Top Auctioneers in Phoenix, AZ 85019
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Auction Nation
By SueJones2 October 30, 2014
Auction Nation auctionnation.net LIARS, SCAMMERS, ILLEGAL BUSINESS PRACTICES, BUYER BEWARE!!! Phoenix Arizona I want my money back!!! On 10/10/2014 I looked into the Friday autos that were up for auction and found a 2004 Ford Focus LX....I read the notes about the inspection that they completed on the car priar to the sale and not one thing was said to be wrong with this vehicle including that it started and ran..nothing about a misfiring engine. The AC was said to work as well but that was NOT working at all! I have Multiple Schlerosis and have to have AC do to my disability...I think that just before they bring you the car that they add just enough freon to make it seem like it works so you think it does until you leave then 1 minute later it blows hot air...liars!!! When I went to retrieve the car from them (first of all it took him an extremely long time to bring it to me) he drove it to the front to me and it sounded like sh**. [continued below].... Report Attachments: .......like the engine was gonna blow up. He didn't say to much to me so I asked him how is the car running? all he said was "you guys like fords hah?" and walked away. When I got into the car it stalled right away. After getting it started I had to keep my foot on the peddles to keep it going as I drove the thing but when I stopped at a light or stop sign it would stall again. The engine was knocking, shaking, and sounded terrible. I called them back asap and told them that the car was not as was stated on the description and that I wanted my money back but all I got was "you signed an as-is waiver so to bad". Now mind you, I have been coming here for many years doing buisness with them but no one cared still. No one would talk to me about the car...they ignored me. I paid $2300 for a car that will NOT run at all. The engine is blown!!! So I say to everyone who is reading this..DO NOT BUY A CAR FROM AUCTION NATION IN PHOENIX or they will rip you off and LIE to you. This is the second time that you guys lied about the ac and about the cars engine to me...I will NOT buy another one you can count on it! Sue Jones-1453 And then they took the 2 NEW tires that were on the car and gave me old ones which went flat on the freeway. ...read more
Flatscreen TV Liquidators
By Anonymous July 30, 2014
Bought a Visio 42"Flat Screen with warranty and got a screaming deal. TV has never had a problem and I am very happy with it. ...read more
National Office Liquidators
By Anonymous July 24, 2014
I expect great products from a furniture store... because if it's not great I won't buy it. But service above and beyond the call it's not usually on the table. After NOL delivered my new office furniture, they followed up with me. I told them I wasn't happy with my executive chair so they sway it out for another new one. Then the delivery guy researched my problem, called me back and told me how to make the adjustment I wanted. Job well done. ...read more
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How To Start An Online Store
Part 3/3: Marketing &Selling; Your Products How to start selling your products Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can. - Arthur Ashe Two words: Start small. If you’re just starting out your brand new business with a product you’ve never sold before, don’t be afraid to experiment and don’t be afraid to fail — but play it conservatively first. It may take a few test runs before you find what you’re looking for: discovering the magical product that people want but can’t get. Failure does not mean death, except maybe in this scenario: If at first you don’t succeed… so much for skydiving. – Henny Youngman Don’t run out buy a massive amount of inventory until you have tested it: i.e., you have seen it/touched it/tasted it/sold it and it has solidly proven that it works. The worst thing that you can do at this point is fill your garage with, let’s say oven mitts. You think, “They’re so cute! They’re so inexpensive! No one’s selling these yet and who doesn’t need oven mitts?!” — only to find out after you’ve started shipping them that your consumer feedback scores are going down in flames because your oven mitts are highly flammable. Unless you’re able to repackage them as “The perfect accessory for Burning Man!” do your homework first. Enthusiasm is a great thing, but so is caution. It may take a few attempts before you find the exact product(s) and it’s probably safe to say that some failure should be expected. You’re not married… …to a source. So you don’t have to buy product(s) from just one source, as was mentioned in the last week’s blog. Once you’ve identified what you’ll be selling, what the product is and the condition it’s in may help determine what channel to sell them in. There are so many choices that this can be overwhelming so having some rule of thumb can be of immense benefit. Kat Simpson, radio show host for “That Kat” and an eBay Shooting Star with 15,000 feedback, podcaster, speaker, and established eCommerce expert, said on her show last fall: “I know that some things that are not brand new, you can’t sell on Amazon, okay? So you may get a box of items from Amazon and you can’t sell it all back on Amazon. That is to be expected when you’re purchasing liquidation items. You’re going to go through that box. You’re going to find four or five, six things. Hey, these are great. These are brand new. Still shrink wrapped. I’m sending those in to Amazon. You’re going to find four or five things that hey, these are in really good condition, but the cover, the wrapping paper may be torn or they’re not in the original box anymore. Something like that. Those are going to go on eBay, okay?” Another top eBay seller/eBay educator, Anne Zarraonandia pointed out in her Enquirer article (referenced at the end), recommends classifying it by type. For example, is it new/used? Is it damaged, collectible? Is it big, heavy? Would it be difficult to ship? Answering these questions will be useful in guiding you toward the proper sales channel. No matter what you do, it’s always a good rule to sell on multi-channels just in case one channel stops working for you for whatever reason. There’s only one exception to the rule about putting all of your eggs in one basket and it’s this: It’s OK to have your eggs in one basket as long as you control what happens to that basket. - Elon Musk Surprising fact: THREE TIMES as many buyers search for products to buy on Amazon than on Google. With so many marketplaces and so many products on them, it’s difficult to get the attention of prospective buyers. How can you be heard through all of the noise? Amazon is the largest ecommerce site in the U.S. so if you’re selling new products, it’s an obvious choice to have as big a presence as you can on Amazon. Do your research first though because Amazon does not necessarily sell everything. In order to qualify for the Buy Box you have to attain certain standards — e.g., you must Sell as a Professional not an Individual — and even then Amazon won’t reveal how they decide which sellers earn it, but one thing’s for sure: no one is awarded that opportunity before they work toward that goal for some time. BB’s King: The Amazon Buy Box is a coveted and influential sales tool for a reason. Channel Advisor has a great article, “6 Quick Tips for Winning the Amazon Buy Box” that expands on Amazon’s own suggestions on earning it. Some of those tips include competing on price, double-checking your stock availability, fulfilling consistently, considering using Fulfillment By Amazon (FBA), communicating effectively (but not too aggressively) to your customers by keeping them in the loop when their order is on its way, when it’s arriving, or if there’s a problem with the delivery. Communicating with your customers every step of the way is one to ensure the ever-essential positive feedback. I’m spending way too much time on Amazon when there are so many different channels to utilize. If you sign up for social media blogs, such as the Social Media Examiner it will give you loads of tips on how to market your brand on various less obvious channels such as Pinterest, Reddit, and many others. Don’t limit yourself. Marketing your ecommerce store Or I could also call this segment: The only time that traffic is a good thing. You’re all ready to go! Now how do you bring buyers to your online store (AKA how to build traffic) and more importantly, how do you convert them to buy from you? Here are a few ideas: Social media is a must. If your store has a Facebook page and Twitter account, you’re already marketing yourself. There are scores of other opportunities like these so look around and see what’s most relevant for your brand/product. For example, if you have a very visual product an Instagram or Pinterest account would also be vital. Writing a regular blog or newsletter is another great way to build and promote your brand, keep your customers up-to-date on new products/events/changes. It can also help with regard to SEO. (More on that below.) Sponsor an event – that will give your brand credibility, puts you front and center in front of exactly the people you need to be in front of, can give you access to potential partners and customers, among other benefits. Facebook, Instagram and/or Pinterest promotions can be highly effective Email blasts regarding sales can also promote sales Use SEO principles to build traffic (more below) What’s SEO And why is it important? Here it is as defined by Wikipedia: “Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of affecting the visibility of a website or web page in search engine’s “natural” or unpaid (“organic”) search results. In general, the earlier or higher ranked on the search results page, and more frequently a site appears in a search results list, the more visitors it will receive from the search engine’s users.” SEO is a science unto itself. Companies&consultants can charge big bucks to ensure that their clients get highly visible search results. They achieve great search results by optimizing website’s content, analyzing and utilizing keywords that rank highly, updating the website’s tags and copy, etc. In short, it’s complicated. Add to that Google, for example, likes to keep everyone on their toes by changing the rules frequently – if you see random animal references flying around like Penguin, Panda and Hummingbird, that’s what they’re talking about. There’s lots more that can be said on this subject but I’ll end it here. Frankly, this could be a blog post unto itself. You’ve made a sale! Now what? Before you sell your product from your own store, for example, and not an existing marketplace, you’ll need to know which payment gateway, such as Intuit, Square, PayPal, etc. that you’re using. I thought this site here was pretty neat because it compares a lot of them and informs you on the various fees (transaction, monthly and/or set-up fees) that you may be on the hook for. A last quick word on (death and) taxes “The only difference between death and taxes is that death doesn’t get worse every time Congress meets.” – Will Rogers (Were you expecting another quote re death and taxes?) Sales tax compliance across the United States can be tricky but here’s something to hopefully simplify matters: http://www.thatkat.com/sales-tax-compliance-in-5-simple-steps/ Captain Obvious here: This blog series is not and has no intention of being all-exhaustive. I’m giving you a starting place but this is just the beginning of your journey. Think of it as a sort of Clif Notes for starting your new enterprise. I said it before, and it’s really true: Google is your friend but below are some references I’ve used or would use if I was just starting out. I hope that there’s something in this series that helped you. Write me and let me know your thoughts, what worked, what didn’t and good luck! References: My blog, “The ABCs of Selling” is still relevant and right here Anne Zarraonandia’s article on Examiner.com here. Also For those in the Bay Area, Anne Z regularly leads classes re selling on eBay. At her next class, she’ll be covering the basics of selling on eBay covers from start to finish, including how to effectively list your items on eBay, listing format, research the item, managing the sale, shipping tips and rules to ship by, avoiding costly mistakes, and sourcing items to sell. More info and register here Sign up for an invaluable social media blog, Social Media Examiner here Kat Simpson offers fantastic webinars such as “So you want to sell on Amazon?” and “So you want to sell on eBay?” Check out her webinars here How to Rank Your Products on Amazon – The Ultimate Guide by Startup Bros here and is definitely worth reading! “What to sell or what else to sell online” video based lessons by eBay Certified Consultant, Lisa Suttora here. Channel Advisor has a series of articles and white papers that may be a good resource such as “6 Quick Tips for Winning the Amazon Buy Box”. Request their white paper “Will You Be Allowed to Sell Your Next Product Line on Amazon?” here and a glossary of their tip sheets are here Helpful article re increasing Amazon customer feedback (which ultimately leads to higher Amazon rankings here Good links to know from eCommerce Bytes: Amazon shipping calculator here and eBay shipping calculator here Have you registered yet? Why wait? It’s easy&free! Do it here now.Linda Baerend ...read more
By BidOnFusion June 27, 2015
How to Start An Online Store
Part 2 of 3: What To Sell&How to Source It Last week we started this three-part blog series “How To Start An Online Store” and had lots of great feedback – thanks again to all that wrote in! We started the series at the beginning of the process of building an online store: from forming the company, applying for the appropriate licenses, figuring out the brand concept, designing the logo and website, etc. This week is centered on the product itself. What Products Should I Sell? Case Study Example: Minnie loves to knit and is trying to figure out how to mix business with pleasure. While knitting to her heart’s content, she starts a blog called “Knit Wit” which is all about her knitting successes and failures on WordPress, while she posts pictures of her creations on Pinterest and Instagram, and sells them on Etsy and eBay. During all of this, she came across an expensive but difficult to find cashmere yarn and decides that it is this product her business will revolve around. An expensive cashmere yarn is an example of a perfectly manageable niche to slide into. If you choose a niche too big then you’re competing against everyone. If it’s too small, you’ll find you’re too specialized to translate into enough sales to keep your doors open. A great way to find the yarn suppliers that would ultimately be your source would be at trade shows or gift shows. She’s already marketing herself online via WordPress, Pinterest, Instagram, and Etsy. Tip: There are trade shows for virtually everything, so this is not just true for artsy crafty goods. Ideally, when coming up with ideas you should choose something that you know something about, that interests you, and that other people would be interested in buying that they can’t already get. The Startup Bros do a great job of explaining what products to sell. On their site (link below), they advise you to first look for one single profitable product – note: a product, not a niche! — and stick to that before you even think of expanding. Once you’re established and it’s time to expand that product should be consistent with the brand you have already built. If you’re selling men’s shirts, for example, then in the future you might branch out into ties or suspenders because you’re remaining consistent with your brand. The Startup Bros are taking it from an importer’s perspective but there’s lots of great information to be gleaned, including the various steps how to determine potential products to sell and what defines a good product and what to avoid. The WebRetailer also gave some sound advice on a product sourcing strategy. They start by informing us that there is no “best thing to sell”, but rather it’s based on a number of factors. They and the Startup Bros both advise starting small, no matter how convinced you are that it’ll be a winner, and watch and gauge how the product performs before fully committing yourself. Where Can I Source My Products To Sell? On the subject of product sourcing, there is lots of information online for those with the time to slog through it all. Consider this a beginning, and depending on how much feedback we get perhaps it’s something we can re-explore, but for the moment I can’t claim that this is anywhere close to an unabridged source of information. We’ll just says that there’s lots of ways to skin this cat. Here’s a list of places from which you can buy your product, some are obviously going to be pricier than others. More expensive does not always equate to higher quality, however if you’re diligent in your searching. Manufacturers Distributors Wholesalers Liquidators Trade shows/gift shows Trade magazines Trade or industry organizations Thrift stores Garage sales/flea markets These categories above are pretty much self-explanatory and one can find suppliers by using the power of the internet, but with one caveat. Ordinarily if you want to purchase product from a liquidator, you’ll need to buy bulk amounts – which almost always translates into by the truckload. BidOnFusion has transformed that model by breaking down the liquidated goods into smaller, more manageable lots. And if you want to buy it by the truckload, we may also be able to help you there, too. Anne Zarraonandia’s (AKA Anne Z) store A to Z Pirate Booty has made her an eBay Top Rated Seller and Silver level Power Seller. She’s been actively buying and selling on eBay for 17 years and is an eBay educator as well. She’s been buying and selling nearly as long on Amazon as well, and uses the FBA (Fulfilled By Amazon) platform on Amazon. Anne was an early adopter for us here at BidOnFusion and a great resource on e-commerce. According to Anne Z, her idea for product sourcing is anywhere there’s a deal, even free stuff on the street, second-hand stores, garage sales and friends. “If I’m at a thrift store, flea market or garage sale) I’ll make a pile and ask for a deal instead of just getting a price for one item at a time. I’ll start the conversation with, “Are you willing to give me a good price if I get all of this?” Using your smart phone is key. Since texting is so common, it’s not weird to pull out my phone and check prices on eBay or Amazon when shopping. I also watch for half-off sale days at the thrift stores. The ladies working in the shops love to see so many items fly off the shelves! Look for items that are still in the package, even if it’s new/old stock. When shopping for CDs, for example, do a quick glance to see if any of them are unopened. New takes away any confusion on item condition. I love getting all the new/in package stuff I can from thrift stores. I also buy in lots. If I see collectible pins, I’ll buy the whole lot, often at a reduced rate. I did well once buying 25 wrist watches one time. There is usually one or two items that will pay for the whole thing when sold.” *** Next week, I’ll wrap it all up with the third part of our 3-Part Series where I’ll be discussing: How to start selling your products Marketing your e-commerce store SEO basics You’ve made a sale! Now what? Education Options: There are too many options online to count that will allow you to find education regarding product sourcing, selling online, etc. Here are a few that I like. Please email me if you have tried something else that worked for you. Kat Simpson knows her stuff and hosts regular webinars. Check her out here. Jim Cockrum has a huge following for a reason. More info here. “SmartSourcing: How to Source the Products that Buyers Want!” video based lesson by eBay Certified Consultant, Lisa Suttora here. Resources: The Startup Bros step-by-step-guide on how to find a profitable product to sell is here. WebRetailer’s Product Sourcing Strategy is here. Entrepreneur.com “How to Find Product Sources" here. Linda Baerend (here's a link the original post on our website; What to Sell&How; to Source It) ...read more
By BidOnFusion June 03, 2015
How to Start An Online Store
Part 1 of 3: Getting Started Over the past year, I’ve heard from our customers who began by buying small amounts of product from us, and then gradually built it up until they had to choose between their “day” jobs and running their e-commerce store full-time. As a result, I’m getting questions regarding the advantages of setting up one’s own online store. I was already formulating an outline on this when Skip McGrath put out a newsletter entitled “Should I Set Up My Own Online Store” (Great minds think alike, Skip.) As Skip's newsletter explains, there are a ton of obvious advantages to selling in existing marketplaces such as Amazon or eBay. Those advantages are: many of the decisions are already made for you, i.e., you don’t have to design a website, figure out payment options and manage them, create listings, write and enforce your shipping and returns policies, or market your store to build traffic. The disadvantages can be broken down to one big one: loss of control. That online marketplace can dictate if, what and how you sell your products. If that site ceases, for example, if they go out of business or their computers are hacked temporarily shutting them down, or if their policies change affecting your products you’re out of luck. If this is not a side business, but your main means of income, this can be scarier than watching the original “Stepford Wives” by yourself out in the woods with no working lights. (Is this just me?) So you wanna set up an online store? If you’ve now weighed the pros and cons and have decided to start your own online store, you probably already know what you’ll be buying and selling and what your niche will be. If you’re interested specifically in selling toys, for example, then your company name and website should somehow communicate that. When figuring out your company name, stop to think about how it looks, what feeling it evokes and whether or not it’s unique. Before you go forward, be sure to check to make sure that the name hasn’t been used already and that the URL is available. Consider, too, how it will work for social media on sites like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest or Reddit. For checking the domain name’s availability, I like GoDaddy because you can search and reserve your domain name in one shot. Once you’ve reserved your domain name, you’ll need to actually create the business. This is where you decide to become incorporated (Inc), set up a limited liability company (LLC), partnership, or other options. There are different advantages to each so do the research and talk to an accountant to figure out what’s best for you. A great resource to review is the Small Business Administration site — especially if you’re starting your own business for the first time. Info here: https://www.sba.gov/category/navigation-structure/starting-managing-business. The SBA reviews the various business structures with descriptions, instructs on how to register your business, obtain licenses and permits, and generally leads you down the path to get your business up and running legally. Next, if you’re going to have an online store, then you’ll need to develop a website and logo. You have options, my friend. A website designer can help with both the logo and site, but there are also many sites offering website templates to choose from which you can then plug in your own content and photos. Either way, you’re off and running with no coding experience necessary. (That part was key for me but maybe you have a 12 year old wunderkind at home that you can cajole into doing it for you.) I’m what is termed as “Technologically Challenged” yet I’ve used Jimdo with success in the past to create a website with enough flexibility to add as many pages as I desired, with which I then added my own content and photos. Volusion is another e-commerce website builder, and they’ll let you try their site for free. There’s a ton of similar sites like these, and also sites allowing you to design your own company logo, such as LogoTypeMaker so do the research. Google is your friend. That’s it for part one. In the next segment, I’ll be talking about product sourcing: how and where to find products to sell. Disclaimer 1: I’m not an attorney or accountant, so if you’re looking for more specific advice on any of the aforementioned, I’d suggest talking to an expert. The only thing I’m an expert at is catching vomit in a bag. Why? We had a baby with motion sickness for years before she grew out of it. (Seriously. I’m. Amazing.) Disclaimer 2: Also, absolutely no compensation has been awarded to me or BidOnFusion for any mentions or endorsements of the companies above. But if you’re Skip McGrath, GoDaddy, the SBA, Jimdo, Volusion or LogoTypeMaker and you have a check with my name on it, call me! (Kidding, people.) Have you signed up at BidOnFusion yet? Why wait? It’s easy&free;! Register now. Linda Baerend (here's a link the original post on our website; How to Start An Online Store) ...read more
By BidOnFusion May 26, 2015