar to a marriage – no one goes into the venture thinking that it won’t work out. Yet a significant portion of small businesses fail. According to the Small Business Administration, as many as 30 percent of small business startups fail within the first two years of the honeymoon – and up to 50 percent within the next three years. Do the math and you’ll come up with a staggering 80 percent failure rate among small businesses within the first five years. The odds are stacked against you, but our business model is based entirely on helping small business owners maximize growth. To avoid the pitfalls that cause other businesses to fail, you’ve got to understand what business failure is, the reasons why small businesses fail and what it will take to be part of the remaining 20 percent that achieves success.Just like someone whose marriage has ended in divorce, failed small business owners often blame anyone but themselves. They look for factors outside their control as scapegoats for the downfall of their business endeavors. They blame the economy, the government, their partners or their employees, just to name a few. If you dig a little deeper, the real root of the problem can often be revealed in a lack of business acumen, inadequate resources or insufficient capital. Without exception, these issues are ultimately the responsibility of the small business owner.Lack of Business AcumenMaking the transition from an employee to a small business owner can be extremely difficult. The disciplines that you have developed as an employee are totally different than what you will need when you step into the owner’s shoes and start running the show. The reality is that many owners’ expertise lies in accounting, law, medicine or some other discipline unrelated to day-to-day operational concerns. Don’t assume that you can just open a business and find clients or patients lining up outside your door. It takes skill and experience to drive business your way. Identify the areas where you lack expertise and look for consultants, partners, professional services or employees to fill in the gaps.Inadequate ResourcesFor small business owners, relationships mean everything. The right relationships result in a strong foundation, but incompatible or incomplete teams translate to inadequate resources. What team resources can you leverage to balance your own strengths and weaknesses? Too often, new business owners attempt to do it all themselves. This strategy may work in a one-man operation for someone whose goal in life is to only work by himself, for himself. Unfortunately, it’s an ineffective strategy for running a full-scale business. Instead, you need the right team and the right advisors. One of the most powerful tools you can use to increase your chances of success is to learn where to turn to get the right resources to fit the needs of your business. That won’t necessarily mean consulting with your best friend or hiring a former co-worker. Your selection process should extend beyond friends and family. Looking for the lowest price may also not be the best decision-making criteria. The truth is you get what you pay for. Locating and utilizing the best resources possible is one of the keys that will differentiate your future between dissolution and success.Insufficient capitalThe number one reason why marriages fail is because of money issues, and small businesses are no different. The amount of capital available to you at the time you establish your new business is a critical determinant of the success or failure of your business. Simply put, your available capital is the sum of your cash, lines of credit or trade credit for the business. For most start-up businesses, the costs incurred within the first two years far outweigh income – except in the case of acquiring a business that provides income on day one.One of the largest and most common problems is muddying the line between business expenses and personal expenses. Separate your personal life from the business. Resist the temptation to remove cash from business accounts to satisfy a shortfall in your personal budget. While it’s true that the business should provide income to the owner, too-frequent personal withdrawals cause undue hardship. Plan withdrawals that are sufficient to maintain your household needs and stick to the plan.In order to flourish in business, you must be accountable to yourself, your employees, your family and your clients. You must be able to grow right along with the growth of your business. If, as a small business owner, you take the same “’til death do us part” commitment pledge taken by a newlywed, and commit to sticking it out through thick and thin, you will increase your chances for success. Don’t give in to the temptation to wander off and explore the next, newest thing. Focus and commit to your business and eliminate failure as an option.

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Zoning, Laws, and Taxes Affecting Your Home-Based Business

Zoning laws that relate to your home-based business

Zoning laws may be determined by your city or your county, and you should familiarize yourself with these laws so you will be able deal with any issues that may arise. First, you need to determine if your home-based business will have employees or walk-up trade. If not, the zoning questions may never arise. Home-based businesses that deal with the public or have non-family-member employees that work out of their home are more likely to have issues with with zoning laws. Before you start your business, get a copy of your local ordinances from your city or county clerk’s office, the city attorney’s office, or your public library.

Usually the problems arise when neighbors complain, and the zoning boards are required to deal with the complaints. If employees and customers are going in and out of your home, making noise, or parking by the neighbors’ homes, your neighbors will probably bring this to the attention of the zoning commission. Also, your hours of operation may also be an issue if you are open early in the morning or late at night and you disturb your neighbors. If your biggest problem is your neighbors, try talking to them about your business ahead of time to help allay their fears. If you meet with resistance from neighbors, you may be able to negotiate a resolution.

The amount of space your business is uses in your home usually cannot be greater than the actual living area. This is called “space percentage,” and it can lead to a zoning issue. Also, the type of merchandise you are selling may also be restricted in a residential area if you are using chemicals or other items that have an unpleasant odor. Most zoning laws allow a nonpolluting home businesses, as long as any home containing a business is used primarily as a residence and the business activities don’t negatively affect neighbors.

You may also be in breach of zoning laws if you post a sign for your business in your yard, and you should read up on signage laws in your area before you post a sign. You may be able to find other business owners in the area who have similar zoning issues, and you can organize a local business campaign to try to change your zoning laws to make them more favorable to home-based businesses.

In many cities and counties, if a planning or zoning board rejects your business, you can appeal or request a variance from the city council or county board of supervisors. You are more likely to succeed if you have the support of all affected neighbors and other businesses in the area. Because of the prevalance of home-based businesses, some communities are working to amend ordinances that prohibit home-based businesses entirely to allow “traditional home-based businesses” that are unobtrusive.

In an effort to protect residential property values, most subdivisions, condos and planned-unit developments create special rules called Covenants, Conditions and Restrictions (CC&Rs) that govern many aspects of property use. When you purchased your home, you received a copy of the CC&Rs, and you should read them carefully to be sure that you are allowed to operate a business in your home. Rules pertaining to home-based businesses are often significantly stricter than those found in city ordinances and they are more zealously enforced. If you violate these homeowner’s restrictions, the homeowner’s association or property management company could obtain an injunction to stop the business activities, and you could be facing stiff fines.

Legal issues affecting home-based businesses

The first thing you must do is establish a business entity for your new venture. You need to take this vital step for your business to protect yourself from liability issues. You will also need to apply for a business license before you start selling anything if your state requires one. If your state does not require a license, you may be required to have a reseller’s certificate. Research your state’s business laws and get the proper license or certification.

Many home-based business overlook their need for insurance. Unless you are covered already, you will need to provide your own health, dental, and life insurance. You will also need liability and business property insurance to protect your business and its assets if an accident or other unexpected event affects your business. If you have employees working in your home-based business, you must consider whether you will provide health insurance for them. Also, research the OSHA standards to determine if your home-based business is subject to them.

Tax laws that govern your home-based business

Your tax situation will change when you start your home-based business. Because new tax laws are passed every year, you need to hire a good accountant to be sure you are compliant. Even if you have done your own taxes for years, owning a business means that you will need different tax forms and schedules. It is well worth the cost of a good accountant to be sure that your deductions are viable and that you are paying the correct amount of tax.

State taxes regarding deductions, income tax, and sales tax vary from state to state. Contact your state’s tax office for specific information about how taxes are calculated and collected in your state. The Internal Revenue Service can be researched on-line at http://www.irs.gov to learn about the tax laws you will be facing. The IRS Web site provides comprehensive information for small businesses and also lists a toll-free number if you need more help. Spend some time at the IRS Web site until you feel comfortable with the new.

You can also get good information from the Small Business Association site on tax laws and other business issues. Another good resource is Nolo Press that sells books, e-books, and guides specifically about small business tax issues. Their Web site also offers free information. If you plan to hire employees, you need to be aware of employment taxes and other issues that face business owners. You will need to set up a system for federal withholding tax, state tax, and other employment taxes, and you need to report and pay the taxes withheld to the appropriate government agency.

Strategic Planning in Small Business – Is There Such Thing?

“The vast majority of small business owners do not plan”, I think that we can regard this statement as a ruling. But why is it so? As far as my knowledge reach, the reason for this derives from two different aspects: First, the lack of time that every small business owner face, which exists mainly because of the centrality of the small business owner in the day-to-day management tasks that are crucial for the maintenance of the small business. Second, the skills, or lack of skills, to establish a profound strategic planning process that will evolve into strategic plan that will lay out the small business goals and objectives and the necessary resources needed to achieve those objectives. Such skills are not as common even when we are dealing with large business top managers, but contrary to small business owners large business top managers do have the access to professionals in the field of strategic planning and the necessary resources to hire them, and this is what makes the whole difference.

After saying all this, several questions needed to be answer: do all small business owners sentenced to lag behind their corporate colleagues regarding strategic planning? Is there something that the small business owner can do in order to narrow the gap? And if there is, what will be the benefits to the small business owner?

Small business owners will never have the necessary resources needed to close the gap with large businesses regarding strategic planning process and implementation. But frankly I don’t think that they should put neither their time nor their money in the elusive quest to narrow this gap. What small business owners can and should do is to understand that a small business is not a large business regarding its abilities and needs with the only exception that it’s employ fewer employees. If this understanding become a common knowledge to the small business owner, it is rather obvious that he or she should adopt different approach regarding strategic planning.

The idea that strategic planning at small business should not come in a rigid form, that dictate a step by step formula what the small business should do and how it’s need to act at every possible situation, opens a whole new set of alternatives to engage at some sort of strategic planning from which the owner and its business will be the main beneficiaries. The benefits to the small business from engaging in any sort of strategic planning could be as follow: The understanding of the small business owner how he sees the objectives of its small business as for today and what he plans to the future. Defining the resources needed to achieve those objectives and plans. Insight what are and will be the risks while trying to implement its present and future plans.

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.

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