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Ah, the old-fashioned country auction! The idea of a country auction conjures up certain images for people. The image of a fast-talking auctioneer offering up an antique table or chair is a popular example.

People who are buying household goods or collectibles are looking to get their items at the lowest price possible. However, the people who are selling their items at auction are hoping for the highest price!

Unless a person is in the business of buying and selling antiques or other items, not a lot of thought goes into how goods are prepared for sale via the auction process. However, if you are one of the growing number of people using auction venues to sell your collectibles or other inventory, there are a few things to learn first about how to sell at auction before you bring a truckload of stuff over to the next event.

Tip 1: Make sure the things you want to sell are a good “fit” for the auction house you’ll be using.

Never bring a load to an auction house without actually having been to one of the previous auctions. It’s important to get a feel for the type of goods that the house sells. For example, at one very rural country auction it was common for the owners to sell live chickens, pots and pans, car parts, and farm equipment.

After close investigation, this would not be the right venue for selling your daughter’s “Hello Kitty” collection. On the other hand, the spare John Deere parts that you bought at last week’s yard sale might be just the right thing for the buying crowd at this auction.

Tip 2: Be sure you clearly understand the terms and policies of the auction house.

Visit with the auctioneer ahead of time. Call to find out what the best days and times are to visit. One of the worst possible times to drop in for an informational visit with an auctioneer is the day of the auction. Call ahead and ask. While you’re at it, find out what are the best days and times to drop your stuff off.

Once you have a little time with the auctioneer, you’ll be able to find out what type of commission he or she takes from consigners (which is you), and what type of paperwork might be needed. Some auction houses send out Form 1099 tax forms at the end of the year. An auctioneer may need to see your identification and have you fill out a W-9. Be prepared.

Find out what happens to your items if they don’t sell. For example, some auctioneers may have a minimum starting bid. If, for some reason, one of your items does not sell, it may be grouped with another one of your pieces. Know the auctioneer’s strategy beforehand so that you aren’t surprised on pay day.

Tip 3: Make sure the auctioneer knows what you’re selling.

It might be perfectly obvious to you that the signed print you are consigning is a rare and valuable piece of art. However, the auctioneer may not know this particular artist. Make a note of anything particularly special about your items, and leave the note with the piece. Be sure to tell the auctioneer about it as well. He or she might determine that this is something to highlight on the company website or in the newspaper listing.

Tip 4: Present your items neatly.

No one likes to have to dig through a box full of grimy and greasy car parts to see what treasures might be in there. Separate the parts and lay them out on a flat, or use more than one box to de-clutter the lot.

There is no need to buy fancy display boxes. It’s easy enough to go to the local convenience store or supermarket and ask if you can have the emptied boxes or flats that they are discarding.

While it’s good to present clean items, take care not to ruin the value of anything by over cleaning. For example, if you find some old cast iron cookware, clean the obvious dirt and grime, but don’t scrub it to its original finish. For many people, this ruins the value of the item. So, clean and tidy and organized is the key here.

Tip 5: Don’t complain to the auctioneer if your stuff doesn’t sell for as much as you’d like.

The phrase to remember here is, “You win some; you lose some.” That’s just the way it is. There are some days where an auction house is loaded with people who all seem to want what you’re selling. There will be other days where the crowd is sparse, and the bidding is simply not competitive.

Remember that it’s in the auctioneer’s best interest to sell your things for the highest possible hammer price. But sometimes, it’s just not going to be a stellar sale. The auctioneer is only human, and is also disappointed if a sale doesn’t go as well as planned.

If you notice that every time you bring a bunch of goods to sell that you’re not realizing as much as you think you honestly should, try another auction venue and compare apples to apples. That is, bring the same types of items to the new auctioneer and compare the results.

Unless the auctioneer is particularly disagreeable or inconsiderate to you or buyers, there is no reason to confront him or her about a sale. If you find you just don’t care for an auctioneer’s style or methods, find another one. Believe me, there are plenty of them out there!

The primary thing to remember as you learn how to sell at auction is that the business is unpredictable at best. You will have good days, some not-so-good days, some great days. The more you sell, the more experience you will gain, and the more enjoyable the business will be.

Creating a product with a success guarantee is difficult. But one can initially take certain precautions while designing or creating a product, so that the product becomes successful after it is launched. Here are some ways to product creation that will help in making the product successful

The first step to successful product creation is to make an in-depth study of the previous products that are of the same nature of the new one. Find out their pros and cons. If a particular product has been popular among the people find out why and if a similar product has been unsuccessful find out the reasons for its failure. Research has always proved to be the key to popular and perfect product creation.

The next way to targeted product creation is creating the product according to the needs of the probable consumer. The product creation should be such that it greatly fulfills the desires of the probable consumer. Creating a product that suits the demands of the consumers is the best way to attain success. Carry out surveys to know the desires and requirements of your consumers.

Proper time management is also a key factor for successful product creation. If you target to complete your products by a particular time of the year, may be because it is the best time to launch it, make sure that you do that. If you so not complete your product creation within the time schedule, then you will lose the favorable market conditions of that time. Also getting late in schedules means, delay in starting a new venture.

Series Introduction:

Web forums are a great way to interact, converse, build community, promote products and ideas, and generate content and relationships online. Even though forums have existed since before the web, there are many people who still do not use forums, who do not know about them, or who think that web forums are more limited than they are. This five part series offers a basic introduction to web forums and answers eight basic but important questions; addresses one of the negative aspects of forums–haters–and how to keep a healthy forum; discusses the basics of running a forum; is frank about common pests and problems which often infest forums; and finally provides five useful reminders about forums.

Part III: Four Questions About Running Your Own Forum

So far, this series has addressed basic questions about forums as well as one of forums’ biggest problems: haters. Fortunately, you learn quickly how to deal with them. If you’ve been bitten by the forum bug, you’re probably considering running your own forum. This article addresses four key things to keep in mind when considering running your own forum.

1. Who controls a forum?
The person or people who control a forum are usually called that forum’s “administrators,” or “admins” for short. These are the people with the highest level of access, who can make any change at any level of the forum. You can identify these users by special colors or text next to their posts. For example, administrators may have the word “Administrator” next to their screen name or avatar.

Administrators sometimes give normal users special privileges on their forums. These special users are usually called “moderators,” or “mods” for short. Mods are sort of like the police of the forum – they watch for violations of the forum rules and dole out discipline accordingly. This is the job they have to do in exchange for being given special powers (such as the ability to delete posts) by the admins. Admins can revoke these powers at any time if they feel that the mods are not doing their jobs right.

2. How hard is it to set up my own forum?
If you’re willing to spend a few bucks a month on it, it couldn’t be easier. There are a few very low priced forum hosting services that will take care of everything for you – you just have to let them know some basics like what you want your forum to be called, what URL you want people to access it at, etc.

It’s also possible to buy a shared hosting account at a provider and to install and configure the forum software yourself. Obviously, this will be a greater investment of time and resources on your part to learn the ins and outs of a particular forum software package. Plus, you still have to pay the shared host provider, so unless you’re using the hosting space to host blogs or other websites, it’s not as good of a deal as just using one of the simple forum hosts.

Finally, it’s possible to buy or lease your own dedicated server and to install forum software on there, but this option is definitely reserved for people who are interested in hosting many forums at once or in reselling their space to others interested in hosting forums. (If you go this route, you can even become your own mini shared host!)

3. How do I get people to come to my forum?
It sounds obvious, but the most important thing is content. If your forum is attached to a larger website, then you already have content – you just have to make sure people see the link to your forum and want to go there to discuss your content.

If your forum isn’t attached to a website, then you need to make sure Google and the other search engines are indexing your forum. Check your search rank by typing in some terms you think are related to your forum and looking at where your forum is in the search results. Are you on the first page? Are you the first hit? Try starting some threads on your forum with prompts for people to discuss. You’ll be surprised how quickly people will start posting if the topics interest them.

4. What rules are there for a forum?
This is up to the administrators of the particular forum to decide. Usually there’s a “forum rules” thread where the rules for that particular forum are laid out for everyone to see. Sometimes, the forum makes you click “I agree” to the rules before you can even register on it. In any case, make sure you are familiar with the rules so that you don’t get moderated for breaking them and lose stature in the community.