The Social Demise of Auctions
October 13th, 2008 | by admin |As the auction world has been separating itself from eBay and building fortresses on alternative eBay sites the word “business” seems to be lost. In many cases the marketing and money aspect of doing business online in this fashion has been replaced with the word “social”. Though I don’t disagree there should be some attempt in making a website somewhat social, I do believe that social removes true business. In many cases alternative auction sites have a forum, chat, games, challenges, and all the other things to bring in sellers and buyers. What really happens is you develop a club and occasional buying between friends.
When you join an auction site your primary goals should be to make money, make your name known, develop good business skills, and if there is time at the end of the day you may be a little social. Most auction sites focus solely on the exact opposite. In many cases auction sites are not successful because people are chatting and not listing, or posting cute pictures instead of redefining their business strategy. There are so many lost hours in the auction industry that it’s no wonder why most sites can’t get off the ground.
Advice to a person wishing to make money online in this atmosphere is to focus on auction descriptions, listing great items, and then marketing themselves. Being social should truly be the last thing someone should be focusing on. I personally have seen drama take center stage instead of selling products. So as an auction community what needs to be done? How can we teach people that eBay had it right by limiting their social aspect? Unfortunately they are joining in on the social aspect a lot more and you see more people writing posts in the forum or hanging out in their groups instead of pushing the GNP through the site. While watching people that have stopped selling and buying on the giant I have witnessed them to come back and just use the social side of the bay.
Finding a way to put the business spirit into a person is a difficult process. Seemingly, most people put fun time way ahead of making extra money. Getting people focused on success is something that really needs to have an emphasis. In hard times we all know money isn’t flowing but there are still people wanting to buy. People don’t come to an auction site because of numbers; they come because there are products they want. So as sellers trying to make it in this area of online business we need to really focus and make something of the tools we have.
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