How to Market with Niche Auction Sites

Online auctions are big business. But they can be big headaches.

During past year, trading in online commerce was valued at $60 billion, according to "Business Standard.” Online trade among small businesses makes up 1 per cent of USA's GDP (Gross Domestic Product) and is expected to reach 10 per cent or $400 billion of USA's GDP by 2010.

“But setting up and maintaining operations on huge auction sites like Ebay is not always easy,” said Rich Moc, owner of Performance Cars at Pcars.com, a niche automotive auction site. “People can spend a lot of time sifting through cluttered pages of auctions, bidding, setting up accounts and managing multiple, confusing and expensive fees that can take an accountant to figure out. And trying to figure out how to submit a simple email or place a quick call for help can be a pain in neck.”

The solution or pain relief for big auction headaches? Smaller, niche sites with personalized service. For example, Performance Cars offers easier management, one-on-one help and plenty of options to help with automotive solutions and aftermarket selling. Some of their auction tips are:

· Customer Service - When you have an item listed and a potential buyer contacts you with a question, respond quickly. It is important and actually critical to your success to check your email account several times a day. Answering a question could be difference between you getting sale or buyer going someplace else.

· Description - When you list your item(s), write an accurate description. No need to write long paragraphs of rambling information. But do provide exact measurements, colors, condition, etc. Be precise.

What happened?

What is happening in many organizations in these economics times? They invest more money to bring in best products, create great store displays, and bring in best computer systems to manage inventory and process orders. But they invest little time or money making sure that customer has an enjoyable experience at “moment of truth.” Plenty of “high-tech,” not much “high-touch.”

What happened while checking out was that cashier was so indifferent to my existence that I could have been Osama Bin Laden and she still wouldn’t have noticed. No eye contact, bad body language, no interaction with me besides saying “$312.64, credit card or cash?” Have you ever experienced this before?

The Forum Corporation did a survey where they asked people why they stop doing business with a company. Sixty-eight percent said they left because of indifference by organization they were doing business with.

How much money are you losing because of indifference by your employees? Or a better question, how many customers or how much money can you afford to lose in these competitive times? Not one I hope. But it happens everyday.

How do you stop this title wave of customers from leaving your organization? Whether you are a manager, an employee or an owner of an organization that deals with customers (and who doesn’t) in person or over telephone here are three “common-sense” customer service techniques that will grow your customer base: