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.

Advertising is an effective tool of marketing used for promoting products and services to be sold to generate business revenue. Thus, it won’t be wrong to say that the ultimate purpose of advertising is to push the sale of products and services through different ways of promotion. In the absence of advertising, it is difficult for others to know about your products or services. Although you sell high quality products at reasonable prices, you won’t be able to reach adequate number of buyers or the target audience to earn profit.

Advertising not only promotes, but also establishes your brand amongst your target group. It positions your brand in such a way that your products or services become a replacement of the need they fulfill. The best instance of this is Cadbury ads appealing the audience in India to eat Cadbury chocolates, whenever they feel like eating sweets. Their ad copy – “Kuch Meetha Ho Jaye (means: Lets have some sweets)” with the characters eating chocolates indirectly asks people to replace Cadbury chocolate for traditional Indian Sweets. In short, ads help in building good reputation of the brand or company and gradually increase the sale of the products and services.

Therefore, advertising can be considered as an investment that could indirectly improve your brand value and generate good returns in terms of sale. However, it is to be noted that ads won’t directly add to your sales or create a customer base for your product or service. It simply helps your brand to create a space in the subconscious mind of your target audience, who might end up being your consumer/customer. This vital role of advertising makes it an essential marketing tool, which is widely used across the world by even the business giants like Microsoft, Apple, Tata, etc.

The whole idea of considering advertising as an investment makes it necessary for us to consider certain factors before advertising the products and services. The basic factors to be considered before advertising any product or service are as follow:

In order to create a successful advertising for your product or service, follow some basic advertising principles:

Aim and Objectives of Advertising: Identifying the main objective behind advertising your products/services is the most essential of all the factors. This is because without a proper objective one can never achieve anything in any field. Also, it helps you to evaluate how well the aim and objectives would go with your company or brand image. It also makes the ad campaign or the progress of the ads measurable and realistic.

Expecting immediate rise in sales: Expecting a sudden hike in sales after the advertisement of your products or services is like lying to your own self. Advertising is not a solution to your financial issues. However, it might gradually help you in pushing the sales of your products and services.

Don’t make false promises: The advertising works, only if the product or service meets the expectations of the target audience. If they don’t live up to their promises, then the advertising is more likely to fail. It might create some buzz at initial level even if your product or service is of low quality, but it will eventually fail. So, it is important to make promises that your product or service can fulfill.

Understanding your product: You must know the complete details of your product – be it materials or uses. This will enable you to know what your product can do to exist in the market. In your advertising, you could make use of its benefits or solutions as excuses for its sustainability in the market over the period of time.

Target prospective customers’ needs: You advertise products or services mainly to persuade your prospective customers to opt them against your competitors’ or ordinary products. Therefore, it is important for you all to understand the needs of your prospective customer. This will help you convince them easily by portraying you product as a means to meet their needs.

Ads must be informative and effective: Your ads must be able to educate your target group about the products’ USP and other benefits. Also, it should inform them about the products availability and why it should be used. Besides this, the ads must be effective enough to deliver the message to the audience in a creative, unique and convincing manner. It must grab their attention and leave an impact on the target audience. In simple terms, it must be effective enough to bring the customers to the product’s outlets or at least enquire about the product, if not buy.
These basic factors, if considered, can really help you create great ads that would make sense and grab the attention of your target audience. The resulted ads would be distinctive, yet recognizable and easy to relate with your product or service. These ads would not only have good recall value, but they would also have the ability to convince prospective customers to try your product.

Nowadays, there is no secure job for anyone. In fact, even if you’re hired by the most promising and stable companies in Australia, there’s simply no assurance that you’ll still be working in it for the next five years. With the picture of having no work and earnings replaying on my mind, a home-based business starts to be a good idea.Furthermore, with this uncertainty of the future, my friends and I have been really concerned about this idea of a home-based business in Australia. But at that time, it seems that we can’t move forward. We’re stuck with just enjoying the thought of having to work at home while we’re with the company of our loved ones. This is brought about for just one reason. We cannot ascertain what kind of home-based opportunity is best for us.Probably, the cause of this indecisiveness, or even cluelessness, is because of lack of focus and clarity. We can’t stick to one business opportunity because we want to try them all. But we soon learned. Reading various materials on the Internet has given us some knowledge. I have learned that there are certified and tested ways on how to identify the types of businesses suitable for an individual’s needs and lifestyles.And here, I would be very much pleased to share these tested ways on how to find the most suitable home-based business opportunity for you.Involve yourselfPlenty of people make it in business as a result of their total involvement in their new business. If you want to be a successful individual someday, learn the ropes yourself. What’s more, apply what you have learned. And of course, start with a vision. As early as today, start jotting down notes on what you want to achieve in the next five or ten years.Define your wantsThis is related to having a vision. However, defining your wants is more detailed and specific. Moreover, vision is a long-term aspiration, while stating what you want now is rather short-term.Defining what you want can be compared to going to the mall, and picking and buying the shirt that suits and fits you very well. To give a vivid picture of this comparison, imagine that you’re on the way to the mall. While you’re on your way, your mind is busy on what style and color of shirt you’ll buy. From that, you’re clearly determining your wants.This is also true for choosing the most-suited home-based business for you. You set your criteria on what you want to achieve in the short and long run.Define your interests.Are you always in front of the computer and surfing the Internet? If you do, you can engage in an internet home-based business. Do you have the knack for marketing and sales? You may not be aware of it, but maybe network marketing is for you. Or do you love food? A restaurant and catering business might be appealing to you.Don’t worry about having no background and skills in these types of businesses. The Internet is always there for research. You can research the market you need to target, your expected competitors and potential customers.Remove everything that doesn’t appeal to you.Since you don’t have all the time and financial resources to try out each and every business opportunity, it’s better to retain just one and remove everything else from your list. You won’t want to be spending your time and money on something that you do not want or doesn’t interest you.Ask for help.Always remember that it’s better to ask for help than to make a fatal mistake. Having a business, whether it’s home-based or not, is a risk and any mistake can be crucial to the life of the business.