Can Learning Be Fun? Kids Educational Game Reviews Help You Decide

As a parent, there are a lot of games out there for kids – some are merely for fun, while others promise to be educational as well. So how do you know if the game or toy you’re buying really is an educational one? There are plenty of choices out there, and selecting the right kids educational games really come down to taking into account your child’s interests, ages and abilities. You can easily wade through the thicket of games on your own or you can read prodcut reivews that can steer you in the right direction.

You can go to a major online retailer of games and search for educational games – you’re usual options will be to sort by price or perhaps by age. Unfortunately, though, those criteria aren’t enough to know if the game you’re getting is really all that educational in nature. That’s why it can be a good idea to turn to sites that have game reviews for you.

Kids love to play all kinds of games, whether it be board games, video games or electronic games. So it’s natural to want to turn their love games into an educational tool. Kids educational game reviews will help you narrow down the selection because they have been written by kids and parents who have purchased and used the games. These reviews will help save you time and money as you’ll be sure to buy only the right educational games for your kids.

Educational game reviews will help you select the right product for your child. You’ll be able to see if a heavily advertised or best-selling toy is really educational or just entertaining. Don’t forget that you can also go online and check out reviews of educational books and websites. It seems like new ones are popping up every day and you’ll want to know if sighing up is really worth your time.

If you want to be sure you’re spending your toy dollars wisely and getting learning value for your child, then be sure to check out kids educational game reviews online – it’s a simple as typing the phrase into your favorite browser and seeing which review sites pop up.

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A Home Based Business, A Great Idea To Earn Money While You Are in College

When you are in college it can be hard to balance everything-studying, working, friends, etc. If you are one of those students that have to have a job during college, you know how hard it is to balance everything without messing something up… that’s why, in my opinion; a home based business is great for college students. A home based business is not one of the regular types of jobs. A home based business will not make your life harder, actually…it s going to make it easier and I will tell you immediately why.

You can fit with your job around your school schedule- This is one of the best reasons why working from home in college is great. You can fit 100% into your own schedule! You can build your business around your classes, social events, or if you cannot work a certain day of the week, you don`t have to and there is no boss that will tell you that you have to be there no matter what.

You can work from home. Imagine a job where you working outfit are…your pyjamas! That’s the beauty of a home based business. The fact that you can stay home! You don’t have to spend money on gas, or energy on going and returning from job you don’t like. A home based business can be done from any place…your dorm, your apartment, etc.

You can make a ton of money – you can earn lots of cash. Many people that work through college don t have jobs that pay a lot. What so great about home based business is that you can make tons of money while still being in school. How much money? Enough to pay for your books, classes, food, clothing, living expenses and still having money to save for the future. A home based business is great for that period when you try to figure it out what career you wish to have and is a better alternative than waiting tables.

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Home-Based-Business – Means Giving Up Your Day Job Mentality

Home based business and a day job mentality just do not mix. A job mentality is getting up in the morning and going out to put in an 8 and one half hour work day. When the work day is done you come home to relax, put your feet up and forget about the workplace until the next day when you start all over again. Jobs and the tasks you are expected to carry out are clearly spelled out when you accept the job. All of that changes when you work for yourself. You must understand that owning a home based business means giving up your day job mentality.Dreaming of work at home often includes a scene where you are sitting in an easy chair sipping coffee with the phone at your side. If that phone is not ringing off the hook then you are dreaming about a vacation not a work at home business.Those who have always worked for someone else should be aware that there are things that you will definitely miss when you work at home. Failing to consider the things you have always taken for granted in your job could have a negative impact on your attitude about owning a home based business.5 Things You May Miss About Your Job:1. Regular hours and paid overtime if you have to work late
2. Days off during which you have no job responsibilities
3. Assigned coffee and lunch breaks
4. Paid vacation
5. Social interaction with co-workersWhen you have a job your responsibilities are clearly outlined for you and your co-workers. You all know what is expected every minute of the day. There is an expectation that the tasks within your job description will be completed by the end of the day. Tasks that do not fall within your job description will be completed by someone else. You know when you can stop for coffee or lunch breaks and while you are on a break someone else will carry the workload until you return. You know when your workday ends and if you have to work longer you expect to be well paid for staying late.When your work day is over you can leave the job behind and go home. You do not have to worry about the costs of running a business and making sure that the overhead costs are taken care of. You do not have to worry about paying the bills, cleaning the office or washing the windows unless, of course, that is what you were hired to do.You may or may not have input into decisions that impact the workplace. Either way an employee is not the sole decision maker. The employer is the decision maker and he will take the blame or the responsibility for the outcomes, good or bad. Professional support and supervision are generally available if an employee needs help or guidance. The social aspect, networking and camaraderie amongst employees can help to make the workday enjoyable.As an employee, you exchange your skills for a set amount of money. You always know how much you will earn on any given day and your payday is as regular as clockwork. You may be living from what paycheck to paycheck but the knowledge that you have a stable income paid to you on a regular basis can be comforting. If you are good at budgeting you may even be able to put some money away for retirement. Unfortunately, too many people with jobs live beyond their means and get caught up in a cycle of debt that keeps them chained to their job well beyond retirement. Debt is a trap that kills dreams.The “dream” of work at home rarely takes into account the things that you will miss if you do not have a job to go to everyday. Work at home can be very rewarding, but, like anything else, there will also be challenges to face and overcome. Your attitudes and expectations will have a huge impact on your ability to let go of your job mentality so you can have a successful home based business.

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Home Based Business Opportunity – What Everybody Ought to Know About Working From Home

There are many home based business strategies being taught to that work effectively to create more income. Being taken in by some of the most common home business mistakes can cost the marketers a large portion of the profit they could otherwise have made. Sometimes people think there is a magic formula that is readily available to make the business successful. A lot of the business activities can be found easily when you belong to an affiliate business.Possible tactics to build your business1. Putting together your list – Offer incentives to your prospects to encourage them to subscribe to your newsletters. You can offer free software, access to exclusive services and other freebies that will be helpful to your prospects.2. Finding Customers – Only 1 out of 100 people are likely to buy your product or get your services. So you must generate 1,000 targeted hits for your website in a day in order to get about 10 sales based on the average statistic.3. Construct An Opt-In Email List – Offer free reports, ebooks or services to enhance your customer’s use of your offers.4. Time Dedication – Decide whether you are going to work part-time or full-time. Online home business does not building itself, consistent time and effort is required.Take the time to analyze your marketing strategy and keep checking to make sure you stay on track. This program gives everybody a chance to make a profit through the internet as long as one possess, discipline and the willingness to invest time and effort. When you own an affiliate home based business, there are no bosses to order you or employees around, you are the boss.You can establish yourself as a credible expert in the field by posting relevant and useful articles which will help you make a more trustworthy endorser of the product or service you promote. When you implement some good habits to build your business you won’t make some of the most common mistakes that usually cost the marketers a large portion taken from the profit they are making everyday in their home based business opportunity.

Home Based Business Opportunity

If you are looking for a business opportunity and not sure what where you are heading, then you might want to consider home base business There are 3 major factors why home base business is the best business opportunity.a) First and foremost important factor is your time. Home base business allow us control our own time. We can set aside our office hours. Be it day time or night time. As long as we can maintain discipline it will be fine. The most important part is to fix a period of time, your business hours. Having a fix business hours is very important. It allows us focus on our objective and works. Its all fall back to our own productivity. The bottom line, your office hours is flexible. You can set your office hours base on your preference.b) Setting up a home base business will cost only a small amount of investment. Far cheaper than having a brick and mortar business In addition monthly overhead is also minimal. In most cases you don’t really need to make a loan to finance you new business If you really tight on the budget, you can start your business on part time basis. More like testing the water. During this “training” period you can learn lot of the business factors. You won’t find any of those knowledge from a manuals or ebooks. It is very useful and important experience.c) Remember this is your own business The more effort you put in the bigger the potential return. It is a great feeling to see how you very own effort turn to money. Nothing is more rewarding than that.Home based business gives us flexibility which other business model don’t offer. Working from home is no longer a myth, it is for real.

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Appealing Business Personal Property Tax Assessments in Texas

“Collecting more taxes than is necessary is legalized robbery.” These words of wisdom, spoken by the 13th president of the United States, Calvin Coolidge, still ring true in today’s society for homeowners and business owners. Robbery may seem like a harsh word, but what would you say if someone tried to sell you one-year-old motel sheets for 90% of the original cost? Based on the appraisal district’s depreciation schedule, this is a fair deal.Most people would not consider this a fair deal and either reject the offer or request a lower price. This should be the same thought process when the appraisal district overassesses your business personal property (BPP). Texas law requires business owners to report BPP, personal property used for the production of income, to the appraisal district for assessment and taxation. Although there are no criminal penalties for not complying with the law, there is a penalty of 10% of the taxes. For example, if you have a BPP account assessed for $100,000, your annual BPP taxes are $3,000, based on a 3% tax rate. The 10% penalty for this BPP account would be $300 ($3,000 times 10% equals $300).The huge range of assessed value for business personal property (BPP) makes obtaining substantial property tax reductions highly probable. It is not unusual for the range of assessed value for BPP accounts for similar properties to vary by 5,000%! For example, furniture and computers for companies within the same office building sometimes vary from $1 to $50 per square foot. Market value and unequal appraisal are two options for appealing BPP assessments. Given the inequity in BPP assessments and the subjectivity of valuing BPP, property owners have a high probability of success when properly prepared for a BPP assessment appeal. Protest both market value and unequal appraisal.How to appeal?To appeal your BPP, you can either use the Comptroller’s form, or send a letter to the appraisal review board (ARB) on or before May 31st of each year. The protest letter to the ARB should identify the property and the reason for your protest (section 41.44d of the Texas Property Tax Code).Tips:· Since the appraisal district’s staff tends to become more motivated to resolve appeals later in the season versus earlier in the season, it is better to appeal or protest on May 31st or shortly before the deadline date.· Even if you do not receive a notice of assessed value for your BPP account, it is still important to send a written notice of appeal or protest. The appraisal district does not have to send a notice of your assessed value if the value does not change by more than $1,000. If the notice of assessed value gets lost in the mail, and you do not send a protest notice, you lose your right to appeal for the current year.When sending a notice of appeal to the ARB, also send the appraisal district a House Bill 201 request. House Bill 201 refers to section 41.461 of the Texas Property Tax Code that allows property owners to obtain a copy of any evidence the appraisal district plans to use at the ARB hearing 14 days before the hearing. This request prohibits the appraisal district from using any information that was not provided to the property owner 14 days before the ARB hearing.Market Value, Book Value & Comptroller ScheduleThree popular options for describing value for BPP are: market value, book value, and the Comptroller’s schedule. Market value is defined in section 1.04(7) of the Texas Property Tax Code that reads as follows:”Market value” means the price at which a property would transfer for cash or its equivalent under prevailing market conditions if:(a) exposed for sale in the open market with a reasonable time for the seller to find a purchaser,(b) Both the seller and the purchaser know of all the uses and purposes to which the property is adapted and for which it is capable of being used and of the enforceable restrictions on its use, and(c) Both the seller and the purchaser seek to maximize their gains and neither is in a position to take advantage of the exigencies of the other.Let’s compare the differences in value resulting from using market value, book value and the Comptroller’s schedule. The BPP for a typical motel room includes items such as bedding, linens, window air-conditioning unit, towels and a television. Based on market value, after one year, these types of items could probably only be sold for 10% to 30% of the original cost. Book value, based on federal depreciation schedules, indicates a value of 80% of the purchase price after one year. The Texas Comptroller’s schedule for BPP for motels has an eight-year life with 10% depreciation for the first seven years. Hence, the Comptroller schedule indicates one-year old hotel furnishings are worth 90% of their original purchase price. This is clearly inconsistent with market value for these items.InventoryThere are a number of controversial issues related to how inventory is assessed. These include shrinkage, damage, functional obsolescence and economic obsolescence. For example, what is the market value of merchandise returned during the week after Christmas on January 1st (the effective date for valuation)? Since returned merchandise has usually been opened, damaged, missing parts or may be an unpopular item, it is worth less than cost in many cases. Market value is relevant in determining the assessed value for inventory for Texas BPP taxes.Unequal appraisalAssessed values for BPP accounts often range from ten-times to fifty-times on a per square foot basis for companies in the same industry. For example, real estate brokerage offices, which have 10,000 square feet of office space, may have assessments ranging from $10,000-$500,000. It seems unlikely that the computers and furniture in one brokerage office are 50 times as valuable as those in a competitor’s firm on a per square foot basis.Appraisal districts tend to accept the assessed value rendered by property owners. Many large companies render using fixed asset listings. Appraisal districts use the cost basis information and the Comptroller’s schedule to calculate the “market value” for property. The valuations for these rendered accounts tend to grossly distort the actual value of these properties. Property owners who do not render have values on the lower end of the range of value. While it seems intuitive that appraisal districts would penalize owners who do not render by sharply increasing their assessed values, the practice is the opposite. Appraisal districts tend to reward property owners who do not render by leaving their assessed values at modest levels. This creates a disincentive to render. It also unequally taxes property owners who render with a fixed asset listing. These factors have caused a high degree of dispersion in BPP assessed values.How To Appeal On Unequal AppraisalContrary to popular belief, it is possible to appeal BPP utilizing unequal appraisal, a concept that is fairly new. Most property tax consultants and large property owners have not considered or utilized unequal appraisal regarding BPP. Appraisal districts are resistant to the concept of appealing BPP based on unequal appraisal. (It is inappropriate to tax property owners who render using a fixed asset listing at the highest level, based on utilizing the Comptroller schedule, when allowing property owners who do not render very lean levels of assessment.)Preparing an appeal based on unequal appraisal for BPP is simple and straightforward. Start by obtaining information on the assessed value, and amount of office space/manufacturing or warehouse space for property owners similar to the subject property owner. This is typically done by using companies with the same Standard Industrial Code (SIC) as the subject property owner. You can obtain this information by sending an open records request to the appraisal district. When appealing, research the assessed value for your competitors. Compile data regarding the assessed value and building area for the subject and comparable accounts into a summary:
When should you appeal?Appeal annually on market value and unequal appraisal. To effectively appeal on these two options, research unequal appraisal based on assessment comparables on the appraisal district’s web site and evaluate the market value of your BPP. After reviewing both the unequal appraisal and market value options, determine your primary focus for appealing your BPP account. If neither market value nor unequal appraisal provides a basis for appealing your property taxes, you can withdraw the notice of protest or just skip the hearing.Tips for your hearing (Informal & ARB)Informal hearing· First meet with the appraiser and politely explain the basis for your adjustment. Give the appraiser a copy of your evidence and explain it in a methodical way.· The appraiser will review your information and the information he/she has available, and will then likely make an offer to settle. Consider the appraiser’s offer and explain why your evidence is better than his/her evidence, and again request your value or a value between your value and his/her value.· You will quickly learn the lowest value the appraiser is willing to accept. At this point, you need to either agree to that value or proceed to the Appraisal Review Board (ARB) hearing.· If you settle the appeal at the informal level, you will not be able to pursue an ARB hearing or a judicial appeal. However, it does resolve the issue in a timely manner.ARB hearing· Introduction of the two parties at the hearing
· Explanation of the hearing process
· Property description (address any errors in the description of your property after the appraiser’s description of your property)
· Property owner presentation
· Questions from the ARB panel members
· Appraisal district presentation
· Rebuttal and closing evidence from the property owner
· ARB announces its decisionSummary Points· Annual appeals will minimize your BPP property taxes.
· There are huge differences between the market value estimated by the Comptroller’s schedule and actual market value.
· Based on excessive assessments for BPP for companies who render using a fixed asset listing, a low percentage of property owners who render and the low assessed values for property owners who do not render, there are rich opportunities for appealing BPP by using unequal appraisal.

Personal Finance – Takes Cares of All Your Needs

What is wrong in deriving sort of financial assistance? when you have access to so many financial options, you will definitely like to meet your various needs and desires. Among all the loan options available, it is the personal finance which is very much in demand at present. Under this financial scheme, you have the support to fulfill any personal need or desire.

You are free to obtain the finance and utilize it for a number of purposes. Be it meeting regular day to day expenses or indulging in luxuries. You can use the finance to cover expenses on home renovation, educational purposes, wedding, going for a holiday tour, purchasing car, consolidating debts and so on.

Based on your specific need and requirement, you can avail these loans in secured and unsecured form. The secured form of the loans can be obtained by placing any valuable asset such as home, land, property, car or any other important document as collateral. it is because of collateral pledging that you get to comfortable rates and a long repayment term. Under this option, you can avail a bigger amount in the range of £5000-£75000 or more for a repayment duration that spans over a period of 5- 25 years.

In case you are not willing to pledge any valuable asset, then you can opt for unsecured option of the finances. To avail it, there is no need to attach any collateral. the unsecured option is very much popular among the borrowers like tenants and non homeowners. Based on your income and repaying capability, an amount in the range of £1000-£25000 for a short repayment tenure of 6months- 10 years.

Those with bad credit such as CCJs, IVA, arrears, defaults etc can also avail these loans. However to reduce the risk factor, a high rate of interest is charged. Although a proper research of the loan market will enable you to obtain competitive rates.

Further by taking a extensive research of the online will assist you to avail the finances at relatively low rates. The finance is very easy to access and by comparing the free quotes of various lenders; you can easily come across lenders offering cheap rates.

With personal finance, you can obtain finance at comfortable terms so as to fulfill your various needs in a convenient way.

Starting a Small Business – How to Work Smart, Not Hard

More people dream about starting a small business than they do about going to college or seeking promotion.

However, owning a small business is more than just a full time job, it can become your lifestyle.

The lifestyle you create depends on the small business that you create. It is important to find the best small business to start.

There are two types of businesses namely the one where you have to work incredibly hard or the other where you work smart and not hard.

Owing a small business can become your life if you are not careful and disciplined. For example a typical store owner can be in demand twenty four hours a day. His or her day doesn’t end when they go home or when the store closes. Even if they are fortunate enough to be able to afford sufficient staff and are able to successfully delegate, it can be difficult to find staff that you can trust. There are times when it can seem that everyone needs their attention – the staff, the customers, the reps, the family and even the mobile phone. Often business owners are seen to the outside world as being wealthy, prosperous and extremely lucky. Little do they know the hard work and effort required to succeed in a small business. There can be many sleepless nights and worry over how to pay the bills, wages and to buy new stock not to mention the responsibility for the health and safety of staff to comply with the Employment Law. There are also the issues of ensuring equal opportunities and of paying the business taxes and insurances on time on top of bank loans for the business. No wonder many small business owners have health problems due to the pressures that they face.

There is however another type of small business that is less costly to set up and less stressful to run namely a home based small business. The main advantage of this type of business is that it is open to ordinary people as most small businesses can be run from any small room in a house like a study, bedroom or even a garage without incurring huge costs that other businesses and franchises incur. There are no costs for staffing, travelling or rent for the business premises. The turnover, profits and return on your investment can be as big or small as you choose. There are no limits to what you can achieve with this type of small business.

The Finer Points of Internet Auctions

WHAT IS A PENNY AUCTION?

Penny auctions have exploded in popularity with the massive growth of the internet. However, few people know the true origins of penny auctions.Beginnings actually stretch back to the Great Depression. Those were hard times for everyone, but even harder for farmers. Farmers struggled to bring in steady income because of droughts and crops not selling as well as they had previously. As a result, the banks would foreclose on the farmers who couldn’t keep up with their mortgage payments.

The banks weren’t satisfied with just repossessing the house, they wanted to raise as much capital as possible, so they resorted to selling off the possessions of the owners of the repossessed houses. There was not much the farmers could do about it so they began bidding ridiculously low prices, pennies, on the items while threatening others who dared to bid higher than a few pennies.

The auctions of today hardly resemble their tremulous beginnings. Being part of a penny auction today is exhilarating, fun, and addictive. It combines the selling format of auctioning with a little bit of chance factored in.Auctions are a game of strategy but also a game of luck.

The premise behind penny auctions is giving people the chance to win an item at a drastically reduced price.Auctions make that possible by spreading out the cost of the product among multiple bidders. In order for a person to take part in an auction, they must pay a set price for each bid. For example, if a person wanted to bid on a fifty dollar Amazon gift card then he would spend a dollar for each time a bid placed. If he ended up winning the gift card, then he would only have spent a few dollars for a fifty dollar gift card. Usually penny auctions sell bids in packages.

HOW PENNY AUCTIONS WORK!

The main foundation of penny auctions is the pay-per-bid format. It is the key that allows bidders to win items at the fraction of their retail value and allows the auction owners to keep their site profitable. Most y auction sites run on the same premise: people pay a set amount for each bid, whenever a person places a bid within the closing seconds of the auction time will be added, the last person left with a unique bid after the clocks runs out will win the item. There are a large variety of items that can be won, but they tend to be popular electronics or gift cards to popular stores.

There are two types of auctions: lowest unique bid auction and highest unique bid auction. Lowest unique auction sounds confusing but it is actually quite simple. A unique bid is when only one person has a bid at a certain price. Bids usually start at one penny, a bidder can then place a bid at two pennies. Until another bidder places a higher bid, the most recent bidder will be the lowest unique bid because that was the only bid at two cents and nobody bid higher. However, penny auctions generally don’t stop at one penny. It is not uncommon to find auctions that end up at a couple hundred dollars based on the popularity of the item being auctioned. However, the same principles apply for those auctions. Highest unique bid auctions follow the more traditional auction format such as eBay. The person with the highest bid at the end of the auction wins the item.

Auction site owners turn a profit by selling bids. Say twenty people are bidding on a ten dollar gift card at one dollar per bid, at the end of the auction if there were twenty bids placed in total then the site owner would have made twenty dollars with a ten dollar profit.Auctions do seem like a win-win situation:The site owner makes money while the bidder gets an item for dirt cheap. However, not everyone wins in penny auctions. The people who paid one dollar each bid but left with nothing to show for their investments will not be so happy.

HOW TO WIN!

Penny auction has a lot of chance mixed into it, but one can incorporate strategy that will help raise the chances of winning. Playing smart can make all the difference between gambling and auctioning.

The first crucial tip to winning penny auctions is to know how to manage your bids. Your goal should be to win as much as possible without spending a ton of money buying bids. Managing your bids means that you should already know how much you are willing to risk in order to win an item. The amount of capital you are willing to risk will determine how many bids you can use. Once you know how many bids you have to spend on an item, then you will be better able to manage how and when you place a bid. That will keep you from blowing away all of your bids in the first few seconds of the auction.

The next tip is to practice time management. When fighting in the trenches of penny auctions, you have two enemies: other bidders and time. Knowing when to bid is a must if you want to have success. Placing a bid when there is a lot of time left on the clock is never a good idea. You have to remember that the key to winning a penny auction is being the last one standing when the clock runs out and that each bid increases the amount of time left. It would be a good practice to wait until the last few minutes of the auction before you begin to bid.

The final tip for successful auctioning is to keep your emotions under control.Auctions have a lot of similarities to gambling, and just like gambling, your spending can get out of control. If you keep your emotions level, it will keep you from making rash decisions and blowing loads of cash. Keep your mind clear so that you can gage the behavior of the other bidders and outsmart them.

HOW TO AVOID SCAM SITES!

Penny auctions are a great addition to the web whether you want to win an item that otherwise you wouldn’t be able to afford or if you simply enjoy the thrill that comes with bidding in auctions. Unfortunately, scam sites have tarnished the reputation of the legitimate penny auction sites. However, there are ways that you can protect yourself from scamers and enjoy your auctioning without having to worry about losing your money due to dishonesty.

Checking the reputation of the auction site before you start spending your hard earned money is always a good idea. Chances are other people have tried the site before you and some of them have left reviews. The reviews are your way to gage whether a auction site is trustworthy or not. If a site is getting overwhelmingly negative reviews, then that is a clear indication that you should steer your business elsewhere.

Another tool you can use to protect yourself is checking the Alexia ranks of the auction sites. Alexia rank will give a solid view of how much traffic the auction is getting. If you see a huge difference in the amount of traffic Alexia is projecting and the amount of active bidders on the site, then warning signals should be ringing in your head. Some auction sites have been known to set up robots that automatically bid on projects in order to keep the auction going and inflate the price. That is known as shill bidding. You can sniff out those sites by comparing the traffic the site should be getting to the amount of users using this site.

CONCLUSION!

New legislation may come out later down the road that will officially make penny auctions gambling, but until then, it is a fun, exciting auction that allows one to win the item they’ve always wanted but couldn’t afford.Auctions are also quite lucrative for the site owners because of the pay-per-bid strategy they’ve incorporated. Penny auctions had humble beginnings with farmers who just wanted to get back at the banks who kicked them out of their house. More recently, auctions have enjoyed an explosion in popularity with the rise of the internet.

There are two main formats fora auctions, lowest and highest unique auction, however they both run on the same premise where the last unique bid wins the item. Winning a penny auction will require a certain amount of mental tactic and a bit of luck. However, you can increase your odds of winning by practicing certain techniques such as managing your bids wisely, learning how to work with the time, and keeping a level head and your emotions under control. When you combine those three strategies to your bidding plan, you will find that you win a lot more often.

It is important that you do your due diligence to protect yourself when participating in auctions. Not every auction is run by honest and trustworthy people. There are people out there who just want to take your money. You can protect yourself by ensuring that you only bid on sites that already have a very positive reputation from real users.

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How to Find Great Live Auctions for Resale Items

Hi, my name is Walt. I’m an auctioneer with 25 years of experience in the auction business and licensed in the state of MA. I own Quick Auction Service, a company that specializes in building and running custom auctions, I’m also the webmaster of my own site and have been on eBay for 8 years. Besides eBay, the types of auctions I run most frequently are antiques and on-site estate auctions, although I’ve run everything from business overstock auctions to charity & special event auctions.

I enjoy sharing my knowledge and stories of the auction business. My goal for article is to help folks get the absolute most out of their auction experience.

Whether your fresh out of the package or a seasoned dealer I think I can offer something in this article to help you with your auciton adventures.

There may be as many reasons to attend auctions as there are types of auctions to attend. Maybe you want to attend an auction to buy items for re-sale on eBay, or some other market. Maybe you want to furnish your home with wonderful antiques, or you want to furnish your home as inexpensively without sacrificing quality.Some folks are just looking for a fun night out. With a little perseverance all these things are possible.

There are antiques and estate auctions, auto auctions, overstock auctions, absolute and no reserve auctions, real estate auctions, specialty auctions where only one genre of items are sold, tailgate auctions, live auctions, online auctions, sealed bid auctions, silent auctions, charity and fund raising auctions and many more.

Can you really buy for pennies on the dollar at an auction? You bet! Many times I’ve seen folks buy and re-sell at the same auction on the same night for a good profit, although be advised, this should only be done after the auction is over.

There are a lot of ways to find an auction, but here are some tips on how to find and attend the best ones.

Visit the genre of shops in the area that apply to the type of auction you want to attend. IE: If your looking for a good antique auction to attend, stop in the local antiques shops and ask for what there are for good auctions in the area. Sounds obvious right? But listen to what they don’t say as well as what they do say. Oftentimes when a dealer speaks poorly about an auction he or she attends, it may be likely that they are trying to keep a good thing secret. Think for a moment, why would a dealer keep attending a lousy auction?

Newspaper ads: I personally like to find ads in the classified ad section rather than flashy display ads. Flashy ads are usually indicative of an auction that will be high priced, may have reserves, (a set price on an item), and usually an enormous crowd. While any auction can be profitable to attend, it is usually best to steer clear of the glitzy ones, at least for the beginner.

Here’s the minimum you want to find out before you go. If there is a phone number in the ad, call and ask for the terms of the sale. What forms of payment do they accept? Is it an absolute auction? An absolute auction is one that has no minimum or reserve bids on items. These are the best auctions to attend! Is there a buyers premium? A buyers premium is like a tax that everyone who makes purchases at that auction must pay above the winning bid price. Most auctions these days do charge a buyers premium, 10% is not unreasonable but I feel much more than that is greedy, and the auctioneer that charges over 10% is counting on most bidders not doing the extra math as the bids quicken in pace.

A fair auction will have ample time to inspect the merchandise, usually at least 2 or 3 hours. Find out when inspection starts and make sure to attend! Never attend an auction if you can’t make the inspection, not unless your prepared to gamble. Most auctioneers sell at a rate of about 100 items per hour, which is why they sell “as is”. They simply don’t have the time to give a detailed description of all the items. Since almost all items at auction are sold AS IS, there are sure to be some damaged, refinished, fake and incomplete items at any given auction. Beware of any auctions that offer very little or no inspection time.

Good auctions will usually have 150 to 400 lots. A lot may be one item or a group of items. The exception to this are specialty auctions, auto auctions, real estate auctions etc.

When you attend your first sale, take note of the 1/2 dozen or so dealers that buy the most often. See if you can find out about other area auctions they attend.

When you do find an excellent auction, attend it as often as possible. By frequenting good sales, you help increase the bottom line of that business. It’s difficult for many auctioneers to keep the quality of merchandise consistent, so good attendance certainly helps. And when an auctioneer gets to know you as a buyer, he/she will go out of the way to accommodate you, to keep you coming back.

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