A Much Better Way to do an Online Auction

I found a much better online auction site.  This one is a little unorthodox, but I think it offers a wider variety of ways to win, and they seem to have a better way to control naturally the "out of control" bidders I spoke of in an earlier post.  It's called PonGow.  Check them out, but make sure you go through their "PonGow 101" link to see how it works.  It's actually pretty cool.  They are also one of the highest rated Auction Sites on the internet right now.

I will be discussing this further in a future posting.

Online Auctions...the bad, the VERY bad

Revised Opinion of Wavee.com online auctions...run and hide from them.
As you may have read in this blog, I have had some very favorable experiences with them and one in particular.  Well...I was wrong...very wrong.  I couldn't believe what happened, and I'm sure you won't either.

My Story
After spending over $700 in cash bidding on their auctions, winning some (4) and losing some, over a 1 month period, I can tell you my opinion of them has changed within the last hour...yes, it only took that long.  Here's why.  I was told that an item, actually three (3), that I had one, and paid for, meaning they have my money already in their bank, will not be shipped until the end of MAY.  I won the auction, and paid for it, during the first week of March...and it can't be delivered until the end of May...that's almost 2 months.  This is the 21st century isn't it?



It Gets Worse.
I called them and found out they would refund the money I paid for the products I won at auction, but NOT for the cost of the bids.  The bids don't cost them anything.  It's virtual.  There can be no excuse for this.  I'm actually thinking this is a scam since they are not delivering the product but selling basically thin air...the virtual credit/bid...and, they said it would take 30 days to refund my money too.

Out of the $700 plus I've already paid to them, less then $150 of it is in product...the rest of it is in the non-refundable credits/bids.  What a joke!  I'm not the only one that is experiencing this since there are a number of winning bids that are not being delivered just like mine.  Don't add yourself to the mix.

The funniest thing of all, is they actually have the guts to answer the phone referring to their customer service as one of their highest priorities. If I were you, I'd run as fast as you can from them.  If you are involved with them now, beware.

Online Auctions. The Good, Bad and the Ugly.

I'm sure by now you've had at least a small experience with online auctions.  You know the ones I'm talking about.  You bid a "penny" at a time, and when you win the auction, you are able to buy items at a fraction of the price.  So, if this is true, how do the auction sites make money?  Easy, you are bidding one "penny" at a time, but remember, each "penny" bid costs you, on most of these sites, 75c per bid.  You buy bid packages in groups of anywhere from 10 to 500 bids per package, depending on the site.  Each bid package is given a value based on the base cost of each bid.  This means, you are actually bidding 75c + the penny of the bid for each bid...at least that's what the actual cost to the bidder is.  If you place 10 bids on a 10 bid package, you are spending $7.50 + 10c = $7.60 for a package that they value at $7.50.  That's not how they make the money though.

Everybody Wins
Now, if you have half a brain, you will figure this out quickly...although I've been on these sites and I'm amazed how how many people don't have half a brain.  Let's say that you only had to bid 3 times for this package at a cost of 75c/bid = $2.25 total.  Obviously, since you would never bid against yourself, there must be others bidding too.  Let's say there are 5 others doing the same bidding.  That means, if they all bid the same, there would be 5 bids from each for a total of $11.25 + 15c for the bids (1c/bid) and the auction site gets $11.40 income on a product worth $7.50...but the winning bidder only had to pay $2.40.  The auction site wins, and the winning bidder also wins since that bidder gets 10 bids (actually nets out at 7 since they had to use 3 bids to acquire the 10) for a little over the price of 3.  This means, the average cost for bid for that bidder is less than 75c...right?  Bidding on bid packages is important since it reduces that average cost per bid in your possession to use.  From the company's standpoint, it works for them too.  The more bids in play, the more money they make.  Keep in mind the bids are a true form of "Monopoly Money".  They are imaginary and have no real cost associated in "making them".  Unlike real money, where there is something backing it...even if it's just credit, the auction sites can "make" as many of these bids as they want...at no real cost to them.  Virtual bartering.  I love it.  Capitalism at it's best.

Now, let me say here, I love these sites.  
I participate in these auctions all the time.  I win some, and I lose some, but I'm ALWAYS ahead...although not in the beginning.  First, I had to learn the rules of the game, then I had to apply them.  First rule, leave emotion at the door.  There are always more examples of the SAME ITEM that will follow.  Don't get emotional and get into a bidding war...especially with another bidder (or two) that can't control their emotions...and can't give up and move onto the next one.  They win the auction alright, but they always pay more in the cost of bids and end price than the item is worth.  These bidders are usually found in casinos...and they bid/bet the same way there.  "Just one more chance/bid.  I know my number will come up next."  Trouble is, by the time it does, they are out of money and in the hole.  These are the gamblers that come back from Vegas telling people they won over $5000...but fail to mention they also lost $6000 in the process.  The net being a loss of $1000...but somehow they seem to forget that.  Don't fall into that trap.  If you have no discipline, or are a Vegas junkie, avoid these sites at all cost, but...if you are more of an investor type, you can come out ahead if you use the same "investor" logic.  The most basic investor logic reads something like this:

"It isn't how many wins/loses you have that counts as long as your winnings total is greater than your lose total".

True Story:  Earlier today I watched two "out of control" people go "head-to-head" on of all things a bid package.  What did these two people of questionable IQ do?  Are you familiar with the expression "Spend a dollar to save a dime"?  Here is a perfect example of that.  The two of them were the only bidders on a 30 Bid Package. Now, remember, if you win this package you win 30 bids.  The two of them bid this package up to $2.50.  Do the math.  If they were the only two bidders, and a price of $2.50 means there were 250 bids placed, how many bids did each bidder place?  Right...125 bids each.  This means the "winner" spent 125 bids on 30 bids.  Let's get out the tape measure, right?  What's worse, they did this for 5 different bids at the same time...and another bidder bid 1c (1 bid) on a 30 bid package right in the middle of this mess...and got it...for 1c.  Can you say "brain dead"?
  

LEAVE YOUR EGO AT THE DOOR OR YOU WILL BE LEAVING YOUR MONEY THERE INSTEAD!

So, what are the rules to make this work, and can it work for you?
Well, the second part is really in your hands.  I don't think anyone can really answer that but you, however, the first part does have an answer.  Here are the rules I follow...they work for me.  Notice how they compare to the same logic used by successful investors:

1. Emotion is your enemy.  Leave them in the trash...or you will find yourself there instead.  See above.
2. Do research on your competition.  Find out who the "out of control" bidders are and when you see them bidding...run.  Run fast, run far, but run.  These bidders will ALWAYS bid the price up higher and higher until they get the win...or run out of money...and these bidders are always rich in bids, so don't even try to beat them.  You won't.  Keep in mind though, if you wait  for it, that item will come up again very soon.
3. Know your limit (the day trader in me wanted to say "stop limit").  Base your limit on how much you want to bid on that item based on:
1. How much you are willing to walk away from
2. How much you are willing to spend based on the products value
3. How much that particular item has gone for in past auctions.
4. Do research on different times of day, and how that effects bids and bidders.  You'll find that different times of day will have bidders of different mindsets.  Vegas winners understand this.
5. Always, I mean ALWAYS know exactly what your "cost per bid" value is for the bids you own.  This plays a huge role in how much you can bid.  Say the base price is 75c/bid, bud you've won 100 bids at a cost of $50.  That means, that while others using "bought" bids (full price) at 75c per bid, you are using bids won at bid package auctions that cost you only 50c per bid.  That's power, that means your "penny bids" cost less than some of your competition.  Think about it.
6. Only bid on Auction Sites that are completely transparent.  This means, they show you the actual cost of the item the winner paid at auction, including the cost of the bids, and how that works out to a savings, or loss, and how much of a savings or loss to the winner.  This is where you find the "out of control" bidders since they stand out.  They're the ones that are constantly showing a loss, or a very small savings.  This is probably the most important rule to follow.  There is nothing more powerful than the will of an out of control bidder.
7. Don't bid for the sake of bidding.  I'm shocked at how many times I see not just one, but many bidders bidding on a product when the clock (that tells you how long the product will be up for bid) still has time left on it.  Why?  You really don't need to place a bid until the clock says "1 second" ...so don't.  It doesn't matter how many bids you place before then.  The only bid that matters is THE LAST ONE.

There's more to it than this, but everyone should work out their own methods and rules that is best for them...I know, sounds like an investor talking.  That's right...and that, my friends, is the reason why investors make money and gamblers lose.  It's all in the rules they each follow, and the research they do.

Now, I'm not going to leave you hanging.  
Like I said, I've been on many of these sites and I have found good and not so good ones.  The ones I like allow me to see all the info I need to make sound decisions in bidding (see rules above).  This is my favorite.  


PLEASE SEE LATER POSTING COMMENTING ON THIS STE.


I'm bidding there all the time and getting great deals on many things.  Just remember...discipline yourself to follow the rules and you should be OK.  One more thing, before you jump in you should monitor the site so you can get a feel for all of these things I've mentioned above.  If you are going to do this, do it right...or not at all.  Happy bidding.

There's Another Plus to This Particular Site
Here's another big reason why I like this auction site over the others.  They have a way that allows you to apply the bids you make on auctions you don't win to discount a direct purchase of the item.  Lost?  Here's how this works:

1. Products Retail Price is - $250
2. You bid (credits placed) - 100
3. Value of credits placed (100 x 75c) - $75
4. If you lose the auction, you can buy the item at a cost of Product Retail Price (-) the Value of the Credits Placed...in this case, $250-75 = $175+A/H

Now, the Bid/Credits cost you to begin with.  If you bought them at cost, they would be 75c/credit...so you didn't get a discount, you just were able to not lose the value of that cost.  You were able to use it for bidding, and then, if you lost the auction, you could apply it to buy...at your option.

Here's the fun part.  

Remember I mentioned above that you can get bid packages at auction, which would let you own these bids at a reduced cost per bid.  In other words, get a 30 pack for 5c (of which you used two of your own bids), and you would have paid $1.50 (2 x 75c) + 5c (your winning bid) = $1.55.  That would work out to about 19c/bid.  As you do this more often, that cost per bid decreases even more.  For this example, let's just use 20c/bid cost.  In the example above, the following numbers would apply:

1. Products Retail Price is - $250
2. You bid in credits - 100
3. Value of credits to the auction site - $75 (this is what's applied to the price you will end up paying)
4. Actual cost of the credits you paid - 100 x 20c/credit - $20
5. When you buy this item at the end, you will pay the Retail Price ($250) - the credits Value ($75) + your actual cost of the credits ($20) = $195.

Now that's a true discount...and in the process, you might win the auction anyway and it would only cost you the end auction price plus the cost (your actual cost) of the bids you used.  I like that, how about you?  Try it out...it's fun, and can be very rewarding.


Now, here is an example of my first win on this system.  I won a 16" HP Laptop valued at over $600...and my total cost, using the above system and rules, came to a little over $20.  How you might ask?  Simple, the numbers went like this:

1. The final bid was $85.80 + $1.99 for handling for a total of $87.79.  Now if it ended right there I would have been happy, but it gets better...
2. I bid 315 bids of my own, but I got 25 bonus bids over the bidding time just for bidding, so that meant I really only placed 290 bids (315 - 25), and it gets better...
3. As a bonus, for picking this particular product (from about 30 options on this auction win) I was gifted 380 bids...for FREE.  So, I actually didn't spend any bids at all and was credited with a net of 90 bids back in my account.  With each bid valued at 75 cents a piece, that means I actually got a value on this back in credits worth $67.50...which means I really only paid $20.29.
4. What does this all add up to?
• Value of $607.11
• Paid out $20.29
• Saved 96.7%.  Not a bad deal, wouldn't you say?
• Paid $87.79...or did I?  I actually only paid 

Here is an example of my second win on this system.  I won a NIKON 14 Mega Pixel digital camera valued around $272...and my total cost, using the above system and rules, came to a little over $16.  How you might ask?  Simple, the numbers went like this:

1. The final bid was $83.20 + $1.99 for handling for a total of $85.19.  Now if it ended right there I would have been happy, but it gets better...
2. I bid 260 bids of my own at an average cost of only 7.5c per bid...remember, I'm bidding on bid credit auctions and using the above system, I'm getting them at an average of only 7.5c my cost. I got 1 bonus bid over the bidding time just for bidding, so that meant I really only placed 259 bids, so my cost for bids used was only $19.49.  Add that to the above cost of and the total is $102.69.
3. As a bonus, for picking this particular product (from about 30 options on this auction win) I was gifted 115 bids...for FREE. With each bid valued at 75 cents a piece, that means I actually got a value on this back in credits worth $86.25...which means I really only paid $16.44.
4. What does this all add up to?
• Value of $272.95
• Paid out $16.44
• Saved 94%.  Not a bad deal, wouldn't you say?

Here is an example of my third win on this system.  I won a desktop valued at over $1000...and my total cost, using the above system and rules, came to a little over $2.  You read that right...just $2. How you might ask?  Simple, the numbers went like this:

1. The final bid was $47.48 including bid cost and the $1.99 for handling.  Now if it ended right there I would have been happy, but it gets better...
2. As a bonus, for picking this particular product I was gifted 60 bids...for FREE.  With each bid valued at 75 cents a piece, that means I actually got a value on this back in credits worth $45.00...which means I really only paid $2.48.
3. What does this all add up to?
• Value of $1140.74
• Paid out $2.48
• Saved 99.9999%.  Not a bad deal, wouldn't you say?
• Paid $47.48...or did I?

Here is an example of my fourth win on this system.  I won a Kindle 3G Wireless with FREE WIFI valued at over $180...and my total cost, using the above system and rules, came to...actually, I made money on this one.  I received more value in credits back than my outgoing costs...$17.50 worth.  How you might ask?  Simple, the numbers went like this:

1. The final cost was $8.75 including the actual bid cost ($5.71 + the used bid cost at 7.5c per bid + $1.99 for handling for a total of $8.75.  Now if it ended right there I would have been really happy, but it gets better, much better...
2. As a bonus, for picking this particular product (from about 30 options on this auction win) I was gifted 35 bids...for FREE. With each bid valued at 75 cents a piece, that means I actually got a value on this back in credits worth $26.25...which means I really got back more value than I paid out. 
3. What does this all add up to?
• Value of $184.28
• Credited back to me a value of $17.50
• ...and, I have a new Kindle...for nothing.  Not a bad deal, wouldn't you say?
• I ended up with a Kindle and $17.50 more than when I started.  I just followed the rules I set out above...and stuck to them. 

Set Up Your Own Online Store

Do you have your own products that you would love to sell online but you don't know how?  What you need is to have your own mall, stocked with your own products and services, that you design, that you set the price and sell to everyone you can online.  Right?  I bet you thought this was hard...and you'd be wrong.  You can Create your own online store in minutes!


This is too Easy
There are a number of online store sites that provide everything you need...including the mechanics of how to accept payment.  All you do is follow the numbers by filling in a "setup" form:  

1. Pick a store look from some great looking templates, modify them, or design your own from scratch.
2. Stock your store with products and services (upload images)
3. Set the pricing and pricing options.
4. Setup your means of accepting payment (PayPal or another Merchant account if you want to accept credit cards).  PayPal alone works just fine, but the more ways to accept payment the better.
5. Save the site, and . . .
6. Sell, sell, sell. 

What the Sites Provide for You

There are many great features that you don't think about, until you wish it was provided.  At minimum, the provider should include features like:

1. Management and Reporting of everything form sales to visitors
2. Invoice to pdf ability with CSV export capability as well.
3. It should provide shipment tracking and email notification
4. Allow recurring customers to register their account and for you to be able to track the top buyers.
5. SEO tools, Google product submissions, email marketing tools and Twitter updates
6. You should be able to offer clients discounts
7. For those that don't feel comfortable designing a website, it should provide professional looking templates for easy drag and drop edits.  For those that are professional designers, they should offer them the ability to customize as needed.
8. Adding or subtracting products should be simple.  You should also be able to offer product options such as size, color and more as well as control over inventory options.
9. You have to be able to offer multiple secure payment options and not have these "optional" merchant accounts suck all the profit out...or make the added cost so high your product becomes too expensive.
10. You also need to be able to make shipping and handling as easy, and as cost effective as you can.

...and the Cost?

I bet you think this costs allot?  Not really.  There are many prices out there and ways of pricing from the different providers.  Some have no setup fees, or up to a couple thousand dollars.  Some have monthly charges from $15 up to $300, or none at all.  Some take a percentage of the sales while others don't have any extra fees.  Which setup is best for you really depends on the pricing of your products as well as the volume you do.  Most of the programs, actually all the ones I looked into, give you the option of either upgrading or downgrading at any time.  So if you estimated high or low, or if your volume or pricing structure changes over time, you can adjust your "Plan" as it best fits you at the time.


Compete with the Big Stores Now
It has never been easier to sell your products and service online...just like the "big stores" do, without paying big money for the privilege. Now you can sell your crafts, or your books & videos, how about your clothes or even your real estate properties.  I have friends that invest in real estate and they love this as a way of cataloging there properties for sale and/or rent.


You now look just like a much bigger business, even if you are running it out of your own home.  


You say you don't have enough products yet to make this work?  
Add products form others on your store, take the orders and get a commission from them, place the orders for delivery when you get them, and have the other product "suppliers" drop ship them for you.  This way, you don't handle the product, but you look like you do.


No more excuses.
Well, you can't say it can't be done anymore.  All the tools you need to sell your products and services online are at your fingertips and the cost is so little it can be easily justified.  What's stopping you now?

Why are we online?

There are really only two reasons for people to go online:

1. To get information in order to make a decision, or...
2. To buy something

When you can go to one site to do both, you usually have a site that has many visitors.  How you get those visitors there is another discussion for another time...or another blog.  Learning how to do this is critical to the life of these sites.

The great part of an actual online shopping mall, already set up, is you can do both at the same time.  The online mall allows you to gain information about what you are looking to buy much like going to a "brick and mortar" mall, but you don't need to deal with:

• Traffic
• Lines
• Parking
• Carrying bags
• Carrying children
• Weather
• Store hours
• Product availability (color. size, etc...)
• ...and more.

I found that once I got over the idea of buying everything (well almost everything) online, I can't imagine doing it any other way.  No traffic. lines, parking, "snow", racing to get to the store before it closes only to find out that my size/color is out of stock",...need I go on?

What to Look For

Some malls charge a membership fee, which is totally unnecessary since you should be shopping at an online mall that is free to join.  In fact, the one I belong to is:

1. free to join
2. has NO minimums or maximums
3. I get cash back on everything I buy
4. I get daily deals
5. I shop at all the same stores I used to walk into
6. I can still use any other coupons like I would if I didn't go through the mall but went directly to these stores .
7. Shop at over 600 stores

After doing this for a month I'll never go back.  Now, if for any reason I wanted to still go to the mall, I can...but I'll still buy online.

Worried about fit and color?  My wife just orders two sizes and returns the one that doesn't fit.  Most stores offer free return shipping, and there are so many stores to choose from she just orders from the store that does offer free return shipping.  Some stores even have models that show you what the clothes look like on...from head to toe.  In fact, I have a business partner whose wife visits one store to see what the shoes look like on the runway model, then orders the same shoe she likes from the store that gives her the best prices.

Something for Everyone

I do all my business shopping through the mall too.  Office supplies, computers and electronics, financial, communication (cell phone deals are the best by far) and much more.

A friend of mine is a music teacher and she orders all her music items from sheet music to instruments and supplies this way...with big discounts.  There is a great site where you can listen to recorded sheet music and download it...cheap.

Hobbies, health and beauty, travel, anything you can think of is there...and did I mention it was free to join?

Affiliate programs. How to make money from team work.

Affiliate programs have been around for quite a while.  When they started, they were kind of clumsy and hard to organize.  Companies would start and stop, which would mean the person putting those links on their sites had allot of potential work involved keeping things up to date.  Now, they are much more streamlined and mainstream.  If you knew what to look for, you would find that unless you typed in the exact url for a company, you were using an affiliate link to reach it...and someone, not you, was making a commission on what amounted to a referral.  I've been using affiliate programs for years, and I can tell you they can be very good income streams and today, they can involve allot less work than they used to.  They are truly a great example of a win/win/win situation.  The buyer gets an easy link to a product or service to buy what they want/need, the website that placed the link gets a commission just for making the link to the product or service available to the buyer, and the store gets a sale from what amounts to free advertising...since they don't pay for placing the link, only after a sale has been made.  Is it any wonder that almost any store you can think of uses affiliate programs to advertise?


How & Why Affiliate Marketing works
Affiliate Marketing doesn't have to be "in your face".  In fact, it works much better if it isn't.  Just write a blog or web page, and insert the link in the form of text or ad on that same page on the product or service you discussed on that page.  Just that simple.  The reader enjoys the post, wants to follow through with more info (you can get links to book stores), or is ready to buy that product.  You just provided them the means to do so...and will get paid for it.


How do affiliate programs work, and why are they so popular?  Affiliate programs are a combination of companies advertising on a client's site for free, and the client getting paid for everything that a visitor to that site buys from the companies that advertise on the client's site.  The way the companies advertise is by providing coded links that access the company's website that the client puts on their website.  Since the upfront marketing cost to do this for the company is next to nothing (they only pay the directory that manages the links), and the traditional advertising costs don't exist, the companies will pay commissions to the client that brings buyers to the company site by means of these coded links.  The coding is an embedded code in the link that tells the company whose website the lead/sale came from and who to pay the commission.  It costs nothing for the client to put the link on their site.  How cool is this.


It is truly a passive income source
The client doesn't deal with the buyer, or returns, or complaints, or anything other than cashing the check.


Their are many examples of this, and almost any company you can think of has a program set up to do this.  All you need is a site, that doesn't have any illegal activity on it, or anything else that the companies would not want to be associated with, and you can usually put a link on your site for that company.


Commissions vary on the company, some are very low, and some are very high.  One of the best examples of this are the online shopping malls.  They are nothing more than a large directory of affiliate programs all on one site.  IF you own the mall, you get the commissions from every sale made using the links provided on that mall site.  The best example of this is Aisle19.  This is an example of Affiliate links on steroids.  You can join as a member for free, there are no membership fees of any kind.  No maximums or minimums, and they give cash back on all purchases.  If you own the mall you get all the benefits of the membership, but you also get a commission on everything that you and others buy from your mall.  To own your own mall, there is a very small monthly charge, that you should be able to easily offset by the savings and commissions you get each month.  Think about the income potential...especially during seasonal buying periods.


How and where to use them
You can use these links on your website, or in email, or in eBooks or articles.  The possibilities are endless.  A great place to use them is on your blog.  Post a new article, and have a link to a product or service that you get a commission from right on the same page...and all of this cost you nothing to provide.  You'll need to learn how to use Social Media, like FaceBook, blogs, LinkedIn, eZines, writing articles and more to attract readers to your sites/blogs, but it doesn't get any easier than that.

Shop Online With No Extra Fees

Shopping has never been this easy...or cheap.  Why would you want to: 

1. Stand in lines
2. Shop ONLY when the stores were open...and you had the time
3. Battle traffic
4. Battle for a parking spot
5. Battle the weather
6. Battle crowds
7. Deal with "not so helpful" employees
8. Deal with your children (I love mine too, but...)
9. Get to the mall only to find out what you went there for...is out of stock.

Join the online shopping crowd, and not deal with ANY of the above problems any more.


FREE membership forever, Daily Specials, Cash back on ALL of your buys, over 600 stores (wait until you see the list).

Join today, and never look back. 

For more info <click> here