Calling internet auctions an “Entrepreneur's Dream” isn't poetic license or part of the get-rich-quick rhetoric. Net auctions are the simplest, easiest way on this planet for the little guy to make money.
1. Consider the normal progression of a home business ...
First, the would-be entrepreneur decides on a product or service. He begs, borrows or steals the money to bring his dream into reality.
Then, he faces "The Great Uncertainty" - “Where are my customers going to come from?”
With an Internet auction, your customers are already there and they will come to you! Someone else has very obligingly created an entire marketing structure for us. We need to do nothing to find, literally, MILLIONS of customers.
Not only that, but they have very obligingly arranged themselves into appropriate categories just for us! Talk about targeted marketing!
We don't have to go looking for musicians to buy our guitars, doll collectors for our Barbies or collectors to buy our cars. They will come to us!
2. Start up costs? None. Zero. Zip. Nada.
Can you name any other business that has no start up costs?
Entrepreneur magazine claims that the average franchise costs $70,000! Whoa! And when you buy your franchise, what do you get with it? Oh, employees, rent, government regulations, incredible paperwork, the constant threat of lawsuits, grinding responsibility and twelve hour days.
Auction sellers have no overhead, no utilities, no employees, no employee taxes, no rent.
3. Risk? What risk?
If you start your business wisely, your maximum risk is ... $3.30!
On eBay, the absolute queen of the auction sites, the maximum charge to list an item for sale is $3.30. On many of the sites, there is no charge at all.
It is prudent to begin with merchandise that you already own (or go rob Mom or Grandma's attic). Therefore, you have no merchandise costs.
4. It takes about three minutes to set up your auction business. That is the length of time it takes to register on a site, thereby becoming a full-blown auction trader.
5. If you have a business, you have to somehow let people know you are around. Otherwise, your business isn't going to last very long. This makes advertising - of some sort - absolutely critical.
Recently, a mail order guru was advising novices on how they should begin. He recommended buying a mailing list of 100,000 (hundreds, perhaps a couple of thousand dollars in cost) - but - the novice should start with “only” 5,000 people.
This same guru recommended a 12 page letter, plus an order blank, for a total of 13 pages. In my neighborhood, unless I am copying massive quantities, it costs me five cents per page, so my letter would cost 65 cents. Throw in a stamp, and the cost of the large, manilla envelope and it’s at least $1/person.
So, we are looking at an expense of $5,000! And this doesn't include the numerous hours it would take to create such a mailing.
And, what if my mailing fails miserably? I don't know about you, but losing $5,000 is not insignificant to me! And if we think about advertising our product or service on TV or radio, our costs escalate dramatically.
Contrast this with the price of an internet connection of $15 - $25 a month. And the best part is that you can market to 5,000 or 5,000,000 and it doesn't cost one extra cent.
6. The internet is the only place in the world where a small business can be open open 24 hours a day, seven days a week. What kind of retail establishment can maintain those kinds of hours, unless it is a giant company?
Your buyer has the privilege and opportunity of buying at any hour of the day or night.
Those who assume that there is no one awake and interested in buying at 3:00 a.m. are mistaken. Do you want to be awake at this hour to sell? Highly unlikely. But with an auction site, customers can shop at their leisure, on their own schedule and pay you money while you sleep. The first time I woke up and realized that I had made money while I was asleep, it was an incredible thrill!
7. If I am selling in my home town my buyers are limited to those people in my geographical area. With the Internet, the entire world is my customer. Ebay, for example, has customers in 90 countries.
A merchant can expose his wares to more customers on an internet auction than would see his products in decades in his home town.
8. In common with many other internet businesses, geography has become irrelevant. For centuries, humans have had to live in big cities if they wanted to engage in commerce.
With auctions, you can live anywhere you please, as long as you have electricity. In fact, with laptops, we don't even need to be home.
Want to run your auction business in a Winnebago, on safari, or cruising the Mediterranean? No problem.
9. We never have to leave our homes to make as much money as we want. This has to improve family life in a significant way.
Want to go to the kids Little League games? Have lunch with your spouse several times a week? Work at 3:00 AM because you are a dedicated night owl?
I don't know about your traffic, but in my town it is a total nightmare! Occasionally, I have to travel in rush hour traffic and it makes me realize how blessed I am not to be a member of the Road Rage club.
10. WalMart? K-Mart? Piffle!
Internet auctions make business a level playing field. Let the big companies worry about payroll, employee theft, absenteeism, product margins and the like.
No one knows - - or cares - - how “big” you or your company is.
There is no reason for large companies to ever participate in auction sites, because there isn't enough profit in it for them to bother.
I recently saw an article in the paper commenting that one of the giants had made "only miniscule" growth the past year ... $38 million! I would be very appreciate of that kind of “tiny” profit, myself.
11. Sometimes, it seems that my computer is alive, has a definite mind of its own - and that mind can be very devious and troublesome. Nevertheless, the computer gives us tremendous power and freedom.
Unlike the giant companies, our employee doesn't need a vacation, it takes no sick leave, and has no family emergencies. In other words, we have a 24 hour, seven day a week slave.
12. Starting a business and getting it going, is a full-time job - and then some.
Unless ... you choose to be an auction player.
Because the Internet will carry on your business without you, you can keep your full-time job until you are ready to quit and become an net auction millionaire. And, I do mean millionaire! There are some people making $50,000 a month in auctions. There are others who are content with a few hundred dollars a month. It all depends on your personal goals.
13. Forget about guessing, hoping and praying, lying awake at night, staring at the ceiling and wondering if you are doing the right thing.
It is possible to do your market research in advance and have a very clear picture of how well your product will sell before you even put it on the market.
14. Net auctions have a mercifully short learning curve.
Notice that I didn't say, "No learning curve", but it doesn't take long to begin playing like a champion. It isn't brain surgery, law school or quantum physics. It just takes some observation, attention and time to become a superior auction seller.
The greatest hitters in baseball only hit about three out of every ten, meaning they fail 70% of the time! You can do better than that right from the beginning.
15. This is a perfect business for those folks who are shut-ins, handicapped, senior citizens or anyone who might have trouble getting a J-O-B.
Everything, everything! about an internet auction business can be conducted without ever leaving a room, if you so desire. If you have a computer, that is all the equipment that you need.
16. Rejection? There are people who would rather be boiled in oil than try to sell anything - because they are afraid of rejection.
That will never happen on an internet auction. The worst result is disappointment that your item didn't sell, but it is impersonal and no one will see you, so the element of fear is totally absent.
17. If you so choose, you can make lots of new friends.
It is very satisfying to talk with people who share common interests with you. Have you ever been fascinated with a subject, so thrilled that you desperately wanted to share it with someone - and those around you stare in blank incomprehension - or boredom? You can find fellow fanatics on the auction sites.
18. When you learn your field, you will automatically, without even trying, become an expert. This is knowledge which may pay off in other ways.
For example, a friend who sells jewelry on eBay, recently had the opportunity to buy a large amount of it from the estate of an elderly woman. She sold the entire amount to a local jeweler before she could even get in on the auction site. She made $7,000+ in profit and was asked to help out the store in various ways - for a fee, of course.
19. The future of net auctions is absolutely guaranteed! They are just going to grow and grow and grow.
For one thing, the ease of Internet Shopping makes it more and more popular as each day goes by. What is more convenient than having your heart's desire ordered in your home and delivered to your front door?
For another, security is getting better and better on the internet and so more and more people are becoming comfortable with net shopping. Right now the sites do billions of dollars worth of business and revenues are expected to triple in the next year.
Often shoppers turned their attention toward Internet auctions because they can find goods that are much cheaper than they would be in a store or ordering directly from the manufacturer or producer.
An example: I recently sold a real estate course to a gentleman be who bought it for $624. At the manufacturer's web site, this same course listed for $1,500.
My buyer described his delight, saying that he desperately wanted this course and didn't feel like he could afford the full purchase price. He deliberately looked on it eBay, in the hopes that someone it would have this course for sale at a reduced price. He thought that $600 was an incredible bargain.
Buying merchandise off an internet auction is such a terrific time-saver. You can place your bid on the Hummel-figure-to-die-for, and go about your business. In fact, your computer will even bid for you!
So, many buyers are thrilled by the fact that they don't have to get in their cars and go anywhere to buy things that they want. The enormous popularity of QVC and the Home Shopping Channel are proof that this is a highly desirable benefit to many of today's shoppers.
Sitting in traffic, dealing with crowds and finding a parking place in a crowded mall are very unappealing options to many people. There are many shoppers who value the privilege of sitting at the computer in their pajamas ordering those goodies that they want.
Those who analyze modern society always concur that citizens today are very worried about crime and security. Most people feel that home is safe and cozy. Online shopping is just safer than driving all over town.
This isn't likely to change, either. Every day our TV screens and newspapers scream horror stories at us ... Columbine! Unabomber! Jon Benet! Waco! We live in an uneasy time.
20. Whatever you want to sell, (if it's legal!) someone wants to buy it! Right now my book contains a list of 33 pages of auction sites - with more coming every day.
21. The auction sites are pure entertainment! This business is just plain FUN!
There are some really incredible items for sale. Here are some examples ...
- How about cigarettes to "cure" asthma - A directory from the 1800's listing all the high-class brothels in New Orleans
- Petrified dinosaur dung
- A (fortunately disarmed) Nike Ajax surface-to-air missile - Elvis’ dental records
- Seeds from a 933 pound pumpkin! That's a jack-o-lantern worthy of respect!
- The skull of a Tyrannosaurus Rex - And my personal favorite ... a 1898 collection of skulls of prostitutes and murderers!
Of course, the auction sites do have their limits: - In September of ’99, a live kidney was for sale. The bidding began at $25,000 and reached $5,750,100 before eBay pulled the sale.
- Another weird listing was from a young man who offered his virginity for sale! The listing was removed in less than 24 hours, so we don't have any idea what that is worth! :-)
Don't miss out on the greatest money-making opportunity in history. There absolutely is no easier and safer way to make money. While you read these words, someone is making money on auctions. Why aren't you?
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To learn more about this fabulous auction game, get a free copy of our book, How To Suck Up Hungry Customers Faster Than A Vacuum Cleaner On Steroids, by sending a blank email to: mail to: viral@auctionknowhow.com
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