The types of items that can be found at live auctions

The goods being sold at auctions can make some retailers truly giddy with excitement when they realize they’ve stumbled upon the deal of a lifetime. Unsold products from a fallen business or antiques from an estate can prove to be profitable merchandise for a small retailer. Here are some of the more commonly found items for sale at auctions

Store fixtures and office equipment – When a store or restaurant goes out of business, it typically sells everything in the store – including shelving, light fixtures, seating, tables, mannequins, phones, fax machines, copiers, printers, etc. Many times, you can purchase these items for less than 75 percent off the retail price. For a new business, this can be one of the best ways to save costs in setting up a retail storefront.

Unsold merchandise – At an auction, one store’s failing can be another store’s huge gain. For retailers who carry a variety of products, auctions can be a great place to find items at a mere fraction of their original wholesale price. Cartons full of DVDs, video games and electronics are popular finds at auctions; however, depending on the auction, you can literally find anything and everything for sale.

Antiques – For antique, curio and furniture dealers, auctions can be one of the best ways to keep a unique supply of items in your store. Many of the finds at these auctions can be marked up as much as 250%, making them true goldmines for any antique dealer.

How to find live auctions in your area

Most retailers would be surprised to know just how many of these live auctions are happening in their area each and every week. You can narrow your auction search by reading the auction descriptions to find out exactly what type of merchandise is going to be sold at each live auction. Here are some of the best ways to learn about what auctions are happening in your area:

* Classified ads in your local newspapers
* Yellow pages (either in print or online) under “Auctions”
* Online auction directories
* Online search for “auction” and then your city and state

If you’ve purchased items from online auctions like eBay but never thought of attending a live auction, you just may want to give it a shot. For a retailer who deals with specialty or collectible merchandise, live auctions can prove to have even more deals than online auctions.

Here are the key things to do:

• Consider subscribing to a service such as Sellathon’s ViewTracker

(at sellathon.com). It tells you what words people search on to find your auctions and can help you fine-tune them. (It can give you other "get to know your customer" info as well, such as where people are physically located…for me, it’s always such fun to discover folks watching my auctions from foreign countries).

• If the item is a known brand, always include that brand name. If you have enough extra space and the item’s brand has a nickname or a popular alternate spelling, e.g. "VS" for "Victoria’s Secret," consider putting both in.

• This tactic has been very effective for me: Add numbers to your auction title.

(Huh?) I’m talking about the estimated retail price of your item. People love a bargain, and seeing the disparity between your starting auction price and that hefty retail price gets them motivated to buy!

• Of course you know to state if the item is new, or "new without tags." If the latter, most eBayers know the shorthand abbreviation of "NWOT"; for new with tags, you can simply say "NWT." If the item is in excellent condition, consider saying "like new," "as new," or "never worn." You may alternately want to include those words in a subtitle; while eBay’s search engine does not search on the subtitle, buyers will see that phrase clearly in the search results and it may influence them to click into the auction.

• For some items which are beautiful but not a known brand, consider using alternate keywords that will convey the quality. An example that comes to mind is holiday children’s clothing. I used to buy some very expensive items from the "Wooden Soldier" catalog. Folks seem to know that catalog name as one of the nicest places to buy such clothes, so I would put the catalog name in the title, as others do. Another word that says "quality" is "boutique."

• Not everything on eBay is new. Of course, some of the most highly coveted stuff is very old and "antique." For these, be sure to state if the item is "rare," and if it is in fact an antique, of course use that word. Collectible specialties such as collectible books and stamps have their own selling jargon; get to know the shorthand and lingo the other top sellers are using and plunk words accordingly.

• Before listing a high-dollar item, take a moment to check out similar completed auctions on eBay

(or other auction site) to see what words the best-selling items use in the title. Something may jump out you hadn’t thought of.

• Finally, try not to make any typos!

Best of luck building those big-bucks titles!

Julia Wilkinson is the author of "The eBay Price Guide" (No Starch, 2006) and "eBay Top 100 Simplified Tips & Tricks" (Wiley, 2004-6), "What $ells on eBay for What" , and publisher of the free newsletter, Yard Salers, at http://www.yardsalers.net.