| |
| |
|
Auctions Main Page |
|
|
|
Buying At Auction: 6 Hints to Make You a Successful Bidder
Buying at auction, be it for stamps or coins, antiques or even cattle, can be one of the most exciting and profitable experiences possible. It can also be expensive and utterly frustrating. The best way to come out ahead is to learn the tricks of the trade early. Here are some suggestions that should help you get on the fast track to success. (1) Do your research. Knowledge is your most important tool, even more important than money. (2) Learn how to be inconspicuous. (3) Beware of zombies, shills and lunatics. The best way to avoid them is (4) Hire an agent. (5) Be selective. Don't be afraid to spend the extra dollar when something especially rare or in exceptional condition comes your way. You may never get another chance. To elaborate: (1) Every experienced buyer knows how important knowledge is. Questions of authenticity, condition, and rarity are always the key considerations. If you are fortunate enough to have both knowledge and money, you have the world by the tail. But even if you have limited funds you can still do very well if you know something the rest of the potential buyers don't. (2) Once you have spotted something you want to buy, fade into the woodwork as much as possible. The last thing you want to do is attract attention to yourself or the lot you are interested in. After you've been around long enough, your competition will find out who you are. Until then try to keep as low a profile as possible and guard your information. Use a code system to keep track of your limits. I'm constantly amazed at how careless some bidders are with their auction catalogs and what they write in them. (3) Zombies, shills and lunatics are every auction bidder's nightmare. If a zombie knows who you are, he/she will follow your every move. Their motto is: if that person is willing to spend a hundred dollars for a lot, I sure can afford to spend a hundred and ten. Most people know what a shill is. It is someone working for the auction house or seller who artificially pushes up prices by bidding against you. In order for an item to get a good price, two or more bidders must be interested in it. Shills are especially skilled at figuring out how high you are willing to go. Lunatics are the ones who absolutely have to have a lot and will bid whatever it takes to win it. The best way to deal with these three worthies is to hire an agent to bid for you. (4) Agents are professionals who have developed skills at bidding at auction. One famous New York stamp auction agent was so skilled at hiding his bids that only the auctioneer and a few other people ever knew how he did it. As strange as it may sound, paying an auction agent the extra 2-5% fee may save you many hundreds of dollars or more in the long run. The zombies, shills and lunatics won't know who is bidding against them. (5) Finally, one of the most important skills of all is the ability to recognize when to open up the purse strings. Condition and rarity are the two most important determinants of price. The exceptional item is always worth an extra bid or two. One customer who was examining my stamps at a national stamp show remarked, "I've been looking for this one for more than 40 years and you have a very nice copy. But I never pay more than half catalog for anything." I wished him well. It was a scarce stamp and I expect he'll still be looking if he lives another 40 years. To summarize: knowledge is the primary key to success at auction bidding. Secondly, develop your skills as a bidder and buyer. Then, learn to recognize the individuals you will have to deal with on the auction floor. Cross them up and use and agent. And finally, know when to pay a premium for the exceptional item. Best of luck! John Anderson has been bidding at auction for more than forty years and has purchased hundreds of stamps, antiques and collectibles that way. Now semi-retired from stamps he is a full-time writer. His first novel, The Cellini Masterpiece, was published under the pseudonym of Raymond John. He is now hard at work on his second, and an auction plays an important role in the plot. If you would like to contact John or read the first chapter of The Cellini Masterpiece, please log on at: http://www.cmasterpiece.com
MORE RESOURCES:
Auctions - Google News |
|
|
|
RELATED ARTICLES
5 Secrets To Make A Killing on EBay Secret #1: Find a 'real' wholesale and drop ship companyDo you know what one of the biggest problem is to be successful on eBay? 'What should I sell"? I can tell you, I get many emails per day from eBay sellers, asking me what they can sell. Let me explain this more in detail. Save on EBay Fees with Free Image Hosting Experienced sellers at online auction sites such as EBay will tell you that the single most effective tool of persuasion is a good image. Multiple images are even better. Making Money on eBay is Really Easy If I can do it you can.Let me tell you my story. Ten Sure Fire Ways To Lose Bidders The way some auction sellers approach their auctions, it's clear there are as many ways to lose bidders as there are to skin a cat. If you spend enough time in the auctions you'll see a lot of basic mistakes, but the question remains: why do so many people consistently make the same mistakes over and over again. Can You Really Make Money Selling New Release CDs & DVDs On eBay? Being an active eBayer, I am often being asked about products to sell. A common question is "Where can I purchase products such as new release CD's DVD's and Video Games for Playstation and X box at a 75% to 100% discount. Game Theory, Nobel Prize, & Auctions - Auction Primer Series - Part 1 William Vickrey, highly regarded as the founder of auction theory, was an economics professor at Columbia University when he published two papers outlining his views on auctions:"Counterspeculation, Auctions, and Competitive Sealed Tenders", 1961, Journal of Finance"Auction and Bidding Games", 1962, Recent Advances in Game TheoryIn 1996 he received a Nobel Prize "for fundamental contributions to the economic theory of incentives under asymmetric information." It's important to understand that asymmetric information is an essential component of auctions, where potential buyers have varying levels of knowledge about the value of the item. Authentic or Fake? 1. Admit It: Old business models are no longer working. Tips on How to Profit from eBay Buy It Now Auction Listings eBay is an online auction site so it stands to reason that most users will tend to auction off their items aiming to get a high price.The problem with auctioning items is that eBay can be a very fickle place, one week an item may sell for hundreds of pounds but the next week the same item may sell for pennies. Fed Up With eBay? For many people, their first experience of working online involves selling products on eBay. This was how I got started back in 1998 and I know countless other people that have done the same. Learn How To Be A Successful eBay Seller Anyone can sell anything on eBay. Open an account, list your product, and wait for the bids to start coming in. All Terrain Vehicles (ATVs) Sell Well On eBay ATV auctions are healthy markets on eBay. All terrain vehicles have changed in the last few years (naturally) and the major change has been from one person ATVs to two person models. Make Money Online: Learn To Sell On Ebay The online auction site eBay is an excellent tool for making money online. Think of eBay as an online yard sale and shopping mall. An Emerging Market in eBay Consignments: The eBay Trading Post (Part II In A Series) In 2002, the eBay consignments business was born, referred to by eBay as the Trading Assistant Program.It's possible that eBay didn't foresee just how much they would benefit form their eBay consignments program. eBay After Sales - as Important as the Listing Itself Your eBay listing has finished and you have made a sale, now the next important stage starts - the after sales. Again we are aiming to develop the professional image or ourselves in the customers eyes to encourage them to come back to us again and again because it is easier to sell to a current customer than it is to a new customer. How To Sell Santa's Slip-Ups Shoppers spent more than $15.5 billion this Christmas on gifts on the Internet alone. Making Your Auction Business Stand Out From The Crowd When my sons were growing up they started playing hockey when they were 6 years old. Each of them, in their first year, scored more goals than the rest of their team combined. An Introduction To eBay Consignment After I started selling on eBay, I was approached by friends without computers who wanted me to sell their items for them. They had heard stories about the outrageous prices items some ebay auctions brought. How Pop-Culture Collectibles Can Increase Your Online Auction Profits How Pop Culture collectibles can increase your Online Auction profitsWith the increasingly competitive environment for products to sell in the online auction arena, sellers are getting more creative as to the items they purchase for re-sale.While some of the Dutch Auction items that are frequently sold on eBay will always maintain their commodity status and always sell well, Pop Culture collectibles will usually generate a higher profit-per-item simply because of a combination of two forces. How to Win on eBay I've bought over 100 items on eBay over three years and am ready to share my knowledge of how to win at eBay and buy from reputable sellers.1. Start Your Own Business: Sell Things on eBay The popularity of online auction site eBay has been legendary. With millions of transactions completed daily, it is no surprise why many individuals who do not usually shop online regularly purchase items through eBay.
|
| home | site map |
| © 2006 |
