How To Attract Bidders - The Group Method

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Neil Bartlett
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http://www.auctionhotlist.com

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How To Attract Bidders - The Group Method

"I need to get more people to view my auctions!"

Next to getting a bidder to bid, this is probably the most
frustrating issue for sellers.

What a lot of sellers don't realize is timing is everything.
I have heard from sellers that when they have an auction that
didn't get any bids and they re-list the same auction at the
same price just a week later they get lots of bidders, some
even make more profit than they expected. So what's the deal?

The 'deal' is that you never know when the people likely to
bid on your auction are going to be looking at your auction.

So, here we are back at the beginning, how do we attract
bidders? Well, one method that I have used to create traffic
to both my website and my auctions is to participate in or
create your own discussion group.

What are discussion groups you ask? Well, as the description
for Yahoo Groups puts it, discussion groups "offer a convenient
way to connect with others who share the same interests and
ideas."

There are three key ways to use groups to increase your
auction traffic. The first two are 1) Join groups that let
you post links to your auctions, or 2) Start your own group
and invite others to post links to their auctions while you
do the same.

The two methods above are a quick and easy way to get
started on driving traffic to your auctions, however, the
third and best way to utilize groups is to create a specialized
group based around a theme, for example, collectors of die
cast cars. This way people that are interested in your theme
will be more interested in joining that kind of a group rather
than a group that just lists various auction links. You can
then set the rules so that members may post related auctions.

This last method focuses you audience and gets your auctions
what is reffered to as 'targeted traffic', which is the best
kind of traffic.

How do you get started? Glad you asked, shows you're paying
attention.

Discussion groups are free and both easy to join and easy to
start. All you have to do to get started is go to one of the
main discussion sites below and signup.

http://groups.yahoo.com

http://www.topica.com

With Yahoo, if you already have a free account with them then
you can just go to to Groups link from the main Yahoo page
and start searching for groups to join. To start a new group,
just click on the 'Start A New Group' link at the top of the
Groups page.

Topica is just as easy to get started, just go to the main
page and click on the 'Sign Up Now' link. The searching and
signup are pretty much the same as Yahoo Groups.

Now that you have signed up, you can search for groups that
may interest you, however, you need to beware that when you
join a group that you read their rules, some groups only allow
you to post relevent information and then some like the Yahoo
group Auction_List allow you to post direct auction links.
So, take note of the rules before you post.

Here are some of the auction related groups that already
exist that you can join:

Auction_List
Auctions_Plus
Bargains_Galore
cyber-auction
Ebay_Listed
ebaypowersellersecrets
Hot_Buys

There are also plenty of collector specific groups. After a
quick search for 'coin' related groups I netted over 400
like Ancient_Chinese_Coins, old_us_coins, southasia-coins,
and stamps_coins_postcards.

Once you have gotten used to working with groups, you might
decide to take the plunge and create your own. After you have
done this, an easy way to grow your group is to add a link
in your auction description, you can invite people to join
your group; this doesn't violate ebay's link rules because
you are not selling anything.

One last thing, discussion groups are not only an auction
traffic builder, but they are also a knowledge builder. Seek
out and join various auction groups, participate in them and
you can come away with a lot of new information on how to
build your auction business.

Enjoy!

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Neil Bartlett is the publisher of The Auction Hot List
Newsletter and Companion Auction Site. He has been involved
in the online auction scene for over 5 years and in the
computer industry for more than 20 years. He developed the
Auction Hot List Newsletter and Companion Auction Site to
help both beginning and advanced auction sellers increase
their skills and profits.

Neil can be reached at: webmaster@ebsdiscounts.com

The Auction Hot List Newsletter and Companion Site are
located at: http://www.auctionhotlist.com
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