Internet Auctions To Promote Your Local
Business
by Sharon Fling
Here is a little-used but highly effective way of reaching potential
customers, even in your local market: online auctions. A growing number of
businesses are using auctions to attract a steady stream of customers. By
listing on eBay, your business will be exposed to an audience of 22 million
people in over 100 countries. But more importantly, it can reach the people
next door.
The small listing fees are a small price to pay for the kind of exposure you
get, especially on the granddaddy of all auction sites, eBay. There are
small businesses out there that get 80% or more of their sales from eBay.
And not all of the sales happen on eBay - you can use your "About Me" page
to drive traffic back to your web site. Then you can your prospect'ss email
address and sell to them directly, saving yourself some listings fees and
commissions. And with eBay's feedback system, potential customers can get
bona-fide firsthand testimonials from your previous customers.
If you want to sell multiple items, you can set up a Dutch auction. To make
sure you earn a profit, you can set a minimum price, known as a reserve
price. You can also set a "Buy It Now" price, which allows someone to buy
the item immediately without waiting for the auction to end. And finally,
you can set up your own eBay store for as little as $9.95/month.
There are many tips and tricks to eBay auctions -- so many that there are a
slew of books and services and software programs just for helping people to
manage their bidding and selling activities. Check
www.geolocal.com
for
auction resources.
As far as reaching your local market, major cities are set up as regions on
eBay. Consumers can easily search by region and category at http://pages.ebay.com/regional/hub.html
-- "eBay Local Trading." This is where people will go if they want to buy
something locally, such as furniture or something expensive.
A recent development has made it even easier for your local customers to
find you. AltaVista -- one of the major search engines -- announced a deal
to feature listings from its shopping-comparison guide on eBay. According to
AltaVista's senior director of global product marketing Gannon Giguiere, "We
can now allow consumers to compare Web, localized brick and mortar stores
and auction listings with a single glance."
I buy lots of stuff on eBay. A few weeks ago I went looking for sheepskin
slippers and saw a lovely pair up for auction. I could tell that this was a
business, so I contacted the seller directly. I knew from past experience
that we might be able to work out something and sure enough, we made a deal
for 2 pairs of sheepskin slippers.
Let's review this seller's transaction:
She got a sale and a proven customer for her 30 cent listing fee on the
original pair of slippers (which she sold later on, gaining another
customer)
She paid no listing fees or commissions on the 2 pair of slippers she sold
to me
She can add me to her mailing list; if I'm happy with the slippers, maybe
I'll buy another pair in the future as a gift or whatever. (p.s. I bought 2
more pairs later)
I would never have found that business if those slippers hadn't been listed
on eBay. Her sheepskin business doesn't show up in the first few pages of
search engine results, which is as far as most people will look.
Do you see the power of eBay? I also bought my Palm Pilot and a new computer
from local vendors that I found on eBay. Plus I've bought lots of computer
programs and educational toys from auctions by business owners. As a
frequent eBay buyer and seller, I can tell you now, if you're not on eBay,
you're leaving money on the table.
There are other auction sites out there - Yahoo, BidBay, uBid.com - but none
of them comes close to eBay in terms of volume. About 1.4 million items are
up for sale every day, in every imaginable category, including services,
cars, houses. Somebody even tried to auction off a kidney once, but eBay
caught them and put an end to it.
Keep in mind that people who go to auction sites are looking for deals, so
don't expect to get full retail. You may even have a sell a few items at
cost. But when you think about all the money you can spend on ads in the
local paper and get NO results, it's a small price to pay to get the email
addresses of proven customers. The eBay feedback system works both ways you
can check and see what kind of customer they've been in the past.
All in all, online auctions are goldmines. If you're selling anything at
all, especially consumer products, you should definitely check out eBay.
Sharon Fling is managing editor and owner of the premier
website for
local search engine optimization.
Join her website to take your local business onto the net successfully!
