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Featured Auctions Articles

Auction Listing Tips To Maximize Profit
Listing Your Item on Auction Sites for Maximum Profit Auction sites are great places to go to purchase and sell items. Many people make good livings selling their items on Ebay. However many people could be making more if they learned the right ...

Service Simplifies Ebay Online Auctions
Used to be that when you wanted to sell something you had a garage sale, put an ad in the For Sale section of the local classifieds or posted a sign on the neighborhood bulletin board. The Internet has changed all that. While you can still use the ...

What To Do After Your eBay Auction Closes
So your auction closes. Now what?Hopefully you made a sale or several sales. Now the important work begins. Here are some tips on what to do after your eBay auction closes.Buyer ContactOnce your items have sold, be responsive to the buyer. Contact them in ...




How To Cash In on Weird Auctions on eBay
 
Until recently, online auction sites such as eBay have been the usual marketplace for bargain hunters and thrift shoppers looking for cheap used or surplus products. But a new breed of sellers are now coming up with very unusual auctions on eBay.
Encouraged in part by the recent purchase by online casino GoldenPalace of a grilled cheese sandwich that has the image of Virgin Mary for $15,000 and on the tummy of a pregnant woman, sellers have started taking a second look at eBay's Everything Else category, especially in the subcategories of Advertising Opportunities and Weird Stuff.
And not a few have been successful. Just last August 23, 2005, the casino paid $18,000 to shave a woman's head and permanently tattoo the website of the popular online poker room, on her bare cranium.
The eBay seller, Molly Demers, will be wearing the casino's brand on the top and back of her bald head for one year.
Before her, a woman from Utah now known as "ForeheadGoldie" on eBay, was paid $10,000 to permanently tattoo their website address on a her forehead. Using eBay's "Buy It Now" option, GoldenPalace won the privilege of placing a permanent ad tattoo on Karolyne Smith's forehead, making her the first female to have the casino's brand mark her for life.
And then there are such queer items such dead flies, tushy-shaped apple, haunted items and change-my-name auctions that have been bought for outrageous prices by lesser-known buyers who are also out to make news for themselves.
These weird auction have been made more popular by websites that have sprouted like mushrooms to feature these auctions, hoping to cash in on the revenue potentual fron sellers' advertisements and eBay affiliate commissions. Even some humor websites have opened up auction pages to ride the bandwagon.
HOW YOU CAN BENEFIT
If you have an online business or a website, this would be the right time to look into these weird auctions and see how you can benefit. Here are some ideas:
* If you are an eBay member, listing a weird auction and having it featured by sites such as BuyWeird.com or WeirdBids.com would drive traffic to your other "usual" items. This is now a strategy used by some eBay stores who see the traffic potential of these weird auctions.
I have seen sales of some eBay members skyrocket as a benefit from the number of people viewing their weird auctions, who got curious and looked at their items too.
* You may join eBay and get free promotion by bidding on these weird items. Your name shows up on the frontpage if you are the highest bidder, on the Bid History if you get outbidded. Curious viewers will then check out your own About Me page where you can say something about your business.
* Put up an auction-related website and then contact the sellers of these auctions so they will mention your site in exchange for free advertising. Take advantage of eBay's affiliate program and possibilities of direct advertising on your site. But before you do this, make sure you offer free and value services on your site to keep your traffic going.
The possibilities are endless. You don't even have to sell on eBay to benefit from weird auctions.
About the Author
Gerry Lacuarta is the founder and system administrator of http://www.BidSponsors.com. He has been blogging about eBay since 2004 on http://eBayWatch.blogspot.com. He is now publishing a network of auction promotion sites such as http://www.WeirdBids.com, http://TeknoBids.com and http://www.AuctionSponsors.com where you can advertise auctions for free.



Auctions News


Minneapolis Star Tribune

Foundation Vows Legal Effort to Stop Auctioning of Reagan's Blood
Wall Street Journal (blog)
PFC Auctions, based in Guernsey, in the Channel Islands, is selling a vial of blood it claims belonged to Ronald Reagan, taken while he was recovering from a 1981 assassination attempt, The Washington Post reported. The sale has been denounced by the ...
Fury over auction of Ronald Reagan's bloodPakistan Daily Times
President Ronald Reagan's blood for sale on auction siteWashington Post
Ronald Reagan representatives' outraged by auction of blood - bids near $15000IrishCentral
Reuters -Minneapolis Star Tribune -Christian Post
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ABC News

Auctioned Tyrannosaur Skeleton Possibly Smuggled
LiveScience.com
"We want this dinosaur to go back to Mongolia, where it belongs; that is the sole purpose of this," said Mongolian paleontologist Bolorsetseg Minjin as she stood on the sidewalk with other protesters near the auction in Manhattan on Sunday (May 20).
Disputed dinosaur fossil auctioned for $1M in NYCBusinessWeek
Tyrannosaurus Sold Despite Mongolian President's PleaCourthouse News Service
Dinosaur Auction: Tyrannosaur Skeleton Fetches $1 Million Despite ObjectionsHuffington Post

all 308 news articles »

Deutsche Welle

EURO GOVT-Bund yields drop before German auction, EU summit
Reuters
ZERO INTEREST In what can be seen as a test of how scared markets are of Greece potentially leaving the euro, Germany auctions up to 5 billion euros of two-year bonds which, for the first time, carry a zero percent coupon. Traders said yields on the ...
Germany to borrow for freeIrish Times
Investors seen buying German bonds despite zero returnReuters UK
Investors rush to lend to Germany at zero percentBusinessLIVE

all 256 news articles »

Tehelka

Commerce Minister Anand Sharma slams Trai call on auctions
Economic Times
NEW DELHI: Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma has criticised the telecom regulator's proposals on spectrum auctions, and said its implementation would render investments worth Rs 1 lakh crore by mobile phone companies redundant, becoming the ...
Telecom industry warns of mobile tariff hikeBusiness Standard
Telecom panel will have to defuse Trai bomb, DoT grenadeFirstpost
DoT sets 2G price 17% above Trai'sTimes of India
Financial Times
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Zions Direct Announces Corporate Bond Auction Results through May 18, 2012
PR Newswire (press release)
SALT LAKE CITY, May 23, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Zions Direct, the online broker-dealer that allows its customers to purchase corporate bonds in its daily web-based auctions, announces its weekly auction results. In auctions closed from May 14, ...

and more »