Most of us dream of working from home because of its truly gratifying advantages – the flexibility of schedule and control of personal working environment. But taking the leap and engaging full time in a home-based business is a crucial decision to make. Here are some of the things you should ponder upon to see if a home-based business will suit you.1. Do you have the resources to start a business at home? Do you have the capital to start the business? Will you be handling the business yourself or partner with a relative or colleague? Will you be involving you family members in handling the business?2. Can your business compete with other home-based businesses? Identify if the demand for your product or service is sufficient enough to keep the business. Securing stability of your business guarantees you a steady income.3. If not starting your own business but still working at home, is your income satisfactory enough to equal the employee fringe benefits plus the basic pay received from traditional work? Several online jobs are now available but employers of such work do not give fringe benefits. If you will be working for such employer, make sure that the income you receive is fair enough for you not to receive extra benefits.4. How will you manage your time? Creating balance between family, personal, and work life may be really challenging. Do you have the discipline to focus on work and resist temptations of being in you own home? If you keep on sneaking a peak on the TV, hitting the fridge, or taking a nap than focusing on your to-do list, then working from home may not be for you.Working home-based has its rewarding and exciting benefits but it also carries great risks. Careful planning, discipline, and determination are necessary for success. If you can live where you work and work where you live, then a home-based business may fit you.
Home-Based Business – Why You Still Need to Be Professional at Home
Are you thinking that having a home-based business will give you the freedom of time and money? It might. You can work when you want, you can work if you want, you can even work in your pyjamas if you like!There are many advantages to having a home-based internet business. Be aware though, there are downfalls too. One key potential downfall in having a home-based internet business is that, since you are at home, you become lax and forget to treat your business as the business that it is.Your attitude can become casual instead of the business attitude it needs to be. You still need to have that professional edge that you have when you go out of your house to a different building to work.Dressing in business attire and standing when you are answering the phone are only two “tricks” that you can do to keep your business attitude at home. Yes, working in your pyjamas is fine, but you need to have a ‘business attire attitude’. If your attitude becomes lax, so will your performance.You need to spend the time on your business daily. It is not a hobby – it is your bread and butter. You need to be as responsive to your customers as you would in your business attire – not like you would with your friends.Having a home-based internet business has a lot of advantages. If you can keep it professional with a ‘business attire attitude’ you will indeed convey your professionalism to your clients and business associates and you will indeed have a successful internet business.
Home Based Business – 5 Steps to a Successful Home Based Business
Are you creating or do you have a home based business? This article will give you five steps to creating or maintaining a successful home based business.1. Being professional in your home based business is a necessity. Separate bank accounts & phone lines are helpful for maintaining the view that your personal life and your business simply desire separation if you truly desire to thrive. Sometimes a workroom or scheduled hours are helpful. The beauty of a home based business is that you have the freedom and flexibility to create your own schedule, however if you want your business to be successful you must treat it like a structured goal.2. Letting your own business hours can become tricky. It is easy to get distracted or think that since you are the boss it’s OK to run errands or use any other excuse to dip out of your work but the truth is you are only hurting yourself in the long run. Create a schedule, stick to it, and succeed.3. Self-discipline is quite a large factor for maintaining a successful work from home business. Beginning the venture of a home based business is hard work and not to be taken lightly. It is important to be diligent and consistent when working in your home business. It may take time but you must be merciless. Over time you will progress to a point where you can lighten up on yourself and really appreciate the advantages of a home business.4. As in any other business, marketing is essential. You have to find ways to get your name out on to the Internet so people can find you. Methods of online advertisement that are helpful are Internet banner ads, print media, and Internet forums etc. Pay per click advertising is another great form of advertising as you get paid for it and it helps promote your business.5. Winning the trust of your customers is necessary. The best way to do this is to maintain your integrity. Your integrity will make your customers want to be repeat customers as well as create word of mouth, which is another wonderful marketing tool.Preparing and maintaining a successful home based business is full of many complexities. Once all the wheels are set in motion the fruits of your labor will pay off. These five steps will assist you in your venture of a home based business and building something you can be proud of. A solid home based business.
A Retirement Reality – How To Start A Home Based Business
Today, more and more retirees are opting to start their own work from home business. Of course, opening a home based business can help deliver foodstuff on the table but aside from that, it can also make the retirees time more productive and gainful. It is basically an urge for self expression and an effort to involve oneself with something rewarding. For others, it can also be a way to recommence past dreams and aspirations.Not like an average worker, retirees have time to spare. As soon as a person decides to abandon the workforce, he has ample of time to begin his identifiable home based business. Then again, in opening any business, conscientious forethought is important in order to be successful. Before starting a home based business, here are some of the factors retirees need to ponder:Do what you know and loveMost retirees spend decades of working in various industries encompassing sales, marketing, IT, culture, arts, and others. It is best to use such experience and abilities to come up with a business idea in which one will be passionate to handle and manage. Visualize your other interests and not to mention your talents such as designing, baling and cooking. You may possibly use them in your starting business. Remember that it is important that you love what you are doing to gain the ideal outcome.Examine your fundsBeing an entrepreneur involves risk, markedly when it comes to money matters. Capital is basic in any business. First you need to have a good understanding on how much you are willing to plow. Pay a quick visit to your bank or audit your online savings. This way, you will not go over your financial statement and you know your financial capabilities as well. In order to daunted monetary problems, you need to work hard and be wise in spending. Self-discipline is very important in business.Enter into the right businessToday there are so many businesses that you can possibly venture on. You can either start your own business by direct selling or you can begin a website and promote your goods online. Before starting your work from home business, consider the following factors: Merchandise and services, branding, target market, budget and business fulfillment. You cannot start the right business without conscientious forethought. Read and research on the latest and most popular business at present.Come up with a concrete business conceptWhen it comes to business, everyone can do it – young or old. Comparable to the young business owners, you will go through the basic motions of a conventional start up. Therefore, you will need a solid business blueprint, just like anyone else. This plan will serve as a map that will help you to identify defining markers that you may encounter along the way. Before you open your business to your clients, you should think and plan out carefully what you want your business to be. Consider the things that can make your product or service different or special. Make your merchandise and services be heard by creating an online and offline presence. More or less, your business plan will cover your ways on how you plan to attract consumers, how you plan to beat competition, and others.ConclusionA home based business must be more than a way to help retirees spend their time worthwhile. It can also occupy their idle time as they have more time for themselves unlike when they are working in the corporate world. If you are very keen about turning a pastime into a business opportunity, start a business which will focus on earnings rather than your own pleasure. Having your own business after retirement will help in stimulating your mind and overcoming your boredom. It also brings in extra income to your retirement fund.
Small Business Health in 2013 – How Good Is It?
The last few years have had a brutal impact on small business health in the US as a result of the economic collapse of 2007-2008. The question for business owners now is whether 2013 will be any better.According to the 2012 U.S. Chamber of Commerce Q4 Small Business Outlook Survey, over 80% of the businesses surveyed say the US economy is on the wrong track. Add to that 2/3 of them think the economy has worsened over the last 2 years and over 50% think the economy will worsen in the next 2 years. This is a pretty grim outlook.One of the other stats that is very telling is the one that shows only 17% plan to hire employees in 2013. If small businesses that account for the greatest number of jobs in the US aren’t hiring, how is unemployment supposed to come down and how are those companies supposed to grow?This and more are from a Jan 22nd article on Forbes.com that has some suggestions as well as to deal with some of these issues. The whole article is here: http://www.forbes.com/sites/groupthink/2013/01/22/82-of-small-business-executives-think-theu-s-economy-is-on-the-wrong-track/A major factor in small business health is the ability to be flexible enough to take advantage of new opportunities. If a new customer comes in the door that requires the business to ramp up production or personnel, being able to meet that new demand is critical. But at present, banks aren’t lending much and employers are wary of hiring new people.This is when the business owner has to look at alternative ways to expand their business even when traditional forms of funding may be limited or not available at all. Sometimes it only takes a small line of credit for a few months to get over the hump. Or it could be creative use of assets like accounts receivables.Alternative funders differ from banks because they are often using private funds and are more flexible in their lending, and may be willing to take higher risks. They may take on a highly leverage company that got that way through circumstances of the last few years, but have a sound business model and are growing back to health. Banks won’t touch these guys – but an alternative commercial finance business may.Small business health is part of the whole economy’s heath. None of us can afford for small businesses to fail – they are the engine of the economy in more ways than one. They are the backbone of our country and we need them to be healthy and growing. We all depend on them to a greater degree than we suppose.
7 Deadly Mistakes to Avoid When Starting Your Own Home Based Business
Having a home based business can be a great experience. You set your own hours, have more time for family and can go to work in your pajamas. Certainly you have heard all the upbeat, feel good positives on having your own home business. However, there are some pitfalls that can cause your business to go belly up before you even get a good hold on your industry. Many of these mistakes can be avoided with a little forethought and some planning. If you know what you may be up against ahead of time, you can combat it. Knowing and preparing yourself is half the battle. Avoiding these mistakes will save you headache and heartache.
1. Starting a home based business that is not appropriate for your home.
Whether it is a lack of work space, storage, inventory or your employees’ work space, you may need to look outside of your home for facilities. As a rule, online businesses and service businesses are typically easier to run from home than manufacturing businesses. Be realistic; don’t let your judgment be clouded by potential tax breaks or low overheads.
2. Lack of focus or motivation.
It is easy to get distracted when you work from home. You may not feel motivated to get up and work, may get distracted by the phone or the kids. You need to set aside time that is specifically designated for your business – and stick to it. Running a home based business is a great way to cultivate self-discipline. You really need to have that self-discipline to make sure you get your work done on time instead of watching TV or doing housework. Dedicate a specific time period only for doing your home business and do not let anything else get in the way of it (unless of course it’s an emergency).
3. You don’t have any growing room.
If your home based business takes off, you will probably get to a point where you need to expand. Expansion of your business may be as simple as adding a computer or new printer or as complex as bringing in more employees. While you are setting up your home business, prepare for eventual growth as well. Be prepared for the possibility of getting an office space if you need to even though you started out as a home business.
4. You don’t spend wisely and don’t budget well.
You may be saving on overheads such as rental when you work from home, but are you spending unnecessarily on equipment or maybe even some little luxuries for yourself? This can lead to over spending and you exceeding your budget. Set your budget and stick to it.
5. You fail to promote your business.
While you are sitting in your home office, wearing your slippers and sipping your coffee, you may get just a tad too comfortable and forget one crucial element for your business success – marketing and promotion. You have to get the word out and promote your home based business if you want it to get sales or orders. In fact, this is the most important part of your business. Unless you already have customers buying from you, or you are spreading through word of mouth, you need to market your business.
6. You don’t have facilities that are efficient or adequate.
When you work from home, it may be tempting to use the family computer or network your computer with the family computer. In a word – don’t. When the kids are playing games and downloading photos, they are using up bandwidth that you need to operate your business. Cut the strings and make your business computer separate from your home computer. All these limitations will make it harder for you to operate your home business.
7. You don’t have a business plan.
Just because you’re starting a home based business, you think that you don’t need a business plan? Having your home based business plan is integral for organization, goal setting and growth projections. If you don’t plan, you could face failure in a very short time. Planning your home business will help you to understand what investments you need to put in and the different aspects of your business. If you get out of course, referring to your business plan can help steer you back to course.
Having your own business can be exhilarating and liberating. Click the link below for a home based business opportunity that comes with the support and instructions necessary for you to market and operate your own home based web business.
What Is the Easiest Accounting Software to Use for Small Businesses?
Introduction
What is accounting software?
To track the financial process, the business owners or individuals use the accounting software to record and report income and expenses.
This is more effective and never drives grave mistakes with automation, especially for small businesses.
Why do small businesses prefer accounting software?
The majority of small business owners may not be much aware of accounting or finance management. So they prefer this software to manage their financial data.
The software helps to reconcile data, generate receipts, and integrate with the financial data.
So they don’t have to bother about the business account to balance.
Moreover, it saves time and money and improves productivity and performance through the transparency of financial data.
How do you choose better Accounting Software for Small businesses?
Searching for the right accounting software for your business is a daunting task.
Software designed for one business could not be suitable for another.
It depends on the enterprise’s size, the income flow, level of experience of the accountants, and the company budget.
If you are willing to choose any accounting software, it is always advisable to thoroughly examine some of the features before selecting one.
Here are some of the best accounting software, distinguishing itself with outstanding features and functionalities and specially designed for small businesses.
Intuit QuickBooks: Best Overall
QuickBooks is an accounting software released by Intuit.
It has a separate desktop version you can buy and install, and in 2019, they released the cloud-based system.
Millions of businesses use QuickBooks accounting because it designs for small and medium-sized enterprises.
It is very user-friendly, and business owners prefer this because they can handle this easily even though they don’t have accounting experience.
While coming to the price, it is very reasonable.
Features of QuickBooks Accounting contain:
With user guides and tax data export, it helps to file quarterly and annual tax returns.
Financial institution integration.
Sales tax calculations and reported tax payments.
Sort sales and expenses into tax groups automatically.
Scanned receipts are attached to the invoices.
Generate customized reports with cash flow.
QuickBooks Accounting offers a reasonable price:
Simple Start: $10 per month for business beginners.
Essentials: $17.50 per month for maintaining and expanding businesses
Plus: $25 per month to help more established and manages projects, inventory.
Sage Business Cloud Accounting: Best for Multiple Users
Sage Business Cloud Accounting is a global label that provides online accounting for small businesses.
It designs for small businesses, which established in 1981 in Newcastle, England.
It lets you select your industry, company scale, and requirements. Over three million businesses use it.
Without any accounting knowledge, users can use this and can set it up for multiple users.
The main features contain:
Manage business accounting and cash flow.
Generate and share invoices.
Available on all devices so that you can access it from anywhere.
Auto entry and synchronization.
Integration with your business institution and other apps.
User-friendly dashboard and tax compliance tools.
Forecast cash flow and inventory management.
Collaboration with your accountant on any device.
Pricing of Sage Business Cloud accounting as follows:
Accounting Start: $10 per month for start-level financing to help manage cash flow.
Accounting: $25 per month for excellent cloud accounting with invoicing, cash flow management, and actual entries.
They currently offer a 50% discount for three months and a free trial for 30 days.
Xero: Popular with best features
Xero is a web-based accounting software developed for small and expanding businesses.
Small business owners and accountants prefer Xero, which established in New Zealand in 2006.
Without any accounting knowledge, you can easily set and use this software.
It is popular with its easy-to-use dashboard and can collaborate with multiple users simultaneously.
Small business owners choose this because of the features and ease of use.
Its two-step authentication keeps your data secure and a very reasonable rate for each plan which you choose.
The main features contain:
Generate and send invoices and create an account claim.
Integration with your business institution and other apps, including HubSpot, Square.
Quick bank reconciliation.
Active financial reports.
Secured financial data.
Collaboration with multiple accountants.
Pricing for Xero is as follows:
Early: $5.50 per month, send 20 invoices, enter five bills, reconcile bank statements, and capture bills and receipts.
Growing: $16 per month, send invoices and quotes, enter bills, reconcile bank statements, and capture bills and receipts.
Established: $31 per month, includes all Growing tier features plus multi-currencies, expenses, and projects.
Every plan comes with a free 30-day trial for unlimited users.
Zoho Books: Best in automation
Zoho was established in 1996 in India and had a corporate office in California.
Its accounting software, Zoho Books for small businesses, has outstanding features which lest you monitor your finance generate invoices and collaborate with users in real-time, and many more.
Zoho includes multiples products for customer relationship management (CRM), human resource management, and inventory control.
Small business owners incline to Zoho books for automation, bank reconciliation, invoicing, and more.
The app integration allows you to integrate with other software which you already use.
It also provides a payroll solution for companies in India.
The main features contain:
Tax compliance and financial reports.
Sales management and invoicing.
Bank reconciliation.
Client portal.
Reports and records.
Automatic tax calculations.
Pricing for Zoho Books as follows:
Free: Includes up to 3 users, 1000 invoices per year, and 1000 bills per year with basic features.
Standard: ? 499/month billed annually and included up to 3 users, 5000 invoices per year, and 5000 bills per year and includes everything in free plus extra features.
Professional: ? 999/month billed annually and included up to 4 users, 10,000 invoices per year, and 10,000 bills per year and includes everything in standard plus extra features.
Premium: ? 2999/month billed annually and included up to 7 users, 25,000 invoices per year, and 25,000 bills per year and includes everything in professional plus extra features.
Elite: ? 4999/month billed annually and included up to 15 users, 100,000 invoices per year, and 100,000 bills per year and includes everything in premium plus extra features with ‘Advanced Inventory Control’.
Ultimate: ? 7999//month billed annually and included up to 15 users, 100,000 invoices per year, and 100,000 bills per year and includes everything in Elite plus extra features with ‘Dedicated Account Manager’.
The Finer Points of Internet Auctions
WHAT IS A PENNY AUCTION?
Penny auctions have exploded in popularity with the massive growth of the internet. However, few people know the true origins of penny auctions.Beginnings actually stretch back to the Great Depression. Those were hard times for everyone, but even harder for farmers. Farmers struggled to bring in steady income because of droughts and crops not selling as well as they had previously. As a result, the banks would foreclose on the farmers who couldn’t keep up with their mortgage payments.
The banks weren’t satisfied with just repossessing the house, they wanted to raise as much capital as possible, so they resorted to selling off the possessions of the owners of the repossessed houses. There was not much the farmers could do about it so they began bidding ridiculously low prices, pennies, on the items while threatening others who dared to bid higher than a few pennies.
The auctions of today hardly resemble their tremulous beginnings. Being part of a penny auction today is exhilarating, fun, and addictive. It combines the selling format of auctioning with a little bit of chance factored in.Auctions are a game of strategy but also a game of luck.
The premise behind penny auctions is giving people the chance to win an item at a drastically reduced price.Auctions make that possible by spreading out the cost of the product among multiple bidders. In order for a person to take part in an auction, they must pay a set price for each bid. For example, if a person wanted to bid on a fifty dollar Amazon gift card then he would spend a dollar for each time a bid placed. If he ended up winning the gift card, then he would only have spent a few dollars for a fifty dollar gift card. Usually penny auctions sell bids in packages.
HOW PENNY AUCTIONS WORK!
The main foundation of penny auctions is the pay-per-bid format. It is the key that allows bidders to win items at the fraction of their retail value and allows the auction owners to keep their site profitable. Most y auction sites run on the same premise: people pay a set amount for each bid, whenever a person places a bid within the closing seconds of the auction time will be added, the last person left with a unique bid after the clocks runs out will win the item. There are a large variety of items that can be won, but they tend to be popular electronics or gift cards to popular stores.
There are two types of auctions: lowest unique bid auction and highest unique bid auction. Lowest unique auction sounds confusing but it is actually quite simple. A unique bid is when only one person has a bid at a certain price. Bids usually start at one penny, a bidder can then place a bid at two pennies. Until another bidder places a higher bid, the most recent bidder will be the lowest unique bid because that was the only bid at two cents and nobody bid higher. However, penny auctions generally don’t stop at one penny. It is not uncommon to find auctions that end up at a couple hundred dollars based on the popularity of the item being auctioned. However, the same principles apply for those auctions. Highest unique bid auctions follow the more traditional auction format such as eBay. The person with the highest bid at the end of the auction wins the item.
Auction site owners turn a profit by selling bids. Say twenty people are bidding on a ten dollar gift card at one dollar per bid, at the end of the auction if there were twenty bids placed in total then the site owner would have made twenty dollars with a ten dollar profit.Auctions do seem like a win-win situation:The site owner makes money while the bidder gets an item for dirt cheap. However, not everyone wins in penny auctions. The people who paid one dollar each bid but left with nothing to show for their investments will not be so happy.
HOW TO WIN!
Penny auction has a lot of chance mixed into it, but one can incorporate strategy that will help raise the chances of winning. Playing smart can make all the difference between gambling and auctioning.
The first crucial tip to winning penny auctions is to know how to manage your bids. Your goal should be to win as much as possible without spending a ton of money buying bids. Managing your bids means that you should already know how much you are willing to risk in order to win an item. The amount of capital you are willing to risk will determine how many bids you can use. Once you know how many bids you have to spend on an item, then you will be better able to manage how and when you place a bid. That will keep you from blowing away all of your bids in the first few seconds of the auction.
The next tip is to practice time management. When fighting in the trenches of penny auctions, you have two enemies: other bidders and time. Knowing when to bid is a must if you want to have success. Placing a bid when there is a lot of time left on the clock is never a good idea. You have to remember that the key to winning a penny auction is being the last one standing when the clock runs out and that each bid increases the amount of time left. It would be a good practice to wait until the last few minutes of the auction before you begin to bid.
The final tip for successful auctioning is to keep your emotions under control.Auctions have a lot of similarities to gambling, and just like gambling, your spending can get out of control. If you keep your emotions level, it will keep you from making rash decisions and blowing loads of cash. Keep your mind clear so that you can gage the behavior of the other bidders and outsmart them.
HOW TO AVOID SCAM SITES!
Penny auctions are a great addition to the web whether you want to win an item that otherwise you wouldn’t be able to afford or if you simply enjoy the thrill that comes with bidding in auctions. Unfortunately, scam sites have tarnished the reputation of the legitimate penny auction sites. However, there are ways that you can protect yourself from scamers and enjoy your auctioning without having to worry about losing your money due to dishonesty.
Checking the reputation of the auction site before you start spending your hard earned money is always a good idea. Chances are other people have tried the site before you and some of them have left reviews. The reviews are your way to gage whether a auction site is trustworthy or not. If a site is getting overwhelmingly negative reviews, then that is a clear indication that you should steer your business elsewhere.
Another tool you can use to protect yourself is checking the Alexia ranks of the auction sites. Alexia rank will give a solid view of how much traffic the auction is getting. If you see a huge difference in the amount of traffic Alexia is projecting and the amount of active bidders on the site, then warning signals should be ringing in your head. Some auction sites have been known to set up robots that automatically bid on projects in order to keep the auction going and inflate the price. That is known as shill bidding. You can sniff out those sites by comparing the traffic the site should be getting to the amount of users using this site.
CONCLUSION!
New legislation may come out later down the road that will officially make penny auctions gambling, but until then, it is a fun, exciting auction that allows one to win the item they’ve always wanted but couldn’t afford.Auctions are also quite lucrative for the site owners because of the pay-per-bid strategy they’ve incorporated. Penny auctions had humble beginnings with farmers who just wanted to get back at the banks who kicked them out of their house. More recently, auctions have enjoyed an explosion in popularity with the rise of the internet.
There are two main formats fora auctions, lowest and highest unique auction, however they both run on the same premise where the last unique bid wins the item. Winning a penny auction will require a certain amount of mental tactic and a bit of luck. However, you can increase your odds of winning by practicing certain techniques such as managing your bids wisely, learning how to work with the time, and keeping a level head and your emotions under control. When you combine those three strategies to your bidding plan, you will find that you win a lot more often.
It is important that you do your due diligence to protect yourself when participating in auctions. Not every auction is run by honest and trustworthy people. There are people out there who just want to take your money. You can protect yourself by ensuring that you only bid on sites that already have a very positive reputation from real users.
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.
Hiring An Auction Company
Estimating your assets value:
Typically, one of the first questions a business owner will ask me is, “how much will the assets bring at an auction”. After taking the time to review the assets, the auctioneer should give the client a conservative estimate of the sale based upon his experience and the current market trends. It is important that the company give realistic expectations so the seller can make informed decisions based on their best interest.
Compensation and Expenses:
Is the company you are considering working for you or against you? The agreement you decide may determine this.
A business owner should carefully consider how the auction company is compensated. The most common commission structures include: straight commission, outright purchase of assets, guaranteed base with a split above to both auctioneer and seller, guaranteed base with anything above going to auctioneer or a flat fee structure.
In a straight commission structure, the company is paid an agreed upon percentage of the total sale.
In an outright purchase agreement, the auctioneer simply becomes your end buyer. The company purchases your assets and relocates them. While this can be an option in some unique situations, keep in mind that they will want to purchase your assets at a very reduced price to make a profit at a later date.
In a minimum base guarantee, the auction company guarantees the seller that the auction will generate a minimum amount of sales. Anything above that amount either goes to the auction company or split with the seller. While a seller might feel more comfortable doing an auction knowing that he is guaranteed a minimum amount for his sale, keep in mind that it is the best interest of the auction company to secure a minimum base price as low as possible in order reduce their financial liability to the seller and secure higher compensation for the sale.
In a flat fee structure, the auctioneer agrees to show up for the sale and call the auction. There is no incentive for the auctioneer to get the best prices for your assets. The auction company is compensated regardless of the outcome of your sale.
What is the best option for business owners? In my experience, an agreed upon straight commission structure. This puts the responsibility on the auction company to offer the best outcome for everyone involved. There is an incentive for the auction company to work hard for both parties, set up and run a professional sale, get the highest bid and sell every item on the inventory. Successful auctions translate to a higher bottom line for both the seller and the auction company.
Auction Expenses:
In most auction agreements the expenses to conduct an auction are passed to the seller. If the auction company pays for the expenses, it is simply absorbed in higher commission rates.
All expenses should be agreed upon in advance in a written contract. Typical expenses will include the costs of advertising, labor, legal fees, travel, equipment rentals, security, postage and printing. A reputable auction company will be able to estimate all expenses based upon their experience in previous auctions. An agreement should be actual costs charged as expenses, not an estimated amount.
Advertising is typically the highest cost in conducting an auction. The auction company needs to set up an advertising campaign that will promote the sale to its best advantage and not overspend to simply advertise the auction company.
Once the auction is complete, the auction company should provide a complete breakdown of all expenses to the seller, including copies of receipts within the auction summary report.
Buyer’s Premium:
What is a buyer’s premium? If you attend auctions regularly, you are very familiar with this term. The auction company charges a fee to the buyer when they buy an item at auction.
The buyer’s premium has been around since the 1980′s and is standard auction practice. It was first used by auction houses to help offset costs of running brick and mortar permanent auction facilities. Since then, it has spread to all aspects of the auction industry. It is prominent in online auctions and allows auction companies to cover added expenses incurred from online sales.
It is the responsibility of the auction company to provide clear disclosure of the buyer’s premium to both the buyers and the sellers. Those not familiar with auctions are often taken back by the buyer’s premium. They looked upon it as an under handed way for the auction company to make more money. Reputable auction companies will provide full disclosure within the auction contract, advertisement and bidder registration.
Typically, an auction company will charge online buyers a higher buyer’s premium percentage than those attending an auction in person. Extra fees are incurred with online bidding and are charged accordingly to online buyers. This provides the seller a level playing field for both online buyers and those attending the auction in person. Without the buyer’s premium, there is no way to do this.
Pre-Sales:
We’ve all been there. We’re looking forward to attending an auction only to find that some items were sold prior to the auction date.
As an auctioneer with over thirty-six years of experience, I can honestly state that pre-sales will hurt an auction. When a company decides to liquidate their assets, it is easy to sell off high-end pieces of equipment through online sources, equipment vendors or to other businesses. The seller receives instant cash and avoids paying a commission to an auction company.
Auctioneer’s find themselves appearing to acting in a self-serving capacity when potential clients say they are planning to sell off parts of their inventory prior to an auction. It’s hard not to consider the auctioneer’s commission when they warn you not to pre-sell anything. Yes, the auctioneer wants to earn a commission on those sales but it is more important that the auctioneer protect the sale from potential negative backlash that comes from pre-selling. The buying public knows when an auction has been “cherry picked” prior to the sale and it reflects in their bidding. It becomes a sale of “leftovers” and that impacts prices.
A buyer who purchases prior to the auction usually does not attend the sale. They already bought equipment at a good price with no competition. If they do attend the auction, they tend to let others know of their great pre-sale purchases which again, impacts prices and the overall excitement of the sale.
It is important to understand that auctions work best with a complete inventory. You want competition on your higher end equipment. The easy to sell items make it possible to gain respectable prices for hard to sell items.
When a business owner decides to liquidate their equipment assets, there is only one opportunity to do it right. Hiring a reputable auction company will assist you with a professional, orderly and timely liquidation.