Note/loan portfolios• Debt collections• Receivables
Your assets don’t go online immediately. Bid4Assets.com tells sellers to allow oneto two days for ‘‘quality assurance review’’ to make sure you are the legitimate ownerof what you plan to sell. You must submit a copy of your proof of ownership to thesite if you offer something that you value at more than $1,000. You are also requiredto provide other information such as appraisals, plat maps, and photographs that willhelp buyers decide whether or not to place a bid.
Financial instruments sell quite well on Bid4Assets.com. The marketplace, at thiswriting, is allowing the sell-through rates on all categories on its site to be publishedon AuctionBytes (http://www.auctionbytes.com). The sell-through rates for the firstweek of October 2005 indicated that all the financial instruments offered on Bid4Assets.com that week were sold. The following other categories had good sell-throughrates, too:
• Apparel & Accessories: 41 percent• Artwork: 35 percent• Coins & Stamps: 63 percent• Computer Equipment: 37 percent•Financial Instruments & IP: 100 percent•Jewelry: 65 percent• Real Estate: 60 percent•
Sports Memorabilia: 100 percent
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••
Timeshares: 59 percentToys & Games: 33 percent
While it’s likely that many of the sales reported here are coming from governmentliquidations and the sale of seized property, they still indicate that buyers who useBid4Assets trust the site and are willing to place bids on a large percentage of theitems offered—something that can’t be said for other auction marketplaces.
Deciding How to Sell: Exploring New Sales Techniques
There are many different auction formats on eBay. And, at this writing, it recentlypurchased the Internet telephony company Skype, a purchase that carries with itthe promise of real-time voice communications between eBay members. But its LiveAuctions site (the result of a purchase made several years ago) isn’t nearly as popularas the regular auction site. You might be better off turning to specialized auction sitesif you have especially valuable jewelry to sell, or if you have a valuable and unusualobject that is visually interesting and a video presentation would be far better thantaking ten to fifteen separate photos of the object. You can find these and otheroffbeat ways of connecting with prospective buyers on specialized auction sites.
Three-Minute Live Auction Excitement: Bidz.comThe Live Auctions area of eBay does get some visitors, but it certainly isn’t the mostuser-friendly part of eBay’s universe site—especially for people who have somethingto sell and who aren’t already in the trade. You have to be a licensed dealer to putanything up for auction; if you aren’t, you need to consign your item to a registereddealer. The dealer will sell in large quantities called lots, and the bidding goes by atlightning speed.
Bidz.com (http://www.bidz.com) takes the live auction concept to a new leveland makes it accessible to individuals like you and me who aren’t necessarily dealersin antiques and collectibles. One idea behind the site is simple: Many people don’tlike to bid on online auctions until the last minute anyway. Why not hold the sale ona last-minute basis so bidders don’t have up to a week or more for that ‘‘last minute’’to come and the sale to end? When you connect to the site’s home page, you aregreeted by a group of sales that are going to end in the next few minutes—and becausethe site is configured in such a way that it refreshes your Web browser contents, youcan see the time for the sale tick down, second by second.
You can list items for three to seven days on Bidz. However, one of the most
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intriguing parts of the site is the category called Three-Minute Auctions. Sales lastonly three minutes; however, there’s a big problem. There’s no explanation on thesite as to how individual sellers can put up their items for sale in this particularcategory. The site Epinions.com posts a number of negative comments about the site,such as:
• Comparison prices are listed for each item that supposedly suggest the retail
price, but there’s no way to check that these prices are accurate.
There is no feedback system on the site.
•• Most of the merchandise sold on Bidz.com is of poor quality (at least in the
opinion of the Epinions posters).
• Customer service can be slow to respond, or does not respond at all.
Note: The website Bidz.com charges flat fees for conducting sales. Youare charged $1 for each listing, and if your item sells, you are charged aFinal Value Fee of 10 percent of the final sale price. You should only sellitems on Bidz that you really want to sell, regardless of the price. All salesstart with an opening bid of $1. There are no reserve prices, and no start-ing bids that you can choose yourself.
(cid:3)
Watch Out for Fly-By-Nights
Not all of the sites that exist off eBay are reputable. The site mentioned previously,Bidz.com, has some innovative features, but there are plenty of caution ﬂags aswell. In the course of looking for marketplaces where you sell specialty items, you’rebound to run into lots of sites that seem to be out to get your personal information.One bargain real estate site I visited attempted to get my e-mail address on the veryﬁrst page. I entered a bogus address, and was taken not to a page where real estatewas actually listed, but one that immediately asked for my contact information andmy credit card number before anything else. At that point, I moved elsewhere.
By all means avoid sites that require you to disclose sensitive personal informa-tion right off the bat. You should, at the very least, be able to shop for items on asite without making any commitment beforehand.
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Fishing for Buyers at Reverse Auctions
Several sites promote reverse auctions—sales in which buyers post ads describingitems they want. It’s up to the sellers to respond with offers. If more than one sellerresponds, the buyer is in the happy situation of having prospective suppliers compete.The best-known reverse auction services (at least, the ones that have the highestprofile through advertising) include Priceline.com, which specializes in travel, andLendingTree, which specializes in mortgages and other loans.
If nothing else, browsing through the ads on eWanted.com (http://www.ewanted.com) gives you an idea of what kinds of merchandise are in high demand—demandthat is so high people will go beyond searching auctions and actively put out adsseeking those same items. There’s a chance that you might find someone who isposting an advertisement for something you actually have for sale, of course.
Adding Video to Your Auctions: EZ2Stream.com
If you are willing to pay a $14.99 per month fee, you can use your Webcam andmicrophone to create a video presentation of the items you have for sale. When yousee the example video on the EZ2Stream.com website (http://www.ez2stream.com),you immediately understand the value of including video instead of (or perhaps alongwith) a series of still photos of your items for sale: a set of hands holds the item tobe sold and turns it around before the camera so each side is visible. Immediately,the viewer has a point of reference from which to judge the size of the item, which issomething you don’t always get with still photos. As a seller, you are also able todisplay all sides of the item in a matter of seconds. Rather than having to take six oreight photos and post them online, you post a single video file. By including video,you make yourself stand out from the crowd and show buyers that you are willing togo through some extra expense and effort to include video of what you have to sell.
In this chapter, you learned about some innovative ways to sell your items thatbecome available to you when you look around the Internet for new places to sell.It’s all about making profits, and profits are maximized when the merchandise youhave to offer is of especially high value. You’ll learn the ins and outs of selling largeand high-value equipment and other items in Chapter 8.
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Selling Off High-Value Assetsand Equipment
Like eBay, most other online auction sites work best when you have something smallto sell. Golfballs are the classic example. Websites like Golfballs.com thrive becausetheir product is relatively inexpensive, easy to ship, and comes in many varieties.
What do you when the merchandise you have to sell fits none of those categories?In other words, you have a large and expensive item you need to sell, and you areunable to reach buyers through traditional outlets such as the local paper. You knowthere is a market for that thresher, bulldozer, or boat somewhere in the world, butyou’re not sure how to get your item before the people who need it.
Although eBay allows you to sell vehicles and heavy machinery such as farm andconstruction equipment, imagine the selling fees on an item that is worth, say$22,000. (You don’t have to imagine; for vehicles, the fees typically range from $60to $80; for business and industrial equipment, the insertion fee is $20 and the FinalValue Fee is 1 percent of the closing value, with a maximum fee of $250. Not onlythat, but your buyers then have to either pick the item up in person or possibly payhundreds of dollars to have it shipped.) Other auction sites specialize in sales ofheavy equipment; they have lower fees, attract specialized buyers, and will even helpwith the process of listing and shipping. You just have to make sure you prepare whatyou have for sale and that you present it in a way that prospective buyers will findattractive.
What You Need to Know About Selling Heavy Equipment
The bigger the item, the bigger the problem when something isn’t described correctlyor the buyer is dissatisfied in some way. It is one thing to have a customer return apiece of clothing in the mail because it doesn’t fit. It is quite another when you ship
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a two-ton vehicle and the buyer decides not to accept it for some reason. You needto make sure everything works properly the first time.
InspectionsYou should get the vehicle or other piece of equipment inspected before you sell it,and you should have the inspection report available for people to read online. A sitelike IronPlanet (http://www.ironplanet.com) has trained inspectors who will evaluateyour equipment onsite and add their report to your listing. The U.S. General ServicesAdministration also provides an inspection form through its website (http://w3.gsa.gov/web/c/newform.nsf/0/12DEA1036CFF1C7085256521004BAEA1? OpenDocu-ment).
Tip: If you manage a ﬂeet of vehicles and expect to sell them onlineat some point, consider using the Vehicle Record System or FleetVehicle Record System to track their maintenance history. Havingsuch records available to sellers (not to mention the IRS) will comein handy. Find out more about these products on the K-Jon SoftwareLLC site (http://www.kjon.com).
PhotosThe bigger the item, the more photos you need to take. If you take photos of twosides of a vehicle, people are going to ask you for photos of the remaining two sidesso they can assure themselves that dents and other flaws aren’t being concealed. Youmight want to include links to photos of the same model in new condition, to allowcomparison.
When you create a Premium Ad on the Point2UsedIron website, you have theability to list as many as eight photos of your equipment. The photos are presentedin thumbnail format, as shown in Figure 8-1. Click on a thumbnail, and a full-sizeimage appears on the right.
A related site, Point2Homes (http://www.point2homes.com, shown in Figure 8-2), offers real estate for sale. Roger Noujeim of the parent company, Point2Technolo-gies, says the site is growing rapidly with some five hundred new listings added every-day. ‘‘It displays listings from thirty-seven countries and is the world’s first unifiedreal estate search site that is fully controlled by real estate agents.’’
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Figure 8-1. Be sure to include multiple photos of your heavy equipment for sale.
(cid:2) Roger Noujeim, Point2UsedIron.
Tax AdvantagesIf you are selling off business equipment for a capital gain, your transaction mayqualify as a tax-free exchange. This type of transaction is provided for in U.S. InternalRevenue Code section 1031. A tax-free exchange allows you to defer the federalincome tax you owe after the sale of a piece of equipment if the money made by thesale is being used to purchase a replacement property. In order to qualify for a tax-free exchange, you must use a qualified intermediary, purchase the replacement assetwithin a certain amount of time, and the new asset must be of ‘‘like kind’’ to the assetthat was sold. Check with your accountant if you have one.
Another first-class site for information about exchanges is the Federation of Ex-
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Figure 8-2. This site is becoming increasingly popular for buying and selling real estate in Canadaand the United States.
(cid:2) Point2 Realty Solutions.
change Accommodators (http://www.1031.org). This site provides a listing of quali-fied intermediaries, essentially the people who hold the money until the transactionis completed, and breaks down the different kinds of tax-free exchanges in a clearand simple manner.
The TitleSome sites, like IronPlanet, will hold the title for you when you agree to have themsell it on consignment. You will need to either sign the title and send it to the sitebefore the auction or send the unsigned title with a notarized power of attorney form.The form will authorize the auction site to sign the form for you after the sale, and itwill only apply to one piece of equipment at a time. Unless you have a compellingreason to choose the power of attorney form, it’s faster and simpler to sign the titleand send it by insured mail. Talk to your local IronPlanet representative for advice if
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you’re not sure what to do. Go to the Sell Your Construction Equipment Quickly andEasily page (http://www.ironplanet.com/sell/how2sell.shtml) and choose your homestate from the drop-down list on the left-hand side of the page.
Note: If you don’t have the title to the vehicle or machinery, you willprobably have to get a manufacturer’s statement of origin (MSO) in orderto sell it online. Also called a manufacturer’s certificate of origin (MCO),this document was originally created to help simplify international tradethat has now become a part of online business. You’ll need to contact themanufacturer to get this document, and since the manufacturer needs toget the certificate from the state, allow plenty of time to acquire yourMSO before putting your equipment up on the listings.
RefurbishingSome businesses that deal in used machinery and lab equipment need to take thetime to refurbish it. Medical equipment can fetch high prices, but only if it is ingood condition. ReadyMedical does this as an eBay Store (http://stores.ebay.com/READY-MEDICAL). This business has employees in its warehouse who take thetime to reupholster and repair equipment so that it is in ‘‘like new’’ condition whensold. This will obviously create a longer interval between the time you list an itemand the day you receive payment, so don’t try to sell well-used goods if you’re in ahurry.
Marketplaces for Vehicles and Heavy Equipment
Sites that specialize in selling construction equipment and other sizeable assets takeinto account the fact that their clients may not be Internet-savvy. These sites oftenprovide customer service representatives who can be reached by toll-free telephonenumbers and who can explain exactly what sellers need to do to create a sales descrip-tion. You know all about sales descriptions—but if a construction company or anindividual gives you a forklift or a boat to sell on consignment, you might not knowhow to handle the title transfer or the shipping, for instance. If that is the case, itmakes sense to choose a marketplace that already has a full set of resources to helpsellers, such as the ones listed next.
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IronPlanetIronPlanet (http://www.ironplanet.com) is the leading auction site for heavy equip-ment in the United States. The site holds two types of sales:
1. Featured (Consignment) Auctions. These auctions are held every two weekswhere equipment is sold from all over the United States. Sellers place their items onconsignment with IronPlanet, which then conducts an inspection at your place ofbusiness and posts the report and photos online two weeks before the auction. Iron-Planet markets the equipment and answers buyer’s questions for you, accepting bidson your behalf. Once the auction is over, the title is transferred, and IronPlanet takesits commission, which can range between 6.4 and 12.5 percent of the final sales price.The buyer arranges for the transportation of the equipment. It’s a good model andit’s been very successful.
2. Owner Auctions. Owners who want to create their own sales listings and dealdirectly with buyers can create their own descriptions. Owner auctions are held on adaily basis.
There are two important differences between owner auctions and featured auc-tions. Owner auctions are held on the seller’s schedule; they can be put up for sale atany time. Featured auctions are held every two weeks. The other difference is thelisting fee: in featured auctions, the owner is not charged a listing fee unless theequipment sells. In owner auctions, the owner is charged a nonrefundable listing fee.For inspected equipment, the listing fee is $500 for a single item and $425 per piecefor multiple items. For uninspected equipment, the listing fee is $75.
IronPlanet has a strong industry presence, allying themselves with some of thelargest construction equipment companies in the world. The site’s representativesalso regularly attend conventions and trade shows, seeking new customers.
There are two key reasons to use IronPlanet as the auction site for your property.The first is the inspection process. IronPlanet sends trained appraisers to you toprepare the report on the equipment, and in fact, you don’t have to move the equip-ment at all during the whole auction process. IronPlanet’s reputation is trusted, andbuyers are comfortable relying on its assessment of the equipment’s condition, soyou will receive the full value for your listing. The second reason is the knowledgeand assistance that IronPlanet provides for the sale itself, helping you navigate thetitle transfer and tax ramifications of each sale with experienced professionals. Youwant to know what you’re doing with expensive merchandise and IronPlanet canhelp.
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Bid4AssetsAs mentioned in Chapter 7, this site can auction just about anything, but it specializesin high-value assets such as real estate, vehicles, and even financial instruments. Fed-eral and local governments uses Bid4Assets to auction off property. It is a truly all-inclusive auction site.
For sellers who have high-value vehicles or other property to sell, Bid4Assetsoffers three different types of sales formats. You’re sure to find a format that fits yourneeds from the following options:
1. Online Auction—This is the traditional type of auction, where the highest bid
wins after the reserve price is met, if there is a reserve price.
2. BuyNow Auction—Just as on eBay, if the buyer pays the BuyNow price, theauction ends immediately, but if a bid is placed first, the option to BuyNowdisappears.
3. Sealed Bid Auction—An auction where buyers submit sealed bids to the sellerfor review. The seller reserves the right to accept or reject bids based on hisor her own criteria.
If you’re not sure what your item is worth, it makes sense to offer it in the tradi-tional online auction format. If you are definite about the price you need to get forthe item and don’t want to let it go for a lower amount, choose the BuyNow auctionformat. If you want control over who makes a purchase, choose the Sealed Bid auc-tion (but be prepared to receive fewer bids because of the secrecy involved).
Because the assets sold on this site are often expensive, there are higher fees to
purchase Bid4Assets’s premium services. Consider the following services:
•
•
•
Featured Auction—Your listing appears on the homepage along with other auc-tion listings throughout the day: $150 per weekSpecial Opportunity—Your auction is listed in the Special Opportunity columnon the right side of the homepage: $400 per weekFeatured Auction/Live on the Auction Block—Your auctions are featured promi-nently in the appropriate category of the website: $50 to $150 per week
There are also two package deals that include two or three of these ads togetherat a reduced rate. Because of the expensive fees, you should be certain that youritem’s value merits this much attention, but don’t be too cautious. Spending a littleto market your item could set up that bidding war you’ve always wanted.
Because of its partnership with government agencies, Bid4Assets serves a commu-
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nity of serious buyers. Typically, you’ll find that many of the businesses that sell onBid4Assets also buy there, such as Neimans Jewelry. Private collectors and investorsof every kind come to the site, so you can trust that your item will be noticed here.Giving high-value items good exposure is why Bid4Assets is worth the higher-than-average fee structure (8 to 10 percent of the sale price) and worth investing time andenergy in the description and maintenance of the item.
TraderOnline.comTraderOnline.com (http://www.traderonline.com) is a collection of twenty websitesthat offer vehicles and equipment classified ads. These sites see millions of visitorsevery week, so this is a very high-exposure site. Sellers place ads with the site thatmatches their listing, and purchase an ad package that varies from the simple descrip-tion-and-a-photo to the featured-item-six-photo-bold-text extravaganza.
The primary advantage of using TraderOnline is that all the advertisements areshared by all twenty sites, so you simply reach more buyers out there than with asingle site. TraderOnline is owned by a company that publishes advertising magazines(such as Cycle Trader, Equipment Trader, Truck Trader, and so on), so your ad canrun in print as well and reach buyers who don’t go online. There is a large collectorsand specialized vehicles market on this site, and your unusual 1960s convertible willreceive more attention than on a more general site.
PlaneBid.comThis auction site devoted solely to airplanes is small but unique. PlaneBid.com(http://www.planebid.com) was launched as a marketplace where sellers and buyerscould meet without intermediaries to save money and time for both parties. Thereare no fees to list and sell here, and the buyers and sellers make all arrangements forinspection, pricing, and shipping among themselves. Although an auction site, mostof the listings are at a fixed price, and you get the sense that the people who usePlaneBid already know what their vehicles are worth. PlaneBid can help you find aqualified aircraft appraiser to assess the value of your plane, but the site does notrequire it. This is a good, simple site for aircraft professionals.
Other SitesThe websites mentioned in this section are only a few examples of online venuesbuying and selling construction equipment and other big vehicles. Table 8-1 providespointers to other sites that specialize in construction equipment, building supplies,and other big commodities.
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Table 8-1. Online construction equipment marketplaces.
Site
URL
What It Does
AssetLine.com
http://www.assetline.com
digitalEPC.com
http://www.digitalepc.com/index2.asp
EC Online
http://www.econline.com
Point2UsedIron
http://usediron.point2.com
A global marketplace for con-struction equipment; content isin Japanese and English; providesinspection services.
An online marketplace for surplusconstruction equipment and ma-terials; listing is free; sales com-mission is 5 percent.
A sourcing site for electrical con-tractors: you can sell power sup-plies and many other electricalcomponents.
This Canadian site has been buy-ing and selling used constructionequipment since the late 1990s.You can create five premium list-ings with eight photos each forno charge.
Lab and Medical Equipment
Medical equipment can be expensive to purchase new, which is why many hospitalsand other institutions purchase refurbished equipment from some of the venuesshown next. For sellers who are able to find a supply of medical equipment, this is apotentially lucrative category. The key is condition, because most medical institutionsrequire used equipment to be in top condition and safe to use before they’ll considerbuying it.
LabXFor used medical and scientific equipment, LabX (http://www.labx.com) is the pre-mier site on the Internet. With four hundred thousand visitors a month, this siteoffers auctions and for sale postings for every variety of lab equipment. There are nospecial requirements to sell lab equipment online, although you should make surethat your state doesn’t have any special laws regarding the shipping of your item.Except for its focus on scientific hardware, LabX is much like any other niche auctionsite. It offers listing enhancements, the full range of selling styles and categories ofauctions, and assistance in organizing your ad to best effect. The major strength of
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this site is that so far, it is pretty much the only game in town. Everyone comes hereand everyone buys here. Take good photos of the item and make sure you’re describ-ing it accurately and succinctly, and take the time to communicate fully with thebuyer and make sure it is what he or she needs.
DotMed.comDotMed.com (http://www.dotmed.com) is a classified site where you can post usedmedical equipment for sale, buy parts, and start auctions. You can also post yourwants for parts and equipment, which is a handy resource for sellers who want tomatch their inventory to customer need. Posting is free, with the option of purchasinga featured posting or starting an auction for a small fee.
Most sellers purchase some form of premium exposure on this site, which seesapproximately two thousand new listings a month. DotMed.com offers a free certifi-cation process to boost buyer confidence and many companies use the site to adver-tise their services and merchandise. This is not a large site, but it is reliable and servesa genuine need.
Tip: Another medical equipment marketplace, MEDmarketplace(http://www.medmarketplace.com), lets sellers keep their listingsonline for up to thirty days. Sellers are charged a ﬂat monthly feerather than a sales commission.
Industry DirectoriesIf you sell medical or laboratory equipment, you have to take into account the factthat many hospital purchasing agents or administrators aren’t automatically going tolook for you on eBay or one of the auction sites listed in this chapter. You’ll cast thewidest possible net if you make sure your company is listed in industry directories.These are lists of medical suppliers that hospital and laboratory managers turn towhen they need a piece of equipment. Here are a couple examples:
•
Lisa’s World of Health & Wellness Industry Directory (http://www.lisa.com/trade/index.html)
• OBGYN.net Vendor Database (http://www.obgyn.net/cfm/suppliers/suppliers
.cfm)
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In this chapter, you learned about options for selling heavy and expensive equip-ment on a variety of specialty websites. All the types of merchandise mentioned inthis chapter, including airplanes, construction equipment, and medical equipment,are sold occasionally on eBay. However, by choosing a specialty website, you targetyour audience more narrowly. In some cases, you can obtain personal help withshipping and other issues. And you take advantage of inspection services. It’s all amatter of matching your merchandise to the clientele that frequents your chosenmarketplace—a subject explored in greater detail in Chapter 9.
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