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B2B
Auction Sites (Business to Business)
As the name implies, at these auction sites many
businesses, corporations and government agencies sell items directly to
other businesses. Goods and services are usually sold in a wholesale
fashion and last years products can be moved out of the warehouse quickly.
While individuals are sometimes welcome at these sites,
these auctions involve the sale of large surplus inventories or high dollar
services. These sites are mainly for experienced purchasing managers
of private and public companies and serious, high volume C2C sellers at
ebay and other sites.
A great example of such a site is
Liquidation.com. Many
established businesses routinely auction there remainder and closeout
inventories here, and it's also a good place for consumers to occasionally
score a large load of Xbox titles, a huge DVD collection, etc.
Liquidation.com provides a complete solution for business surplus.
Buyers at B2B auction sites typically have to handle
payment of all freight charges, which can be quite expensive when you are
buying items by the pallet or '18 wheeler' truckload. Delivery methods
usually involve either truck or ship, or private air cargo.
As delivery of heavy wholesale containers can be
complicated, shipment from seller to buyer is sometimes defined using 'FOB'
terminology which means 'freight on board' or 'free on board'. Be
careful in this area and ask LOTS of questions about what the seller's exact
definition of FOB means, as 'seller pays FOB Seattle' may mean they ship to
the pier in Seattle, and they unload there, and you pay the rest of the way.
Make sure and do your homework on these sites, and have a big backyard
or warehouse ready for your purchases!
This is also considered a 'sell-side' auction, as opposed to
a buy-side 'reverse auction' (see below).
See
all B2B auctions │
(back to Auction List...)
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Reverse Auctions:
Just as you would expect, a reverse auction is run... well,
backwards. Buyers will advertise a price they are willing to pay for a
product or service, and a seller or sellers will contact them if they want
to sell an item for that amount. Reverse auctions are a pretty cool concept- After all,
you're the consumer, you should be able to set the price you're willing to
pay. Talk about the customer is always right!
Probably the most famous reverse auction site is
Priceline.com. Priceline is one of the few
internet companies
that had a viable enough offering to survive the late 90's dotcom meltdown.
You've probably even seen William Shatner of Star Trek fame in
their corny-but-still-chic commercials on TV.
Priceline is the ultimate travel auction, where you can
find airline tickets, hotel rooms, car rentals, vacation packages, cruises
and home financing all through the 'buy-side', reverse auction format.
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