Description: What is it?
There seems to be an innate need for people everywhere to accumulate things they never seem to find a use for. There also seems to be an intrinsic inability for people to throw things away. The result is most of us have boxes of treasures piled high in our attics, garages, and rented storage rooms. If you’re anything like me, you’ve got boxes of stuff you haven’t opened in years, and you probably have no idea what most of those boxes contain. Auction components allow a website owner to create an online marketplace where other people can sell their unused treasures to the highest bidder.
However, auctions can also be a useful way for commercial websites, or any business that has unsold inventory to sell last year’s models to any cost-conscious consumer. Almost every business has unsold merchandise they need to dispose of from their inventory, and auctions are a great way to turn capital locked in goods into cash flow.
Users: Who needs it?
Auction components are used to establish websites that are entirely devoted to providing third parties a marketplace to sell their goods; or, they can provide additional functionality to any other type of site. For example, a site devoted to movie reviews and commentary could provide a marketplace using an auction module that allows users of the site to sell their unwanted DVDs; or, a website that sells discounted merchandise can create a marketplace that allows users to place bids on specific items the management wants to remove from their inventory.
In short, practically any website can benefit from providing its users a marketplace to either move their own inventory, or allow individual users to sell their unwanted things to the general public. In other words, integrating an auction component into your website may be the first step to creating EBay’s next greatest competitor.
Other possibilities include, t-shirts for your own band, jewelry makers, craft sites, supplies of any sort – even services like writing, graphic design, etc.
Features: What does it do?
Essentially, auction modules create an online marketplace that allows third parties to bid on items. Auction modules allow the seller to post a description of the item, establish minimum sale prices, shipping fees and return policies.
Benefits: What is achieved?
Incorporating an auction marketplace into your website increases the traffic and visibility of your website. If the site is devoted entirely to being an online market it allows the owner of the site to create revenue by collecting a small fee for the service.