well it's that time that I look at buying my first home and what a duanting task that is. First you have to decide where - what suburb, what do I want to be close too, Am I prepared to travel a long distance to work for the right house etc. Then how big, what will the future bring, should I buy a large house now to save the upgrade later? Then theres the [[LINK:home loan,http://aussie-home-loan.blogspot.com]], another mass of research...

Recently I wrote about the looming competition heading e bays way and recently came accross this article: [[LINK:The Score,http://www.imediaconnection.com/content/8854.asp]] It notes some of the competitors and there rising market share. Whats really interesting is some of the demographic data, I'd say very useful for those selling via auction. [[LINK:Car Auctions,http://www.auctionfinder.com.au/cat/car-auctions.html]] Car auction information and resources [[LINK:Computer Auctions,http://www.auctionfinder.com.au/cat/computer-auctions.shtml]] Laptop computer auction information and resources

Ever Hear of US Gov't GSA Public Auto Auctions?? Although you may not have heard of this type of auction before, GSA auctions have been around for a while and are a good place to get a great deal on a vehicle. GSA stands for General Service Administration. It is an agency in the US government that, according to acting Director David Bibbs, "is to help other US agencies better serve the public by meeting their needs for products and services, and, to (help) simplify access to government information and services." One of the services they provide are [[LINK:auto auctions,http://www.auctionfinder.com.au/cat/car-auctions.html]]. So why does GSA sell vehicles? GSA purchases vehicles "in bulk", i.e., it purchases "bunches" of vehicles at once and then leases them out to different government agencies. When the lease expires, these vehicles are sold to the general public at GSA auctions, which allows the GSA to re-coup some of their expenses and re-invest in more vehicle purchases. Benefits of purchasing a vehicle at a GSA auction: 1.) American made vehicles - trucks, cars, SUV, police car, buses and many other types (approximately 40,000 vehicles to choose from per year) 2.) Vehicles are generally well maintained (by the US Gov't). These are not specialized vehicles or repossessed. 3.) Vehicles generally have low mileage 4.) Vehicles are generally 3 to 5 years old 5.) Vehicles generally sell at or around wholesale prices with no extra buyer fees. All in all, if you are in the market for a great used vehicle at a great price, check out GSA public auctions. To find out where you can get more information on GSA auctions and other vehicle auctions, simply send a blank e-mail to gsaaa@GetMoreInfo.net Bruce Dinger is a budding entrepreneur and is the author of many articles on a variety of topics. http://howtosavetimeandmoney.com

Competition for ebay's slice of the pie is truly heating up and the heat is being felt. Quarterly profit at eBay has risen 53 percent in the past four quarters comparing to 2002 profit boost of 235 percent. Their stock price has dropped on investor concern about slowing profit growth and increased competition. Google has recently launched Google Base where users can post classified ads and job postings for free. Pressure could also be felt from Googles popular adword system. Apparently development is also underway for an online payment system and with Googles brand trust this would be a huge threat to the ebay owned Pay Pal. Speculators also ponder whether Google Base is the precurser of a complete online auction system. Hmmmmm.... At Amazon.com they now have a Marketplace where you can list used items for sale at no cost until sale. Amazon collects the payment and sends the profits to you - Simple. Add to those two the vast amount of auction centres going online and it's easy to see that ebay needs to throw down some more of it's marketing genius.

Auction snipering is gaining popularity at online auctions with companies now offering snipering services.

Snipering is the process of watching an auction and waiting for the very last minute to place a bid. Companies are now offering services that are synchronised with the online auction centres clock and tied to computer systems that at the very last possible moment place the unexpected bid usually the winning one.

This can be a downside for sellers as they are not part of the bidding prior to the auctions close time.

Some of the auction sniping sites charge a monthly fee and for as little as ten dollars you can get a months sniping. Some pogramming savy bidders have also coded there own programs to run on their home systems to take care of the sniping. This also has another benefit that you dont have to be sitting around waiting and watching.

Some online auction centres are curving this by a policy of last minute bids extending the auction giving the opposing bidder an opportunity to counter bid.

Other systems being discussed are a 'sealed bid option' where the bidder can lodge in advance there maximum bid which remains unknown to the rest of the world.

Still early days for this technique and im sure it will bring on change.

Online auctions in the automotive industry are growing more and more popular everyday. And it's easy to see why. The auctioneer can gain access to a wider demographic and reduce costs involved with selling in traditional methods. For the buyer they can simply logon review the vehicles and bid in real time without having to travel. In recent news Turners Auctions of New Zealand will soon hold live auctions where from the net you will be able to bid in competition with live bidders at the auction. For the net bidder they will have real time video and audio of the auction. Sellers can also advertise there vehicles at places like ebay, Autoby Auction in the UK, Bid on Cars - UK or even bid on damaged cars in Japan at Hanamaru Damaged Car Auction. Its not to hard to see that it wont take long and [[LINK:online car auctions,http://www.auctionfinder.com.au/cat/car-auctions.html]] will be where your next car may come from!

Remember the good old fashioned auction where you rocked up and could crawl all over the goods, picking and pocking at it to see whether there was something wrong with it? I remember when people where reluctant to buy things from auction for the fear of buying someone else's problems even when they could inspect it before auction including the fact that most reputable auction houses even did some kind of pre inspection on goods and let you know there was something wrong with it. And now. Now you can go to online auction centers and buy anything you can think of from just about any part of the world. How times change. Well .... what changed? Was it the convienience of easily being able to locate goods? Or the fact you didnt have to wait for auction day as there are auctions taking place every minute of the day. Or the rise and rise of the internet as a shopping tool. Or brand name marketing that gained consumer trust and the mass marketing of it's services namely e bay. Going to have to research that one. Looking around traditional [[LINK:auction,http://www.auctionfinder.com.au/cat/computer-auctions.shtml]] centres they all have websites now (and what business shouldn't) and most have some kind of online auction system in place as well as there traditional style. So how long will it be before they all move to online?