Going once! Going twice!! Sold!!! Do these words sound familiar to you? It probably does. You might have heard it in a movie or somewhere else. You see a room full of people with small placards in their hands and a stage where a person wearing a black suit is speaking on a high volume with a gavel in his hands. That’s an auction event right there. The general idea of auction is that auctioneers have certain things to sell. They put it on auction and interested buyers bid for the product(s). In the end, the highest bidder takes the product home. But what is an online auction? Is it the same or different?
What is an online auction?
Online auction is the act of performing auctions over the internet. It allows users to sell or bid for products and services online. It is also known as a virtual auction.
Types of online auction
English auction: This is the most common type of auction where a single item is put up for a bid at a time. When the item is presented, the auctioneer announces the starting bid. People interested in that item start bidding and the item goes to the person who outbid all others in the race.
Dutch auction: It is exactly the opposite of the English auction. In Dutch auctions, the item starts with a high price and then systematically lowered until the buyer accepts the price. This type of auction is widely used for B2B auctions.
First-price sealed-bid: In this type, all the bidders bid a single amount privately and the auctioneer gives the product to the highest bidder.
Vickrey auction: Also known as Second-price sealed-bid, Vickrey auction lets the highest bidder pay the amount that the second highest bidder offered. This bidding style was invented to prevent people from bidding too high or too low.
Reverse auction: In Reverse auction, the roles of buyers and sellers are interchanged. Here multiple sellers compete to sell their items to a single buyer by lowering their item prices.
Penny auction: In this auction type, a bidder must purchase the right to bid before the auction starts. And the bids only increase the price by a penny. These auctions are limited by time. So when the time is up, the highest bidder wins.
Benefits of online auction
No geographical barrier
The greatest convenience of online auction is the absence of any geographical boundary. This provides the sellers with the opportunity to bring their items to millions of buyers from across the globe. And the buyers can buy their preferred items sitting in their homes.
Universal product acceptance
In an online auction, a seller can list virtually anything up for bidding. So it’s more liberating than a traditional auction where there is a list of limited items that you can offer.
Bigger exposure
It is evident that online auctions get bigger exposure than traditional auctions. Buyers can search and find what they are looking for as every item is cataloged. Google also helps you in this regard.
Everything is live
As online auctions surpass the geographic boundaries, there is no time limit as to when you can bid and when not. Because while China/Japan is sleeping, the USA is waking up to smell the coffee. So you can bid anytime you want.
Getting quick feedback
When sellers are listing an item for auction, they can get instant feedback whether that item is generating enough interest among the buyers or not. That makes the adjustment process easier for the sellers.
Quick and reliable transaction
Buying anything from a local auction is typically a long and time-consuming process. Whereas online auction is a system where everything is done without delays and needless bureaucratic procedures. And the escrow service makes it even more reliable.
How to create an online auction website of your own?
The long list of benefits is suggesting that it is high time you created your very own online auction platform. Because more and more people are interested in entering into the online auction domain. But how could you create a website that can give you all the facilities of a superior online bidding site and yet goes soft on your wallet? The answer is LaraBid. It is a Laravel-based auction PHP script that will let you turn your website into a highly-profitable online auction site. Why would you choose LaraBid? Here’s a bunch of reasons.
Features of LaraBid
Multiple Categories
You can add/delete an unlimited number of multiple categories to manage your auction products in a smarter way.
Sell unlimited products
There is no limit as to how many products a seller can sell. They can sell unlimited products from your auction site.
Bid Closing Time
This is the core feature for every auction site. In LaraBid, sellers can add a bid closing time. After expiration, the auction will automatically close. A countdown timer will be shown in the ad preview box alerting potential customers to place their bids on time.
Amazon S3 Integration
Keeping all the images and/or media files on your local server may slow down your website’s performance. That’s why we have integrated Amazon S3 with LaraBid to store all your media content. Just set your Amazon S3 credentials to LaraBid and it will start working seamlessly.
SEO-friendly Script
LaraBid comes with SEO-friendly HTML tags with Breadcrumbs in details page, category page, and other necessary pages. This will allow search engine bots to crawl better, giving you a better search result.
To know more about these features, read here.
Wrapping Up
Online auction is already a lucrative way to sell products to the right customers at a higher price. And due to this ongoing pandemic, it has become more popular than ever before. So if you want to be an online auctioneer, why not have your own online auction platform? Purchase LaraBid and turn your website into a full-fledged auction platform within minutes.