The Auction Phenomenon
Online Auctions such as eBay have really grown in popularity
over the past few years. And it's easy to understand why. From a
buyers perspective when you browse eBay you can find just about
anything you might be looking for. From collectable to clothing,
from automobiles to the odd and weird. It's listed for auction
on eBay. And from a sellers point of view if you have something
that is worth selling, you are bound to find a buyer for it at
eBay.
As explained in my book "eBay Marketing Wholesale SourcePak"
eBay is a community of members who can buy/sell items locally,
nationally and internationally. And while eBay has over 100
million members there are rarely any real problems between
buyers and sellers. I believe much of this can be attributed to
the eBay feedback. Feedback is where buyers and sellers can
leave comments on their experience with each other. Whether is
was a good or a bad transaction, you can read about it in the
feedback. Now I won't lead you to believe there are no problems
at all, because that would not be right. But all in all things
run very smoothly.
Harris Poll did a survey regarding online auctions that I found
quite interesting. 43% of participants said that they bid at
online auctions looking for bargains, 23% said they are looking
for hard to find items and 21% were looking for collectables.
When it came to how confident buyers are at receiving their
purchases, 54% were confident and 40% were very confident they
would have no problems receiving their product. This compared to
only 1% who was not confident.
51% of those surveyed said they always, check feedback before
buying from a seller and 36% said they usually do. Only 3% said
they never check. I've got to believe that this 3% are newbies.
A whopping 83% of participants said they had bid and purchased
items. With 51% saying the average value of the product bought
was up to $50.00. 24% said the value was $51. - $100. and 21%
said $101. - $500.
66% paid for their items by personal check, cashier check or
money order to the seller. While 44% paid by credit card using
the third party payment service listed on the auction. And 59%
said they had never experienced a problem with their purchases.
Considering eBay recently reported $15 billion in annual
merchandise sales, there is generally very little problems
between buyers and sellers. That is one of the reasons eBay
makes such a great Home Based Business.
Happy Selling! Joe Clare