phpAuction

I recently joined a great community. Members are active and a great amount of information it’s available. I invite you to check it out:

http://www.powersellersunite.com/

PSU was “born” when eBay implemented rate increases that significantly impacted sellers large & small. The fee hikes affect buyers also, as most sellers have no choice but to pass on the eBay fees to buyers. Our focus has now shifted away from the eBay boycott in early 2005 to helping sellers, and buyers, find the best alternative auction site(s) for their needs.

PSU is a fast- growing group of online members – seasoned and new – with common goals. We enjoy a fun, fast-paced environment where all facets of e-Commerce are discussed and debated.
PSU offers site navigation tools, free auction tools, and multiple search options right from the home page!

Our discussions include web site design to best alternative auction sites. If your area of question/interest is not found, ask and you will receive!

Take a minute and join one of the fastest growing online e-Commerce communities!

Great!!!!

Bid on Cleaning Services
BidMyCleaning.com
Raymond Aker, OBrian Woods, Gavin Stone, Candice Stone

When Raymond Aker ran a cleaning business in San Diego, he was frustrated by how hard it was to find customers. Akers solution became his next business: BidMyCleaning.com, a Web site designed to connect clients with cleaners in a transaction as smooth as buying books on Amazon (AMZN). Users select what type of cleaning they need, punch in their Zip Code, and BidMyCleaning spits out price quotes from vetted providers. Customers schedule online and pay through the site after service is provided. BidMyCleaning takes a cut of 20% to 30% on each bookingthe average sale is $130. Aker, 36, says he and three thirtysomething co-founders built the site in about six months with $100,000 raised from friends, family, and angels. The company, which now has four employees besides the founders, was profitable nine months after launching in April 2008, with $390,000 in revenue in the first year. Based in San Diego with a second team in Houston, BidMyCleaning is now seeking investors to expand to other services like lawn care or repairs

Throught Linkedin I just met Dave Langstong that is developing a great project for the auction community. Check more info about it and we invite you to join.

http://www.alternativestoebay.com/

” One of the main problems independent auctions face when battling larger companies like ebay and amazon is persuading people that they can be an alternative site to use.
Offering your auction site as an alternative is all well and good but do you have the clout to compete ?

And with almost all on-line auction site doing the same the value of putting those keywords in your SEO profile is very much diluted. So if this is one of the weapons in your promotions you need more muscle. We see it as a two part process; First get people to think “Alternatives” and then give them the “Alternative”. In truth the phase Alternative To Ebay needs branding. Why ? well by doing that you equal up the playing field a little. Putting the idea of trying an alternative, the are we think far more people willing to leave ebay then actually do but those people don’t know all the alternatives available. Give them a choice and perhaps they will try a few and decide one of them suits them better.

So what we say is “The is an alternative and here is a list of them”

That’s not new, but what is new is the promoting of that list. It’s hoped that by providing the list and promoting that the are alternatives more people will try one or two of the smaller independent auctions site.

So how do we do that ? well in as many ways as we can but we see the most important thing is to get people to see the sites and we target ebay users and people who are interested in auctions. The process works like this, we have a link directory which is free with a reciprocal link. That link is very important because it gives the whole list membership recognition and power by pushing the link directory up the ranking (branding the term Alternatives). We also have a Auction Owners Blog which has become a very powerful tool. Worldwide auction news is posted every day on the blog and those posts are sent to a number of web place like Twitter, Facebook, Squidoo etc in fact as many as we can find. As an example of the power of this system after only 3 months of the blog last month we had over 13,000 page views, near 3,000 unique visitors and then the was 2,000 feed visits and this month already we have had 2,500 spider visits (predict full month 12,000). So you see we are pulling in the traffic and it’s getting better.

Apart from the above we also do a few Adwords and MSN advert campaigns with money paid by those sites who want higher exposure but we repeat inclusion in the Alternative To Ebay Directory is free to those who commit to the idea that all site owners can work together to compete with the big boys.”

We insist this is ‘the’ way and we are not the only ones, Judy Dunn from biznik share the vision:

Swedish Cowboys and Scuba Diving Brides: 8 Reasons To Have a Niche

A good niche combines your passions and expertise to fill a real and specific need in the marketplace. But how can you survive, especially in this economy, if you don’t take every client that comes your way? Learn how.

Full article

We want to thank Pat Bockenstette, Founder & CEO of All Sports Trader to share with us and all our users their experience.

1. Why you decide to start an auction site?
I decided on an auction site one afternoon as I was standing in my garage looking at the 12 baseball bats that were in a barrel. I had paid on average approximately $225 apiece for these bats. My son had now outgrown them and I just didn’t want to give them away or sell them in a garage sale. I looked at different auction sites and even free classified sites. I knew the bats still had value, but it would be difficult for me to compete with Ebay and Craig’s list so I would need a niche and a hook. The bats are still worth a minimum of 50% of their original cost.

2. How did you define your niche market?
My goal was to combine the best and most information for sports minded people in the Southern California market. All Sports Trader includes all the things I needed and wanted for a very sports minded family. I can easily look up events, tournament information, check out the auctions, the weather, driving directions, a streaming sports live feed, post Blogs and forums and current Southern California sports news. What sets us apart is that it is designed to be market specific. For example; the auction is for Southern California and if you win an auction you can drive and inspect the item before you pay and pick it up yourself to save delivery costs. Southern California, because of its climate is the ideal place to play almost any sport year round. Because of this, some of the country’s best athletes come from the area. The site is a great place for players to look for new teams and for coaches to recruit new players.

I see the site ever expanding as it has captured my passion for tremendous future possibilities. We are currently working on duplicating the “All Sports Experience” in other major US markets. International expansion has been discussed and will be on the agenda for the next board meeting.

I must give a tremendous amount of credit for the site to Pam Barrie, the CEO of OC Sitemasters. Together we have built a world class site and will continue to build more sites in the years to come.

3. Briefly describe your marketing campaign
There was a series of Press Releases that went out over Business Wire at the end of July. This same Press Release was seen in several area newspapers. We have a tremendous amount of momentum with the local Southern California sports associations we look to partner with in the coming months.

4. Were your expectations fulfilled?
Yes  / No , why? What was missing?
Being a man of very little patience, I must admit that at first my expectations were not filled. I have very high standards and expectation in everything I get involved with. This project started out slowly and really didn’t gather continuous momentum until about the 4th month into it. Looking back, I can honestly say that it was my initial lack of experience in the auction industry that caused most of the frustration. So, I did what most successful entrepreneurs do; I asked a lot of questions from experts and read a lot about past successes in the industry. Today, I am confident in the team we have built that we can compete with the best sites out there.

5. Which are the next steps?
The next steps… that has always been clear to me:

1. Open a new US market on our scheduled dates
2. Consistent marketing efforts
3. Create a brand
4. International opportunities
5. Sell to the highest bidder