Advantage of on line auctions as marketing tool (Stampede Auction - USA)

1. Antecedent   How did you get the idea?

My partner and I recognized that there was a large volume of horses being marketed online. There were several sites that provided horse breeders and ranchers with classifieds opportunity, however, there were no dominant sites that were taking advantage of the popularity of Online Auctions as a marketing tool for horses.

2. Objective  What did you expect?

Initially, we were not sure what to expect. We felt that the idea had lots of potential, in theory, but the concept was completely untested so we were not sure how well this approach to marketing horses would resonate with North American ranchers and breeders. That said, we were very optimistic about the possibilities.

3. Strategy  What and how did you do?

"Horse people" are a very tight-knit community. They network very openly and freely within that community. We were able to take advantage of this solidarity. For the first week after we opened, we sent emails to hundreds of ranches. These ranches were very helpful in helping us spread the word about our site. Without a doubt our most valuable marketing tool is our members themselves. We get lots of requests from members to help us distribute business cards and flyers.

There have been several competing sites that have been created in the months since we launched our site on November 2, 2004. Despite the influx of competition, we have remained the biggest online horse auction site, in terms of membership base, listings, and amount sold. We attribute much of this to the loyalty and enthusiasm of our members.

4. Results

We have recently bought the Phpauction classifieds suite and add this application weave into our XL auction site. The two products mesh extremely well together. Our vision is to become a "one-stop-shop" for the online marketing of horses. Whether a seller prefers to list them through an auction or whether they wish to market their horse through a classified listing, Phpauction has given us the tools we need to offer our customers all of the advantages when it comes to selling their horses.

Focus on better offers (Ezsteals - USA)

1. Antecedent   How did you get the idea?

Founded in November 2004, in the state of E. Stroudsberg, Pennsylvania. The idea started after one of my brothers was a member on one of the biggest auction sites for a few years. I thought we could run our own auction site with better management and lower fees. We tried various auction software, none of them could compare with Phpauction XL.

2. Objective  What did you expect?

At first, I did not expect the software to be as good as it is. There were some minor problems, but we hung in there. Now we are very pleased and satisfied with the outcome. The software was extremely flexible and very customizable.

3. Strategy  What and how did you do?

At first, things were somewhat slow. But gradually membership has increase and we have plenty of hits from visitors all over the world. We increase our advertising and we are very satisfied with the outcome of Phpauction XL software and the continue support at Phpauction.org

4. Results

The results were better than expected and we are very satisfied with the flexibility, security and support of Phpauction software XL. One of our biggest concern with the software was with security and so far Phpauction XL has work flawlessly in this area. We now have a steady flow of membership. We are very satisfied with the software and the continued support of Phpauction.org.

Traders knowledge into online auctions (Megaleilao - Portugal)

1. Antecedent   How did you get the idea?

The idea of create an auction website, came when we decide to become an option to the others existing sites.

2. Objective  What did you expect?

We expect to get many users since we have been traders for more than 5 years. Our customers trading database was very important for the first approach.

3. Strategy  What and how did you do?

The strategy was to show the experience that we have on sales online, having the knowledge to know what exactly a seller needs to work.

The best tool we have found it´s Phpauction program that have´s everything we need, this is the better weapon to win users and sales, the program allows to customize and become a great website.

4. Results

3 years of work with phpauction, have permitted to became the second auction website in Portugal !! A program that allows to be confident that everything works well!

Getting Niche (OpalAuctions.com - Australia)

1. Antecedent   How did you get the idea?

We have been wholesalers of opals for 12 years ,but since sept 11 less tourists have been visiting Australia and buying opals. 2 years ago I visited Vegas jewelry show and meet guys doing well on their own auction site. Man I knew nothing about computers so we spent year selling on internet auction sites like ebay, yahoo, bidz etc. This gave us knowledge of how to work computers, but my goal all the time was to have my own auction site and now choice Phpauction to host our auction site we sold over 25,000 opals last year.

2. Objective  What did you expect?

Its long term plan, didn't expect immediate results,but pleased to date, will take year before stage I'm happy with. Other auction site fees are getting too high so we had to diversify. I think sites like ebay, yahoo will keep putting their fees up so for long term business plan better to take plunge and have your own site.

3. Strategy  What and how did you do?

We have used the search engines and bought key words to attract customers to our site. Also have promote good prizes every month for customers who just register with us, they don’t even have to bid to be in draw to win expensive opal every month.

Next year we will employ professional to have more aggressive marketing of our site so we can saturate the search engine system.

If your serious about auctions and selling on net also having your own site is asset to your company as you can build up your own customer base ,this is important, as with new laws banning spam mail thru other auction sites you do not own your customer base, but with your own site you can have newsletter to keep in contact with your customers.

4. Results

Opalauctions has taken two years to establish to reach point today where we have sold 40,000 items so far .
We used other auction sites when we started ,but never built up good following customers..
most other sites you just get bargain hunters,but you dont build up good following.
With our own auction site opalauctions we have hundreds repeat customers buying every month.
NR auctions are popular and keep bringing customers back.some days we have 25% of logged in customers as repeat buyers.
We have customized site to be user friendly and every month getting more user friendly and easier to use. We recommend PHP auction sysytems for any growing internet business

In the right place in the right moment (AusAuction.com - Australia)

1. Antecedent   How did you get the idea?

Since I was a child auctions have fascinated me, I started buying antiques and engravings and books at auction when I was 15. In later life, I conducted live auctions for many years.

I took an interest in the internet about 8 years ago, and researched auction software. After testing several scripts in the low to medium price range I decided that phpAuction best suited my needs. I bought the Pro version and installed it on my server for bookauctiononline.com.

When Yahoo's auction site here in Australia announced its closure last year, in favor of eBay, I was angry about the number of small sellers who would lose income that they depended on, so decided to offer an alternative.

2. Objective  What did you expect?

I expected that the site would become an overnight success, due to the number of people who were becoming disillusioned with major auction sites and the listing fees that they charged.

3. Strategy  What and how did you do?

I set up the Pro script on another domain that I'd registered some time before, AusAuction.com

We spent 60 hours dropping short messages into the 'Ask seller a Question' box on sold.com.au (the local Yahoo auction site) advising that we were offering an alternative. With no listing fees. I also spent more time researching auction scripts but came to the conclusion that even if I spent many $1,000's there was no guarantee that the more expensive software was better than phpauction.

The response was fantastic and my Cobalt Raq4 couldn't handle the traffic. I upgraded the software to Phpauction XL and bought a better server.

4. Results

AusAuction.com has not grown as fast as it could have, due largely to lack of funds for advertising, but we now have over 3,600 members and several thousand item's for auction.
We look forward to continued growth and have several strategies planned to achieve this.

Opening the market (aukcije.biz - Croatia)

1. Antecedent   How did you get the idea?

Well, Idea came from foreign auction sites like eBay. As here in Croatia there were no similar sites on our language that was obvious i should try to make good auction site for our market. I had that idea for long time ago but i wasn't able to find appropriate software for auction site. There were two kinds of software - ready made cheap software , but those
were really bad. On other side there were few companies offering good auction software, but their prices were extremely high. So after i found PhpAuction software i decided to go in that business. Phpauction software has excellent price and also it is excellent software.It is offering many possibilities and most important - upgrades and changes are available per request, You can order some change in software to meet your expectations and I believe that is major feature i found with phpauction software.

2. Objective  What did you expect?

I expect I will develop major auction site in Croatia (as it in on Croatian language) within next several years. Our market is small comparing to world but still that is territory not yet assimilated by ebay and other huge auction sites. I cannot predict number of users and other but i believe site will make enough money for running successful online auction company.

3. Strategy  What and how did you do?

With almost no investing it is hard to do promotion, but still it is possible to promote site. With targeting to customers through banner ads exchange and other "free" advertising it is possible to gain some issues, however it is not enough. As site grows it is necessary to invest in some other things , promotional materials etc. It is most important to spread information on many directions so customers come from everywhere.

4. Results

Results are as expected. We will have about 1000 users by end of year, next year we plan to have about 10000 users by end of 2004. At this time we still run site without profit and we expect to star earning some money within 6-10 months from now.