Online Auction Consignment Service

Online auctions have created a new market for all types of goods to be sold; it’s also created a space where unwanted goods can be sold with minimal hassle. Auctioning your product on a site such as EBay can however be a laborious and time consuming process which many people just can’t fit into their hectic schedule. An online auction consignment service handles all the fuss for a typical fee of 50% of the sales price. This is an easy to run online service, with great potential for solid earnings.

Before The Start-Up – Let’s Not Get Ahead Of Ourselves

If you’ve never auctioned anything online before, this is a great place to start. To effectively run your own service you’ll need a basic understanding and some experience of online auctions. You’ll also need to be a savvy internet and email user with a knack for writing a good sales letter. If you’re sales writing skills are a little shaky there are many affordable e-books on precisely this industry.

To run your service from home you’ll need a work space, desk and a computer with a high speed internet connection. A digital camera is essential; a simple white background with appropriate lighting will prove invaluable when shooting products. Finally a secondary desk to sort and package items for shipping will help to organise your workspace. Once your service expands a secondary storage area besides your work space will become necessary.

The Start-Up

To sell items on an auction website you’ll require a seller account. Find out which are the major auction websites in your country, such as EBay and get an account. You’ll also need a way to accept credit card payments, PayPal is the most common for online auctions. If PayPal isn’t available in your country there are country specific services available all over the world. Be selective about which items you accept for consignment. Your income depends on products selling quickly. Before accepting any goods on consignment, sign a contract with the seller agreeing on exact percentages and sale conditions, the usual percentage for a consignment service is 50%.

Making It Work

Inform your clients that you only pay out once a month, regardless of when a sale was finalized. This will make your accounting proceedures far easier to manage.

Marketing

Create a mix of on and off line marketing, advertise at local flea markets and in newspaper classifieds, supplement this with advertising on auction sites. When you decide to expand your online marketing presence, get a small website built. Having a website of your own creates numerous additional online market opportunities such as a pay per click campaign with Google’s Adwords.

Don’t Forget

Start small using the facilities provided on sites like EBay, once you are established look to purchase specialized online auction software to boost sales.