Online Auction Etiquette for the Seller and Buyer

Online auctions offer many conveniences to the consumer. You shop from your own home, and save money on gasoline. There are some very good deals out there, especially for hard to find items and collectibles. Above all, it is the excitement of the auction itself. When it is down to the last few seconds, who will offer the most? It is about the desire of an object, the competition, the calculation and timing to acquire it, who could ask for any anything else?

My wife and I have been involved with online auctions since 1999, but we are not professionals who do it for a living. We sell niche items, mainly vinyl records and other resale and collectible merchandise. We only have auctions several times a year. We are not mass-market sellers, who are often known as power sellers. While we may not be those people you hear about on television getting rich making thousands of dollars a week, we have been around long enough to see what works, and what does not. We also purchase many items online ourselves, and have the experience and perspective of being a buyer too. This is not a step-by-step article on how to conduct an online auction, but is written to better inform those of who are interested in either buying or selling.

There are many online auctions out there besides the more popular ones, and this information applies to all of them. First thing is first. While it appears a convenient and inexpensive way for the consumer to shop, we must always remember that someone is making money out there. Yes, it is free for the buyer to register, and purchase items at an online auction site. There are no monthly or membership fees either. So how do online auction sites make a profit? They make money from the seller, silly.