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How to Find Great Live Auctions for Resale Items

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.

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Home Based Small Business: How to Start a Home Based Business

Home based small business is a nice idea especially if you do not want to work in a traditional office scenario. This type of business is also ideal for anyone who doesn’t have the capital to start a business. Most of the home based businesses have no startup costs. They offer you a flexible working environment while helping you achieve your dreams. Still, there are things you need to consider when planning to have a business right at the comfort of your home.Decide what business you would like to start. You can choose a business that sells a service or a business that sells a product. Each of these two has its pros and cons. Make sure that the home based small business that you choose fits your needs. Most of the time, service businesses don’t require start-up costs. These services will include graphic designing, computer programming, accounting, and copy writing. They are ideal if you do not have a college degree. But when selecting a business idea, you have to be creative. So, apart from putting up a daycare center or pet care service, you can also look for opportunities online. The opportunities offered over the Internet do not require a startup cost. As long as you have a decent Internet connection and your own computer, you will be ready to start your own home based small business online.Find resources you need. If you want an online business, then the things that you will need are computer and Internet connection. You may also need a desk where you can work on. You should also gather your friends and family and talk about your business. You can ask them to disseminate information about your business to their friends. In this way, you do not need to invest more money on advertising.Whatever type of home based small business you choose, you should always develop a regular work schedule. Although it offers flexible time, you still need to work hard to bring in more customers. Your workspace should also be a place where there are no distractions. Therefore, it is recommended that you come up with an organized workspace to help you think better while working at home.Having a business at home can be overwhelming at first. You may experience lack of organization and focus at times. However, if you have a designated workspace, your home based small business can be run in an organized manner and free from any distractions. You can have a sense of organization each day. Do not allow your family and friends to disturb you during your work hours. And do not be tempted to engage in activities that have nothing to do with your work.

How To Discover Your PERFECT Home Based Business – The 4th Of 7 Keys – Fits Your Desired Lifestyle

What makes an opportunity P.E.R.F.E.C.T.? There are 7 key requirements for a home business to qualify as being “PERFECT”. Each letter in the word PERFECT stands for one of the 7 keys. In the first three articles in this series, we learned that the “P” in PERFECT stands for “Profitable”, that the first “E” in PERFECT means “Easy”, and that the “R” stands for “Real”.Key Number Four-The “F” in PERFECT stands for “Fits With Your Desired Lifestyle”. What lifestyle do you want to live? Many people who want to start a home business want “FREEDOM”. Freedom to do what they want, where they want, and when they want. Don’t start a business that fights head on with the lifestyle you desire. A PERFECT home based business will not only fit with your dream lifestyle, it will even help you achieve that lifestyle.”Fits With Your Desired Lifestyle” means:•Something that you love or are passionate about. Too many people do work they hate, just to make a living. You’ll have a much happier lifestyle if the core products and activities of your home business mesh with something you have a passion for and love. There’s that passion thing again:-).•Leverages your creativity. A PERFECT home based business allows you to do something once and get paid over and over again for the initial effort. Don’t exchange one hour of your time for one hour’s pay (don’t be a wage slave like just about everybody else).•Can be operated from anywhere in the world and from home. No more long commutes. Hey, my commute is 30 seconds…from my bedroom to my home office. Decide where you want to live and then work from there. All you need is electricity, a phone line or cell phone network, a computer and an internet connection.•No employees are required (but you could and should use independent contractors, or outsource some of the work). Avoid all the hassle of having employees. A PERFECT home based business can be run by just you, or you and your spouse if you would like.•Helps a lot of people. If this is not part of your desired lifestyle, it should be, because the more people you help, the more money you will make.•Time required to build the business to an acceptable profit potential is not long (less than 6 months desired).Who wants to work on their business for two or three years before it becomes profitable? Most people couldn’t afford to do that. Yes, it might take a year or more for your business to reach its full potential. But, there are tricks of the trade that can make it much more likely you will see an exciting level of profit within 6 months (you will not “get rich quick”; sorry, but that is reality…don’t quit your day job quite yet).•Low initial investment required (less than $1,000 preferred). Many people don’t have the $5,000, or $25,000, or more needed to start some home based businesses. There’s no need to sell your firstborn or mortgage your house to get your business started.•Product(s) that you have control of (you are the gate keeper, which means you created the product, or have the exclusive right to market it). If you control the product, you can build a sales force of hundreds or thousands of affiliates that will grow your business for you even while you’re on vacation. They will market your product for you for a share of the profits.Even if you don’t yet have your own product, you can get started quickly by selling other people’s products as an affiliate for them. But, it is still best to eventually create your own products.•Enables you to earn enough money to become financially free. Decide for yourself how much you need to be “financially free”. Whether that’s an extra $500 or $1,000 a month, or $100,000 per year or more, your business needs to have the potential to earn that.•Enables you to have free time because it requires less than 20 hours per week after the initial set up period. Spend your free time with your family, on your favorite activities, or use it to start and build another business.•The business is aligned with how I understand God would want it to be. This is a personal requirement for my business and lifestyle. It means that my business must provide real value, must benefit people, and must be legal, ethical and honest. If you make sure your home based business does this as well, whatever your views about God, you will be miles ahead of all the scams and quick buck artists that are all too common.It’s all starting to come together now. A PERFECT Home Based Business must FIT WITH YOUR DESIRED LIFESTYLE. And, it must be PROFITABLE, EASY, and REAL. Still with me? Good. More to come in the rest of this article series.Read the other articles in this series, or Click Here For Your Free Report: Discover The PERFECT Home Business.

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