Educational Toys – Our Partners in Raising Smarter Babies

Every eight seconds, more and more babies are being born all over the world. Every minute, more and more parents are thinking of ways to make their children the best among the rest. These parents are more likely to explore the whole world just to be able to give everything to their kids to make them grow smarter and wiser. They believe that educational toys are absolutely their partners in raising smarter babies. Hence, most, if not all, these parents will look for every educational toy they can grab in the market today.

But what makes an educational toy different from an ordinary toy? Essentially, these toys, just like other toys, are simply invented for and to be used by children. Any person can argue that an educational toy is in fact any toy. The only difference they have is how the children perceive these toys or the reality of their significance.

Ideally, an educational toy, which is believe to be our partners in raising smarter babies advances intellectuality and imagination, and promotes the emotional, physical, and social development of children. These toys pave ways to faster learning of children with new skills. Therefore, what really makes this toy different from other usual toys is the child’s learning and development associated with playing with them.

Simple wooden blocks are actually a good start for preschool children to instigate learning the elementary principles of science and causal relationships, as well as patience and basic hand-eye coordination. Elementary children can be encouraged to play with interlocking manipulative toys like Legos or puzzles to further improve their mind-body coordination, virtue of patience, and appreciation of spatial relationships.

All educators hold the same opinion that is, the most effective, most natural, and the best method of educating children is through play. Among the most important elements in teaching children are educational toys, developmental games, and learning materials. But there are really no rules in deciding the right choice of toys and games for your children. You can try experimenting from simple books and educational toys moving gradually to more intricate educational games, science activities, and puzzles.

If there is actually a rule, it can only be one that is, to go after your child’s interests. You can tag along your kid’s interests be it play dough clays or electronic keyboard or pirate games as you will never go wrong with these. For sure, they will inspire your children’s imagination, senses, and cleverness. Let them express themselves either through academic subjects (i.e., music, art, history, language) or sports (i.e., ball games, skating, ballet).

There are indeed so many ways to raise our children to be smarter and wiser people. We have all kinds of educational toys available in the market. We just have to know well what are outside there and learn how to listen and support our children’s interests. We can give them heaps of educational toys but if the child has no interest, then it cannot serve its function to educate the child.

Make sure you will introduce your children to variety of educational toys and when they already choose one or two, you just have to guide them along the way. Remember, these educational toys are just our partners in raising smarter babies but they are not the sole key to success. As the saying goes, Nine tenths of education is Encouragement. Parents as well as educators just have to make these children realize that learning is not so boring after all, but rather a fun development of themselves.

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What’s the Best Low Cost Home Based Business?

Having a business from the comfort of your own home could be extremely convenient, but it can be even more convenient if you had a low cost home based business, right? Well, having a low cost home based business is nice because you can keep yourself away from paying really high overhead fees, and potentially save yourself from investing too much money on a business that wouldn’t even be successful. With a business that doesn’t cost too much to have, you can save the money and use it for a much bigger business idea that you may have. So, having a low cost home based business could really be worth the time and the small amount of money.

Start a freelance writer business

Freelance writing is basically where you provide content for others on their websites and ebooks. Believe it or not, many webmasters don’t even write the content on their sites. In fact, some will simply outsource the content to somebody else and let them do all of the work. Writers can make anywhere from $2 all the way up to $50 for a simple 500 word article depending on your experience and notoriety in the business. So, you shouldn’t expect such a big payday right away. Nonetheless, with freelance writing, you don’t have to pay anything, and all you need to do is find clients. Which is actually very easy to do through sites like Elance, Guru, and plenty of others.

Start selling your old items on eBay

eBay is known for being the number one place online to make an income. With eBay, you can sell literally anything that you may have. You can even sell your old electronics or classic board games. The truth is that people are willing to pay anything for something that they want, and if they want your old item, they’ll keep bidding until it’s theirs.

Start a tutoring business at home

Do you happen to be extremely smart in subjects like Math, History or Science? Maybe you have a teenager who is an expert in those subjects? If there is someone in your home who has gift for these subjects, you should really consider starting a tutoring business from home. What’s nice about a tutoring business is that you can keep getting kids to come to your home and you are still able to make money. The coolest part is that it requires literally no start up cost, except a bit of space in your home for the tutoring to take place.

The three business ideas above are some of the best low cost home based business ideas. Anybody can do them and all it takes is a bit of patience and hard work. Of course, it’s hard to see yourself succeed right away, but it does take time to really become financially free. Even if you don’t want to do the businesses above long term, who says that you have to? Simply make the money that you need and invest that into a bigger business that you may want. So, choose and start making some money. The more you educate yourself on each business, the bigger the chances you have at making more money and succeeding.

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10 Best Home Based Business Ideas

In today’s tough economy more people are trying to setup a business from home. This makes sense as you would have more control over the hours, the growth of the business, and best of all, no one can fire you! Below is my list of the 10 best home based business ideas.10. TutoringIf you have a degree, skill, or experience that others could benefit from, tutoring could be right for you. We often think about tutoring only children or teenagers, but adults and especially the retired are looking to improve their skills. Many retired people are looking to learn more about how to use their computers and the Internet. If you can play a musical instrument you can teach the basics to anyone! You don’t need to be a “rock star” to teach beginners. As your reputation increases, so will your business.9. Cloth DiapersMany moms (and dads) these days going with cloth diapers instead of disposables to help save the environment and money. If you can sew a diaper with your sewing machine, then creating and selling cloth diapers could be a rewarding business.8. Selling art/craft/jewelry onlineAre you the creative type? Put that skill to use and sell your goods online! You don’t have to be Vincent Van Gogh for people to be willing to buy your art work. Take a look at eBay and etsy to see the wide variety artwork, crafts and jewelry people just like you are making money with.7. Home Daycare CenterDo you love being with and helping children? In these hard economic times many families need both parents working and therefore help with the daily care of their children. While licensing is required in most communities, it is not as difficult as you might think to set up a home daycare center.6. CateringIf you find your family and friends love your cooking and you have a wide variety of dishes you can prepare, a catering business may be for you. Many websites are available with step by step courses on launching a catering business. Keep in mind that you may encounter some customers who are rude or demanding, so you’ll want to be well prepared to handle these situations should they come up.5. HandymanHave you got some household fix-it skills? With good advertising, and competitive pricing you can make a decent income helping home owners fix up their homes. There are many books and instructions available on the internet that illustrate how to perform such tasks as soldering, drywall work, shelving, light plumbing and electrical, laminate flooring and more. Take jobs you know you can complete well to build a good reputation.The remaining list of 10 best home based business ideas are for those comfortable working on a computer.4. Freelance writingFreelance writing is essentially being able to write intelligently on a broad set of subjects or specialize on a select few that you are very familiar with. You could write on the local arts and entertainment, travel, or create e-books or how-to books on technical subjects. To gain experience start with shorter pieces and work up to larger ones as writing skills increase.3. OutsourceWith the maturity of the internet, thousands of people now work independently for companies looking to outsource projects to people with skills in writing, computer programming, graphic design, web design, research and more. Sites like Elance let you set up a profile of your skills and then submit proposals on job postings from companies who need the work completed.2. Web DesignWeb design is a very creative endeavour but requires some knowledge of the technologies involved in building web sites. Assuming you have in interest in this, you’ll need to understand HTML, CSS, web design tools such as Dreamweaver and Javascript and backend tools such as PHP and MySQL. If you’d rather focus on the look and feel of your web designs, you can always outsource the technical work.1. Internet MarketingLast, but not least, no matter what business you are in, internet marketing will be necessary to drive potential customers to your site. Internet Marketing has become very popular as the training is not difficult to learn and the only equipment you need is a computer connected to the internet. There are several opportunities available that provide excellent training and income potential with little initial investment.For any of these 10 best home based business ideas to succeed good marketing will be essential to getting your product or service in front of potential customers.

How to Start a Home Base Business?

Millions of people, all over the country, dream of starting their own business from home, but this process is a long and trying one, and there is no guarantee that it will work out at the end of the day. So, where to begin learning about how to start a home base business? You begin by determining what kind of skills you have that would enable you to make profits from them. Do you have special qualifications such as accounting certifications, or do you simply want to sell products online? Do you want to become a freelance writer, or would you like to make a living visiting patients as a physiotherapist? Once you have determined what it is you are going to do, you can then move on to the finer points of starting a home based business.Researching your New BusinessBefore you can quit your job and begin working from home, you will need to make sure that you know exactly what type of business you will be running and what you will need to do to run it properly. You can start out with the location of the business; is it a viable option to run the business from home? Do you have enough space to set up an office and will you need to accommodate clients in your home office? If there is not enough space within your home, you might want to consider hiring a separate office that will meet all of your business-related needs.The next factor that you will need to consider is what you are going to be selling. Selling services, instead of products, means that you will not need storage space, and you might not need to invest a lot of capital into the startup.Saving the Capital to start your own BusinessStarting your own business from home can be a very exciting prospect, but you should not convince yourself that you will be making tons of money within the first few days; in fact, it might take up to six months to be able to support yourself on the profits of a new business, and you will need to make sure that you have enough capital to get through the leaner months. During the first six months, you will not only need to have enough capital to pay your personal bills; you will also need enough capital to run your business during this time, and this will take some planning.Advertising and Expanding your BusinessIt is important not to get over excited once your business starts bringing in profits, especially when you begin thinking about advertising and expanding your business. Many startup businesses fail because they spend too much, too quickly on expanding and advertising their business. Although these are integral aspects to consider, especially if you want to grow your business and increase your profits, but you need to make sure that you take a sufficient amount of time to determine whether it is the right time to widen the marketing budget and expand only when your company is ready to take on the extra expense of this process.Learning how to start a home base business is not difficult; you simply need to be prepared for the task ahead, and this comes with a lot of research, sufficient capital and the dedication to work long and hard to make your dreams come true.

Eight Tips For Your Home Based Business

You have finally decided to have your very own home-based business and the reason can be of a variety of types e.g. you want to be financially independent, you want to be your own boss, you want to have your own flexible schedule, and if the luck is your best friend, retire as a multimillionaire around the age of 40. However, the question is which home-based business to start.Choosing the best business is always a difficult practice for any new businessman. There are many people who wanted to start their very own home-based business but couldn’t start it just because they couldn’t decide on which type of business to start.In this article, I will provide you with eight tips for choosing the right home-based business for yourself.1. Don’t start off with any business you know, you should research for it, read books, magazines, articles or search the net. Information is very easy to find these days.2. Analyze, which is the right type of home-based business, which suits you. For this you will have to determine your wants, capabilities, interests, and goals. This is necessary because you must enjoy your home-based business. A successful businessman always eels passionate about what he is doing same as if you won’t like your business you won’t be passionate about it.3. One more thing you should have in your mind is that you should choose a business that satisfies you personally as well as is profitable. As if you want to start a business of selling up a product be sure it is in need of the market or will it bring enough income or is this product sale long lasting, etc.4. When you will be starting your home-based business you may not have the luxury of having people working under you. Therefore, when starting of your business you will have to do different things like track expenses, collect receivables, call customers and hundreds of other tasks.5. Also check with your insurance agent which kind of insurance covers the need of your business. Insurance is necessary to minimize your risks and to protect your business. General Categories of insurance contain licensing, disability, health, liability, worker compensation, life insurance, and property.6. Make sure whatever home-based business you are planning to start is under the law and ordinance of your area as you don’t want to be caught doing anything illegal.7. You should also select a home-based business that suits your living style or is compatible with your family. For example, business like real estate would mostly have your time out of your house, which can be sometimes very irritating for your family.8. Choose such a home-based business in which you could engage your family members also because it’s everyone dream of merging home and office, it is not easy, but you can still try by involving your family into your business. The most important thing is that everyone in your family should enjoy working in your home-based business.

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What Are The Benefits From A Home Based Business?

Job security is a thing of the past, in this fast and furious world that we find ourselves in. Keeping up the pace at which we work is a challenge, and the pressure to succeed escalates daily. We feel out of control, working 50, 60 or more hours per week. Meeting deadlines, long hours, daily travel, which for some can be extensive, competition even angry bosses can all be ‘in a day’s work’! And that’s while you have a job. But for how long? Jobs aren’t easy to come by, and they are also not as easy to keep. Gone are the days when you had the same job until retirement. Now is the time to be looking for different directions and careers. Now is the time to take matters into your own hands, and work for yourself.Home based businesses are great. If you choose wisely, and have good management and leadership, you can have huge amounts of success, and working for yourself instead of a boss is very rewarding.Here are eight exciting benefits to owning a home based business.
Low overhead costs
No boss, no employees
You get back control of your life
You work when and where you want
You decide how much you earn, not your boss
Personal growth
More opportunity
Freedom
Even if you need to continue working at your current job, there is no reason why you can’t run a home business part-time, and the best part is, it can be earning a second income for you. Plenty of people started their home business as a part-time option, and have now resigned their jobs and work from home full-time, and enjoying enormous success. It’s very possible.So what do you look for in a home business:
Low set up costs
Strong company with integrity
Full training and support
Solid compensation plan
Residual income
Keep these five basic components in mind when looking for your business concept. They cover the most important factors you require when looking for a good business, and there are plenty to choose from. In fact, working from home is becoming the business model of the future. It’s an ideal source of income for anyone. That’s right. Anyone can run a home business, and with the right training and a desire to succeed, they will make a good income from it. If you choose a business with a compensation plan that includes residual income, the opportunities are even greater. Residual income is becoming more popular than superannuation.The 21st century is the age of technology, and we have the ability to profit from this great era in which we live and work. We should be making the most of every opportunity, and taking control of life, future, and financial situations. Making the decision to own a home based business is strong positive step toward a very successful future and lifestyle.

How to Organize a Small Business Start Up

A small business start up marks the beginning of the business which is categorized in small business. A small business can be corporation, partnership or a proprietor owned with a small amount of manpower and funding. In America, a small business start up comprises of less than 100 employees, whereas in UK it has less than 50 workers. In countries like Australia, a small business start up begins with 1-19 employees. A small business start up is identified by its small investment, small turnover and profit and less manpower.The smallest business start up can begin at home which are termed by the World Bank as Micro-businesses. They usually have manpower of less than 10 employees. Higher versions of small businesses can be general stores, lawyer practice, clinics, private agents, restaurants, free-lance writers and small-scale manufacturing industries.Advantage of a small business is that it requires less investment. The working hours of such a venture is also less and requires smaller work area. They have a closer relationship with their customers and clients. They are highly independent and flexible to the changing market. Disadvantage of such a small business start up is the high risk of bankruptcy. In absence of strong financial back-up, the business may go into heavy losses, resulting in legal action against the proprietor in case of loan taken.A small business start up should follow the below mentioned methods for grater success:Formulating a business plan:For any small business start up, a well defined plan is a must. The final objective of the business should be precise and clear. The requirements should be formulated and the money to be invested should be prudently calculated. Almost equal amount of money invested should be available for back up in case of heavy losses incurred. The amount of man power required and their required qualification and skills should be decided.Implementation of the Plan:The business plans made initially should be implemented and all objectives set should be achieved. Financially, loans should be taken if self financing is not possible. Most of the banks provide loans for businesses. It is easier to obtain loans for partnership ventures. After the principle amount is obtained, the hiring of man power is done. This is followed by purchasing of all commodities needed for the business to start. The small business start up can now function fully.Getting customers and Marketing:Getting the right customers is the key to success for all small business start ups. Doing a small research on the market trends and customer needs helps in changing the business strategy for higher profits. Marketing the product of business to the target customers is optional, depending on the type of product. Marketing for a small business start up can be restricted to pamphlets, news papers, and small hoardings.Expansion of business:Upon attainment of the set objectives, the small business can increase its investments, manpower and productivity. This can be achieved if the small businesses start up earned considerable profit. This can expand the boundaries of the business and reach to a larger group of customers to increase the profit margin.

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Finding the Best Home Bases Business For You

Home bases businesses are as varied as their are people working them and they range from excellent business opportunities to real rip offs that have as their only intent of making the originator rich. So, with all the options and all of the pitfalls out there how do you decide which one will work for you, your situation and your family? How do you decide which one is the one that will allow you to make money and have fun while you do it? Here are some tips that might help in making your decision.

First, home based businesses are a valid work/business option for the average American family that can’t afford to begin a business the old fashioned way. The cost of beginning a business the traditional way can cost thousands or even millions in start up money while starting a home based business can be very reasonable ranging from a few dollars to a few hundred dollars.

To begin your process of determining your best home based business options start by getting a pad and pen and begin to write down things about which you are passionate. What are your hobbies, what are the things you like to do, what are the things that you are now invested in with your money, time and resources, what are the things you like to talk about the most? When you have your list completed begin to prioritize them. These are going to be a basis for deciding what you want to do for a home based business.

There are a lot of different ways to make money from home. You can work for your current or previous employer on a contract or consulting basis which is generally called “telecommuting” or you can find a business that you own and run that pays you for some kind of activity. Basically in most businesses you trade time for money. In a home based business you can find positions that will trade time for money or you can find businesses that give you money for your results. Some examples of home based businesses are Affiliate Marketing Businesses, Direct Sales Businesses, Multi Level Marketing Businesses, Network Marketing Businesses and Webstore businesses. Each of these have different values and benefits as well as start up costs and ongoing operational costs.

You can go to a seminar to find out how to set up a website and start an affiliate marketing business where you have your own website and drive traffic through your site to some other site and when the customer buys something from that site you get paid a commission. People often end up spending several thousands of dollars for this approach but it can be very lucrative. Direct sales businesses generally have a product that you are responsible for selling to your friends, neighbors and through website traffic. The entry point in this business varies from product line and company to other product lines and companies. As you can see each business model is different and has a different cost associated with it.

After you have created your passion/interest lists and you now know the types of home based business models you need to know why you want to develop a home bases business. It might be to eliminate debt, to pay for a child’s education, to be able to survive the current economic downturn or any number of other reasons but regardless of your reason why, you must know your why. It will keep you going when times are hard and you are not getting the results you want or need.

When I went through this process I found that my wife and I found that we needed and wanted to pay off our credit card debt and to pay off our house. We wanted to be able to continue to fund our daughter’s college education, we want to travel and we want to provide for our financial future. We found that among our passions was shopping and saving. I love to negotiate and she loves the result of my negotiating. We know about coupons, discount shopping sites and all of the ways to get money back when you shop.

When we evaluated all of the options we found a program that helped us to save money when we shop and helps us make money. With this program we were able to make money without having to recruit others (which many home based business models are based on), there was a product that had intrinsic value and the entry point was very low. Basically it met all of our interests and requirements and the return on our investment of time and money could be substantial. The company had a complete, easy to follow marketing plan and there was a proven track record that the program could work when you worked it the right way.

The internet is among your best resources for researching home based business opportunities but don’t be fooled because there are a few people out there that have something bad to say about a person involved in the business or the organization itself. Everyone is going to make some enemies along the way. Ask the person to whom you speak for references. Ask for people that have done the business for a while and have been successful. Ask for someone that is just starting out and ask them why they choose this business model. Review the pay plan. Can you make money with it? Does it reward you for the things you are good at doing and want to do? If you hate sales and you are going to have to do a lot of sales this is probably not the business for you. If it’s mainly data input or sitting in front of a computer all day and you are a people person this is likely not the business for you. But, once you have found the one that fits your interests, your passion and you know your why you are in a position to be very successful with a home based business.

The Finer Points of Internet Auctions

WHAT IS A PENNY AUCTION?

Penny auctions have exploded in popularity with the massive growth of the internet. However, few people know the true origins of penny auctions.Beginnings actually stretch back to the Great Depression. Those were hard times for everyone, but even harder for farmers. Farmers struggled to bring in steady income because of droughts and crops not selling as well as they had previously. As a result, the banks would foreclose on the farmers who couldn’t keep up with their mortgage payments.

The banks weren’t satisfied with just repossessing the house, they wanted to raise as much capital as possible, so they resorted to selling off the possessions of the owners of the repossessed houses. There was not much the farmers could do about it so they began bidding ridiculously low prices, pennies, on the items while threatening others who dared to bid higher than a few pennies.

The auctions of today hardly resemble their tremulous beginnings. Being part of a penny auction today is exhilarating, fun, and addictive. It combines the selling format of auctioning with a little bit of chance factored in.Auctions are a game of strategy but also a game of luck.

The premise behind penny auctions is giving people the chance to win an item at a drastically reduced price.Auctions make that possible by spreading out the cost of the product among multiple bidders. In order for a person to take part in an auction, they must pay a set price for each bid. For example, if a person wanted to bid on a fifty dollar Amazon gift card then he would spend a dollar for each time a bid placed. If he ended up winning the gift card, then he would only have spent a few dollars for a fifty dollar gift card. Usually penny auctions sell bids in packages.

HOW PENNY AUCTIONS WORK!

The main foundation of penny auctions is the pay-per-bid format. It is the key that allows bidders to win items at the fraction of their retail value and allows the auction owners to keep their site profitable. Most y auction sites run on the same premise: people pay a set amount for each bid, whenever a person places a bid within the closing seconds of the auction time will be added, the last person left with a unique bid after the clocks runs out will win the item. There are a large variety of items that can be won, but they tend to be popular electronics or gift cards to popular stores.

There are two types of auctions: lowest unique bid auction and highest unique bid auction. Lowest unique auction sounds confusing but it is actually quite simple. A unique bid is when only one person has a bid at a certain price. Bids usually start at one penny, a bidder can then place a bid at two pennies. Until another bidder places a higher bid, the most recent bidder will be the lowest unique bid because that was the only bid at two cents and nobody bid higher. However, penny auctions generally don’t stop at one penny. It is not uncommon to find auctions that end up at a couple hundred dollars based on the popularity of the item being auctioned. However, the same principles apply for those auctions. Highest unique bid auctions follow the more traditional auction format such as eBay. The person with the highest bid at the end of the auction wins the item.

Auction site owners turn a profit by selling bids. Say twenty people are bidding on a ten dollar gift card at one dollar per bid, at the end of the auction if there were twenty bids placed in total then the site owner would have made twenty dollars with a ten dollar profit.Auctions do seem like a win-win situation:The site owner makes money while the bidder gets an item for dirt cheap. However, not everyone wins in penny auctions. The people who paid one dollar each bid but left with nothing to show for their investments will not be so happy.

HOW TO WIN!

Penny auction has a lot of chance mixed into it, but one can incorporate strategy that will help raise the chances of winning. Playing smart can make all the difference between gambling and auctioning.

The first crucial tip to winning penny auctions is to know how to manage your bids. Your goal should be to win as much as possible without spending a ton of money buying bids. Managing your bids means that you should already know how much you are willing to risk in order to win an item. The amount of capital you are willing to risk will determine how many bids you can use. Once you know how many bids you have to spend on an item, then you will be better able to manage how and when you place a bid. That will keep you from blowing away all of your bids in the first few seconds of the auction.

The next tip is to practice time management. When fighting in the trenches of penny auctions, you have two enemies: other bidders and time. Knowing when to bid is a must if you want to have success. Placing a bid when there is a lot of time left on the clock is never a good idea. You have to remember that the key to winning a penny auction is being the last one standing when the clock runs out and that each bid increases the amount of time left. It would be a good practice to wait until the last few minutes of the auction before you begin to bid.

The final tip for successful auctioning is to keep your emotions under control.Auctions have a lot of similarities to gambling, and just like gambling, your spending can get out of control. If you keep your emotions level, it will keep you from making rash decisions and blowing loads of cash. Keep your mind clear so that you can gage the behavior of the other bidders and outsmart them.

HOW TO AVOID SCAM SITES!

Penny auctions are a great addition to the web whether you want to win an item that otherwise you wouldn’t be able to afford or if you simply enjoy the thrill that comes with bidding in auctions. Unfortunately, scam sites have tarnished the reputation of the legitimate penny auction sites. However, there are ways that you can protect yourself from scamers and enjoy your auctioning without having to worry about losing your money due to dishonesty.

Checking the reputation of the auction site before you start spending your hard earned money is always a good idea. Chances are other people have tried the site before you and some of them have left reviews. The reviews are your way to gage whether a auction site is trustworthy or not. If a site is getting overwhelmingly negative reviews, then that is a clear indication that you should steer your business elsewhere.

Another tool you can use to protect yourself is checking the Alexia ranks of the auction sites. Alexia rank will give a solid view of how much traffic the auction is getting. If you see a huge difference in the amount of traffic Alexia is projecting and the amount of active bidders on the site, then warning signals should be ringing in your head. Some auction sites have been known to set up robots that automatically bid on projects in order to keep the auction going and inflate the price. That is known as shill bidding. You can sniff out those sites by comparing the traffic the site should be getting to the amount of users using this site.

CONCLUSION!

New legislation may come out later down the road that will officially make penny auctions gambling, but until then, it is a fun, exciting auction that allows one to win the item they’ve always wanted but couldn’t afford.Auctions are also quite lucrative for the site owners because of the pay-per-bid strategy they’ve incorporated. Penny auctions had humble beginnings with farmers who just wanted to get back at the banks who kicked them out of their house. More recently, auctions have enjoyed an explosion in popularity with the rise of the internet.

There are two main formats fora auctions, lowest and highest unique auction, however they both run on the same premise where the last unique bid wins the item. Winning a penny auction will require a certain amount of mental tactic and a bit of luck. However, you can increase your odds of winning by practicing certain techniques such as managing your bids wisely, learning how to work with the time, and keeping a level head and your emotions under control. When you combine those three strategies to your bidding plan, you will find that you win a lot more often.

It is important that you do your due diligence to protect yourself when participating in auctions. Not every auction is run by honest and trustworthy people. There are people out there who just want to take your money. You can protect yourself by ensuring that you only bid on sites that already have a very positive reputation from real users.

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How to Find Great Live Auctions for Resale Items

Hi, my name is Walt. I’m an auctioneer with 25 years of experience in the auction business and licensed in the state of MA. I own Quick Auction Service, a company that specializes in building and running custom auctions, I’m also the webmaster of my own site and have been on eBay for 8 years. Besides eBay, the types of auctions I run most frequently are antiques and on-site estate auctions, although I’ve run everything from business overstock auctions to charity & special event auctions.

I enjoy sharing my knowledge and stories of the auction business. My goal for article is to help folks get the absolute most out of their auction experience.

Whether your fresh out of the package or a seasoned dealer I think I can offer something in this article to help you with your auciton adventures.

There may be as many reasons to attend auctions as there are types of auctions to attend. Maybe you want to attend an auction to buy items for re-sale on eBay, or some other market. Maybe you want to furnish your home with wonderful antiques, or you want to furnish your home as inexpensively without sacrificing quality.Some folks are just looking for a fun night out. With a little perseverance all these things are possible.

There are antiques and estate auctions, auto auctions, overstock auctions, absolute and no reserve auctions, real estate auctions, specialty auctions where only one genre of items are sold, tailgate auctions, live auctions, online auctions, sealed bid auctions, silent auctions, charity and fund raising auctions and many more.

Can you really buy for pennies on the dollar at an auction? You bet! Many times I’ve seen folks buy and re-sell at the same auction on the same night for a good profit, although be advised, this should only be done after the auction is over.

There are a lot of ways to find an auction, but here are some tips on how to find and attend the best ones.

Visit the genre of shops in the area that apply to the type of auction you want to attend. IE: If your looking for a good antique auction to attend, stop in the local antiques shops and ask for what there are for good auctions in the area. Sounds obvious right? But listen to what they don’t say as well as what they do say. Oftentimes when a dealer speaks poorly about an auction he or she attends, it may be likely that they are trying to keep a good thing secret. Think for a moment, why would a dealer keep attending a lousy auction?

Newspaper ads: I personally like to find ads in the classified ad section rather than flashy display ads. Flashy ads are usually indicative of an auction that will be high priced, may have reserves, (a set price on an item), and usually an enormous crowd. While any auction can be profitable to attend, it is usually best to steer clear of the glitzy ones, at least for the beginner.

Here’s the minimum you want to find out before you go. If there is a phone number in the ad, call and ask for the terms of the sale. What forms of payment do they accept? Is it an absolute auction? An absolute auction is one that has no minimum or reserve bids on items. These are the best auctions to attend! Is there a buyers premium? A buyers premium is like a tax that everyone who makes purchases at that auction must pay above the winning bid price. Most auctions these days do charge a buyers premium, 10% is not unreasonable but I feel much more than that is greedy, and the auctioneer that charges over 10% is counting on most bidders not doing the extra math as the bids quicken in pace.

A fair auction will have ample time to inspect the merchandise, usually at least 2 or 3 hours. Find out when inspection starts and make sure to attend! Never attend an auction if you can’t make the inspection, not unless your prepared to gamble. Most auctioneers sell at a rate of about 100 items per hour, which is why they sell “as is”. They simply don’t have the time to give a detailed description of all the items. Since almost all items at auction are sold AS IS, there are sure to be some damaged, refinished, fake and incomplete items at any given auction. Beware of any auctions that offer very little or no inspection time.

Good auctions will usually have 150 to 400 lots. A lot may be one item or a group of items. The exception to this are specialty auctions, auto auctions, real estate auctions etc.

When you attend your first sale, take note of the 1/2 dozen or so dealers that buy the most often. See if you can find out about other area auctions they attend.

When you do find an excellent auction, attend it as often as possible. By frequenting good sales, you help increase the bottom line of that business. It’s difficult for many auctioneers to keep the quality of merchandise consistent, so good attendance certainly helps. And when an auctioneer gets to know you as a buyer, he/she will go out of the way to accommodate you, to keep you coming back.

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