Over the years, eBay has developed a variety of different auction types, in an effort to give sellers more choices every time they sell things on eBay.

For each seller that doesn’t like the thought that his or her item may well sell for a far lower selling price than they would like, there is certainly another who wants to sell plenty of of a similar item quickly.

eBay makes an attempt to meet the needs of all tastes. Here is an overview of the different varieties of auctions and also their benefits for you when you sell things on eBay.

Regular Auction Listings

These are the basis of eBay, the auctions everyone should know: buyers bid, other people outbid them, they bid once more, and when it’s all over the winner will get the item. Easy. A Standard Auction listing might be a little more troublesome for buyers, when there is a reserve price.

Auction Listings with a reserve are generally for sellers who don’t want their items to go for under a certain price – a concept you may be aware of should you be accustomed to real auctions. They operate much like normal auctions on eBay, except that the bidder is informed if their bid doesn’t meet the reserve price you specify, and they are going to have to bid again if they would like the item.  In the event that no-one is willing to meet your price, then the auction finishes without a winner, and you keep the item.

Buy It Now Listings

Buy it Now listings can work in one of two ways. You can include a Buy it Now option to a normal auction, meaning that buyers can select either to bid normally or simply pay the asking price and skip the whole bidding process. Some sellers, though, now eliminate the auction process entirely and just list all their items with a fixed price. This lets you avoid all the difficulties with the auction format and just list your products based on how much you’d like them to sell for.  With Buy It Now listings you are also able to sell a number of the same item using a single listing. Bidders can enter how many they want and then simply click Buy it Now to buy them.

Not too long ago, eBay added a twist to fixed price auctions: the ‘best offer’. This means that buyers can make contact with you in order to work out a price, which could be a great way to get rid of some extra items at a small discount. The only issue with reserve and fixed price auctions is that you have to pay a small extra fee to use these kinds of formats.

Generally, it is more advantageous to go with reserve auctions for higher-priced goods and fixed price auctions when selling lower-priced items – but don’t forget that you could combine the two formats.

Classified Listings

As you might expect, a Classified Ad on eBay is where you advertise basically as you would in a local newspaper. You advertise your product or service, state your selling price, and potential buyers get in touch with you directly and you handle the transaction by yourself.  Although quite different from the Auction and Buy It Now listings, with the volume of people searching on eBay every single day, the Classified Ad could be a really good technique for getting customers for your product if you’re happy handling them direct, however Classified Ads aren’t available in all categories.

Now that you know about the various ways to sell things on eBay, you are probably going to want to get your first listing up on eBay.

When it is time to get a new car everyone’s first choice is Mile of Cars. This is a main strip in your town of new and used cars. People using this method no they can’t afford to pay out of pocket and will have to borrow from a bank. Dealerships mark up the prices on their inventory so they can make money. Just letting you know you have another choice. There are organizations in your neighborhood that sell cars at affordable costs. These places are referred to as Government Car Auctions. You can go in with a set budget and walk out with a decent car.

Government agencies have contracts with dealership for the cars they use. At the end of the contract they have to sell the vehicles. They do this through government auctions. A majority of the cars are below 40,000 miles. Due to the abundance of these cars you can get cars well under blue book value, usually between 10 to 50 percent below actual value.  

Criminals around town are always donating to your local law enforcement. These donations are well known around the area as illegal contraband. The ability to sell these cars for a chunk of money allows the city to haul in extra money to supplement funds. This is achieved through an auction. At these auctions cars are pretty inexpensive so you can get one good deal. All cars sold are checked out and are cleared for sale so no need to worry about possibly getting a clunker.

Unlike some dealerships you will always be given a clean bill of health for your purchase. If not you may obtain a report on your own through CARFAX allowing you to decide if there is anything wrong prior to purchase. These reports can be used in your final determination on purchasing the car or not. This can be accomplished prior to the period of viewing bidding on the cars. This way it can make a car look more suitable to you.

You may wish to visit a few government car auctions before you start bidding on cars.  It’s important that you find a car that you are going to be comfortable with rather than simply buying any model. Once you find a vehicle which is going to work well with your needs and will be an outstanding model, you can bid on the vehicle in the hopes of completing the sale. If you are able to win the highest bid, you can finalize the purchase of this car and soon have a new vehicle which you can rely on for all of your travel needs!

The short version of government car auctions is that at first sight, they seem to good to be true. Can you really buy a car for $200 that looks like new? The truth is, it IS true. Local, state and federal governments regularly auction off unclaimed or seized properties. These properties are homes, real estate, equipment and cars and these government car auctions can really land you a sweet deal on a good car if you know what you are doing.

General Service Administration, “GSA” for short is the majority leader in government car auctions. Other agencies with the ability to legally obtain illegal property include U.S. Marshall’s, Department of Treasury, Border Patrol or the IRS. Your city police along with DOT are conducting these sales on a weekly basis. “Police Impound Auctions” are what you would look for if you wanted to attend.

A lot of the government car auctions don’t necessarily come from seizures but from surplus. You’ll hear them referred to as ‘government surplus auctions’, and they not only sell cars, but things like computers, furniture, forklifts, equipment, and many other things. Banks will often have auctions to sell cars that they’ve had to repossess. These are your ‘Repo car auctions’. Most of the time when you hear of these auctions, they are actually handled by a private auction company that’s under contract.

Don’t fret if you live in a small city, you can always find an auction nearby.  Auctions are usually on a set schedule. They can be held monthly, quarterly or annually as determined by the agency conducting it. Finding out when they are being held could be as easy as looking in the newspaper. The chance of finding the type of car you’re looking for is pretty good. If you’re interested in an SUV, sports car or just a family car, auctions are the way to go. The ability to attend an auctions lies with one having money, a driver’s license and be over 18 years of age.

The ability to view cars before the auction is known as the “preview” period. Not every auction will allow this. Two maybe three days prior to an auction is the time period for this preview. At this time you can do everything but drive off. This is the best time to start them up, listen to them and make sure they run properly. Also find out what you want to bid on and keep track of it. Privately run auctions should be the only time you would pay buyer’s fees.

This has been the short version of free government auctions. Be prepared to run into some stiff competition especially if you’ve got your eye on a good looking car that seems to be in good condition. There’ll be plenty of bidders with their eye on it too. Sometimes it’s best to bid on one that doesn’t look so good but that you know from experience should run good and are reliable and durable. Don’t get discouraged if you lose on a few bids. It’s part of the fun and the learning experience. Be prepared to bid on more than one vehicle if they have that many you like. These government car auctions really can be a way to get a great deal on a good car.

It’s interesting to observe the process people go through when thinking about a website strategy for their online presence. After they decide they need a site they begin to plan what content they’d like to have . The majority of the companies decide they need information about them so they add an “About Us” page to their site.

Secondly they would like to talk about their products or services so they create a “Products” or “Services” page on their site.

The most crucial part to the new website is allowing visitors the ability to get in touch with the company to do business or make inquiries which is where the infamous “Contact Us” page became popular .

I am sure you’ve seen these kinds of pages on just about every website you’ve ever visited .  When you took the plunge, and worked to get your first website online you probably had the objective of growing your online presence by tapping into the “treasure chest” the Internet makes available to us all. That’s the main motivation behind tons of websites . The stumbling block with this process of web development is that it’s completely wrong.  This doesn’t mean that a company won’t make any sales or increase their volume of visitors by structuring their website in this manner .   However, I do believe you are hurting the potential revenue of your site by doing it, and you could do much better.

The first problem with this tired old navigation structure is that it doesn’t offer any value to your visitors who are potential customers and, if you don’t provide value for your clients , they’ll leave and go to a different site that does . These visitors don’t care about you, your products, or your services.  They only care about what’s in it for them! If that’s accurate why spend any time creating and online presence that goes on and on about your company, products, services and then provide them with a page so they can contact you? Or ultimately , why would you do that and expect any level of online success ?

If your goal is to have a visitor get to your website, absorb the information , and ultimately make the decision to become a customer of your company instead of the competition, you have to prove you are worthy!

The easiest way for you to impress visitors to your website is to provide value to them before asking them to purchase products or services.  You can provide this value by allowing them to download a free report, or perhaps a coupon or code for a special price on your offerings. To really like to stand out in the crowd, you could include a section on your website dedicated to educating your potential customers .

Every online shopper has the question in their head , “Why should I buy from you?” when they land on your website. It is your job to provide an answer to that question.  Buyers want to work with a person who is knowledgeable about the products they are looking for so they will be able to  make intelligent decisions in regards to their situations.

If a user happens to read a couple articles on  your website which relates to a familiar situation, and it’s obvious that the person who wrote it knows their stuff , there is a much better chance that the visitor will want to be your customer. The chances that they will remain on your site are drastically increased, and they won’t feel the need to visit your competitors’ website (and even if they do visit your competitors, they will see that you offer more value).

Whatever business you’re in, having a website and some visitors doesn’t mean that you have done enough to turn them into a customer .  You need to use that website as a showcase to prove your authority , and once you have, make it easy for them to buy from you. You will dramatically increase your chances for online success!