Tip #1

Album Auctions vs. Open Wall Auctions

Ever wonder if there is really a major difference between Album Auctions or Open Wall Auctions!?!?

Do you wonder which one will land you MORE Sales!?!? Or maybe you are NEW to both and are not sure how to join or what a good price to start your items at might be!?!?  Lets dive in shall we….

So, which of the two is actually the better Auction!?!? There really is no way of telling since both have their own perks & drawbacks. Album auctions are nice and easy for the buyers since it outs ALL of the items in ONE easy to use location; this is a HUGE advantage over Open Wall Auctions since these items usually tend to be scattered out over the Wall & a little harder for buyers to find. PLUS the items are up for grabs much longer than the usual few hours that an Open Wall allows. Another positive about both Auctions is the attention that is brought to it by all of the other participating Vendors, so you may land a few sales from fans of pages other than your own. One of the MAJOR setbacks of  Auction Albums is that they are NOT always free!! Some hosts tend to charge a small fee for posting your items in their auctions (these babies are tough to run at times)…..you usually will NEVER run into this problem with an Open Wall Auction since you are posting the items yourself. Unlike with Open Wall items, you usually need to spend MORE time checking and rechecking your items in Album Auctions….this is mainly because Facebook “Tags” or “Notifications” DO NOT work through the Fan Page-Fan Page OR Fan Page-Personal posting!! (This is a major pet-peave of mine since the majority of the Facebook populous does not understand that and simply do it anyways.) Overall, it is a matter of personal opinion on which one is better than the other….since they are both pretty much neck & neck in the pros & cons department, I leave it to you to decide the one you prefer more. 

Landing Sales as WAHMs is our #1 priority!! Which of the two auctions will get your MORE!?!? The answer to that is a tricky one. It is usually a 50/50 chance that you will or will not sell your items in auction. Even if you follow the suggestions we have offered to you in this Tip of the Week, we CANNOT guarantee your items will sell. That part is left up to the buyers!!

Even though we cannot guarantee your items will be sold, we can offer advice on the How-To’s of Auctions. If you are NEW to the whole auction experience, this is quality advice and you should read it!! When you join an auction you want your items to LOOK GOOD, so a quality photo is a key component!! This can be sure simple to do since it does not have to be that extravagant….one good idea is to place the item on a neutral or colorful background for the photo (bright colors can really make an item POP!). When describing your item for the auction, KEEP IT SIMPLE!! Not everyone likes loooooong winded descriptions that point out everything used to create the item, so keep it short and sweet. Determining a starting price for your item is another biggie!! You do not want to short yourself, nor do you want to make it unaffordable!! Personally, I try to start with what the item costs to make and factor in the time I spend/spent making the item. Also, try to make the Bidding Increments (amount buyers will bid up by from the starting bid) affordable too. For Open Wall Auctions, always…..ALWAYS add a link to your page!! This way if buyers like the items you have in auction, they are able to see what else you may have for sale. Usually hosts will provide a format that they would like you to follow when adding the information for your item(s). These are not to there to frustrate you, but to help things run a little more smoothly in the posting process… AND these are not always the same either, so be sure and to pay attention on how to set up your information as required by the host.  Hopefully these tips will help clear-up a few questions & make it a little easier for you first-timers out there.