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The giants of the world of online auction sites seem to be everywhere – even to the point of becoming icons of modern internet culture. eBay is certainly the first online auction site that comes to mind – with overall transactions totaling no less than $2,000 for every second throughout the year of 2009. Followed by eBay are other famous sites such as WebStore, eBid and OnlineAuction. These are the go-to sites for millions of people world wide – eBay alone says it has 90 million active users.
But they are not the only active online auction sites and many people can be better served by niche sites that cater to specific tastes and products or by online auction sites that seek to serve smaller markets that eBay and the others ignore. For example, if eBay had a reported trade total of $60 billion in 2009 – and that is more than the gross domestic product of many small countries – the company can feel comfortable in over looking a series of smaller markets that they may see as too problematic to face the effort of serving. This, fortunately for both buyers and sellers, leaves a wide array of opportunities for niche sites.
eBay, OZtion, Overstock and other common global online auction sites often shun smaller countries such as many in Asia, Africa and eastern and central Europe. They also often avoid some niche products and that can leave opportunity for those aiming to create online auction sites. For many people, the smaller online auction sites can be the best place to turn. You can get precisely what you want, and you can get it from sellers who are specialized in the region you are in or specialized in the type of product you are seeking to either buy or sell.
The smaller online auction sites, however, often seem to suffer from a lack of perceived credibility. This occasional mistrust, though, is not warranted most of the time. Many of the smaller sites use the exact same payment methods as the larger online auction giants, they use the same safety and encryption software and are every bit as certified as some of their big brothers with famous names.
One of the basic problems often encountered with the smaller online auction sites is that they simply don’t have a professional feel to them. The interface just some how looks clumsy, the payment methods are often restrictive and clumsy, and the communications applications used to maintain privacy often simply fail to inspire trust in either the buyer or the seller.
Several of the smaller sites that are catering to niche markets and those not served by eBay and the others, though, are seeking to counter that. In a truly globalized world, after all, there should be sites and businesses that cater to and specialize in areas that are not served by the mass sites.
More and more these days, there are niche sites that specialize, for example, in only iPhones, or nothing but Nikon digital cameras, or jewelry, cars, boats, government-related auctions, real estate, coin collection and hundreds of other subjects. What better place to start, say, your stamp collecting hobby than an online auction site that specializes in stamp collecting? At many of these sites, you will also find forums and feed back related specifically to stamp collecting. It can be an education in itself just browsing through the offers and the comments.
The same opportunity exists even when speaking geographically. Many of the regions and countries not adequately served by eBay are fertile ground for numerous specialized auction sites. In these areas, potential buyers and sellers can find – or create – niche sites that cater to a specific language that is not one of the top few, they can provide payment options that are not often covered in some of the larger sites, and they can cater to the income and particular needs of the residents of that specific region.
It is possible (and necessary) to aim at the local market, but at the same time offer the world-class service and security (for example integrated payment gateway [http://www.locusto.com/podrska/index.php?act=article&code=view&id=23] for accepting credit cards and SSL connection). A good example is Croatian auction site Locusto Aukcije.
So, when you are looking for an online auction sites, it is best not to simply default to the larger sites that everybody is familiar with. Are your online auction needs – whether you are a buyer or a seller – specific or general? Do you live in one of the many countries that are shunned by the major leagues in terms of online auction sites? Are payment options such as PayPal restricted in your country of region? If so, you can seek out a more suitable online auction site that accommodates your specific needs. You know your needs and desires, so the answer is most likely a simple internet search away.
If you are looking to start an online auction site, you probably are not aiming to compete with eBay, WebStore and others from the start. That is a tough road that will guarantee frustration from the start. So, look at the peculiarities and individual aspects of your interests and try to figure out from there how those interests could best be served – both for you and for others.
It does not take a lot of customers to make an online auction site useful or viable. In fact, just a hand full of regular customers can make it worth the time and effort. And, depending on the product or service that is bought and sold in online auctions, it can be a very profitable venture. It is hard to beat the likes of eBay on its home ground – general auctions. But you can specialize in niches and do it a lot better than the giants of online auctions.
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