Auction Sites | Online Business Article Directory

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Auction sites are websites devoted to providing this service over the internet, and they come in a variety of different formats. Because of the lack of restrictions imposed ( such as space, audience, geography, etc ), online auction sites have become increasingly popular and have boosted e-commerce sales figures significantly over the last five years. Buyers and sellers are both attracted to the fact that they can now both enjoy the competitive nature of an auction from the comfort of their own homes in real time.

There are a number of different types of online auctions:

English ? The most popular and simple of all the auction formats, involving ascending bids for products whereby the highest bid wins at the end of a set period of time. Online auctions typically use this method as that is what people are more familiar.

Dutch ? The price starts high and descends until a buyer is happy to accept it; a reverse of the English explained above. This is often used for the selling of different services. A large number of people believe this to be a fairer proposition than a typical auction as prices can?t get driven up by bidding wars. For this reason they may present a better opportunity for buyers.

First Price Sealed Bid ? whereby a one-off bid is made by all parties, with each bid being kept secret, and then simply the highest bid wins.

Vickrey ? this type of auction involves the highest bidder only paying what the second highest offered for the product. It encourages honesty, with bidders tending to give the closest value to the item.

Bidding Fee ? more commonly known as the ?pay per bid? or ?penny auction?, this kind of auction is still relatively new and involves customers prepaying for bids, with the option of being able to increase bids during the process. It is a competitive form of auction, which has sometimes been compared to gambling (because of the risk of bidders spending a significant amount of money and receiving nothing in return). However penny auctions continue to be popular among consumers, and some of these auction sites offer a ?buy it now? feature so bidders can recover any bid costs when they don?t win.

Many auction sites are available online, to suit every need of the consumer. A large number of these sites are generic in nature and will offer a wide range of goods, with customers able to locate whatever they want by entering keywords into the search box. Goods are stored alphabetically or within certain categories, with details of how many are available.

Customers can often choose whether they want to bid on goods, or whether they want to purchase without bidding. This now makes online auction sites more accessible to mainstream audiences; if a customer wants to buy a specific product online, an auction may offer the most convenient way of doing this. Prices are competitive and stock is generally plentiful.

Other sites offer much more niche goods, such as jewellery, guns or coins (many of these relating to particular hobbies). Again, the consumer has the choice of bidding or buying straight away.

However, there are many other sites now established on UK search engines, offering a range of services such as live jewellery auctions with 3 minute events, others for rare, vintage and collectable goods, person to person auctions and those dedicated to second hand products. Many sites are newly established and ask for buyers and sellers to support them and help to cement their growth and reputation.

With such ease of access and use, and catering for all needs, online auctions in the UK today are increasing rapidly.

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