The best things in life often work so well, that intergration into everyday use becomes automatic and seamless. For auctioneers and auction attendees, Auctionzip.com is such a thing.
Many major auction houses as well as mom & pop auctions, have been using a site called Auctionzip.com as a major promontional vehicle for live auctions. It's free to use and has the potential to save every auction company thousands of dollars in advertising fees.
Today, professional auctioneers that know about Auctionzip.com wouldn't consider having an auction without using it.
I was able to catch up with Auctionzip Customer Service Representative, Bill Defibaugh for an interview. My goal was explain to any auctioneers that may not be familiar with the site, what exactly it can do for them.
Q: What exactly is AuctionZip.com and how is it useful to auctioneers?
A: Auctionzip.com is America’s largest live auction locator with over 16 thousand auctioneers who post their upcoming auctions.
Auctionzip is quite useful to auctioneers because it allows them to upload an unlimited number of photos & text in their listings. It is also quite useful to auctioneers because of the ease for buyers locating their listings from keyword & zip code searches
Q: Who can use Auctionzip?
A: Auctionzip is designed for auctioneers who conduct live auctions primarily; however, if a licensed auctioneer is conducting an online-only sale, he or she can do so providing that the event is only listed on one single date & time & not an on-going listing.
Q: How long has Auctionzip been around?
A: Auctionzip was started almost 6 years ago by 2 antique dealers/auction goers from western Pennsylvania who had a desire to find a simple, effective way for auctioneers to list their upcoming sales & for buyers to easily locate the content & photos for those particular listings.
Q: Can you give me an idea of how many visitors come to Auctionzip in month?
A: Auctionzip has over 1 million unique visitors per month. Our Home Page receives approximately 110 thousand views each day. 88% of these individuals use Auctionzip as their primary source to locate upcoming auctions. 8% come from other auction-related web sites, while the remaining 4% come from Google or other similar search engines.
Q: How can an auction house get the most out of placing a listing on Auctionzip?
A: By being as descriptive, detailed, & thorough in the text of the listings. Include all items that will be sold at the auction with a complete description of each one. Be sure to use correct spelling & no abbreviations due to the fact that our key word search is one of our most popular searches.
Q: How might an auction house piggy back an auctionzip listing with a traditional newspaper ad?
A: Auction houses have many different methods of coupling newspaper ads with auction listings. In a newspaper ad, be sure to mention the fact that text & photos can be viewed by visiting Auctionzip.com & typing in the Auctioneer ID# of that particular auction house. Another method is to take a small ad in the newspaper simply stating the date & time of an upcoming auction, then directing the reader to Auctionzip for complete details.
Q: What are the best free features on Auctionzip?
A: A couple of The best free features Auctionzip has to offer are the ability to list your upcoming auction, along with text & photos, including the ability for users to effectively search the database by zip codes & key words.
Another popular free feature is our Prices Realized section of Auctionzip. After an auction is completed, auctioneers are encouraged to ad their best selling items to our prices realized section on Auctionzip. Auction buyers will then search the prices realized section by key words in-order-to find the value of particular items.
Based on those results, buyers will consign their individual items to the auctioneer who sold similar items for the highest value. Another popular feature is “Powered by Auctionzip”. Powered by Auctionzip allows auctioneers to ad Auctionzip listings to their own web site free of charge. This includes text & photos, as well.
Finally, one of our best free features is our online absentee bidding. Absentee bidding allows auctioneers to collect absentee bids prior to the start of the live auction. Auctioneers may include any or all photos from their auction listings in a catalog; plus, auctioneers can choose their own terms & conditions, buyer’s premium, payment arrangements, shipping, & state sales tax.
While the catalog is active, the bids go up in increments, very similar to eBay. Once the catalog has expired, auctioneers then have the ability to see all their high bids. When bidder’s register with Auctionzip, they are required to provide their phone number, email address, & a correct mailing address to make it efficient for auctioneers to contact them. The most essential thing to remember is that payment transactions are not conducted through Auctionzip; instead, transactions are completed between the auctioneer & the buyer.
Q: What are the best paid features?
A: One of the best paid features on Auctionzip is the Auctionzip Photo+. Photo+ allows auctioneers to feature individual items from a particular auction. Once these items are featured on the calendar, a buyer will locate them very easily by performing a keyword search for these items.
Featured items appear on the right side of the page so buyers will not have to peruse the entire auction calendar to find what they’re looking for. Another important paid feature is featured advertising. If auctioneers have upcoming auctions that need promoted a bit further, our graphic designers will create an ad for that sale using several photos, the date, time, & location of the auction.
Ads appear on any of our state home pages, the Auctionzip Home Page, or our Calendar Page. Another great feature we offer is our premium membership for auction buyers. A premium membership allows buyers to create keyword searches & have the auctions matching the searches emailed to them each morning.
Q: Do you have an idea of the percentage of auction houses that list on Auctionzip?
Due to the fact that not all states require a license, it is very difficult to determine an exact number. Currently, Auctionzip has over 16 thousand auctioneers, but there are approximately 30 thousand licensed auctioneers in the United States. It is almost impossible, though, to determine an exact percentage.
Q: What are some of the engines Auctionzip has used to expand its reach?
A: Since Auctionzip has been in existence, representatives from the company have attended many state & national auctioneers’ conventions throughout the United States. Other ways Auctionzip has expanded its reach included working with state auctioneers associations by hosting their web sites & by making it a one-step process for auctioneers to list their auctions on both Auctionzip & the associations’ web sites, as well.
Auctionzip has also coupled with other organizations such as the National Auctioneers Association, global Auction Guide, & various other organizations for auctioneers to effectively promote their listings on many other web sites, simply by listing them on Auctionzip.
Q: What's the biggest misconception users seem to have when they first find auctionzip?
A: The biggest misconceptions are that Auctionzip is the auction company & that buyers can just simply list items that they want to auction off instead of consigning them to an auctioneer.
Q: Can you name some businesses that combine live online auctions and the Internet which seem to be getting it right?
Some of these businesses include Sold USA Inc, Hard Knocks auctions, & Texas Bid. These companies effectively post their auctions on Auctionzip, plus conduct online auctions, as well.
Q: What's in the immediate future for Auctionzip?
A: Currently, the plan for Auctionzip is to continue to grow by reaching more auctioneers & new buyers alike by continually making improvements to the site.
Search thousands of auction listings and list your auction free at AuctionZip.com
Find out what things are worth in the
Prices Realized section.
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