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By
Steve Laux
DotCom Magazine
If
you are like most people, then you are in the midst of spring
cleaning, going through the garage, house and basement disposing
of those things with more than their share of dust on them.
Your spouse is trying to convince you to throw away your
things because they are taking up space, not realizing the
sentimental value they hold. To simply throw it into the
metal garbage can seems as if you are giving an improper
burial to an old friend.
If
you have to get rid of it, why not do it with dignity. Wouldn't
it make you feel better to pass it along to someone who
really wants it and get paid for it?
GBAYauction.com
can help you do just that. Officially launched in mid-May,
it is a site designed to facilitate the buying and selling
of personal items or excess business inventories online.
As the first auction site to hit Northeast Wisconsin, GBAYauction.com
is hoping to become a modern-day online trading post.
So
how does it work? Once on the site (http://www.GBAYauction.com),
the user can do one of two things; browse the items for
auction or sign up with an account. To browse the items
for sale, one needs only to click on a category of interest.
Once an appealing item is located, a click of a mouse reveals
a photo of the item, the bid history, the highest bid and
the ending date for an auction.
If
a visitor to the site is interested in taking part in the
buying and selling, an account can be set up in minutes
for free. As a seller, a registered user can post items
for sale in an auction environment, at a fixed price in
the eStore or as a classified ad.
Selling
an item in an auction is a simple process of entering specific
information and setting the terms of the auction for that
particular item. After the category, photo and description
are entered, the seller can then set the minimum sale price,
duration of auction, bid increments, starting bid and starting
date.
As
the auction transpires, the seller can view the activity
on the items they have placed up for auction. After the
term of the auction is over and the minimum acceptable bid
amount has been met, both the seller and the individual
with the winning bid will be e-mailed with contact information.
It is then up to the two parties to handle payment and delivery
of the auction item.
Items
may also be sold at a fixed price in the eStores. The seller
enters descriptive information, photo, price and quantity
of product to be sold. The item is then entered into a mall
where online shoppers can search for products by specific
categories. Individual stores can also be created where
the seller can have a unique storefront as well as selling
within the mall. The storefronts are a customized service
offered by the Web design team of GBAYauction.com for a
small fee. When a purchase is made either in the storefront
or mall, the seller is notified by e-mail and in turn handles
the payment and delivery of product.
The
third option for a seller is to place a classified ad on
the site. The process works the same as the other selling
options in terms of uploading and completing the transaction.
To
sell an item in the auction, the seller pays a listing fee
ranging from 25 cents to $1, depending on price, for items
up to one thousand dollars in value. The seller pays a transaction
fee ranging from 1.5 percent to 4.5 percent when an item
sells. With the classified listings, the seller pays a straight
fee ranging from $4 to $10 with no transaction fees.
Signing
up for an account also enables the user to take part in
the bidding for auction items. Once a desired item is located,
the prospective bidder can view the item with its description
as well as the bidding activity. Bids can be placed in two
ways. First, a standard bid can be entered much like a normal
auction. The second option enables an outbid amount to be
set. This function will automatically place a bid on your
behalf, topping any higher bid placed on an item you are
interested in. Limits can be set as to the bid amount desired.
Parting
with everything is such
sweet sorrow when you are
spring cleaning, but with
GBAYauction.com you could
at least end up with some
extra cash to ease your
pain.
Then again, you could use
that extra cash to buy
something you really want
from GBAYauction.com.
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