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.
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.
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.
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.
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.