How to Start a Site Like eBay
eBay is the most successful online auction site, and millions of people use eBay to buy and sell goods without ever having to leave their homes. This success has caused many people to wonder about starting their own online auction website, and while today's market is difficult to make such a site successful, it is not impossible. You just have to have some knowledge, skill, creativity and the determination to stick things out.
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Instructions
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Decide what type of niche you want to serve as an auction site for. Starting with a single niche will help you break into the market and give you many more opportunities than starting with an auction site that tries to do everything.
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Locate and secure web hosting. You won't need much bandwidth at first, so you should purchase hosting that offers a good trade-off between space and bandwidth requirements without breaking the bank. A 1GB storage option and 5GB to 10GB of bandwidth per month should be plenty for just starting out, and you can upgrade later on as you need more.
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Purchase or download a free auction script, or hire a programmer to code one for you. This is arguably the most important portion of your website, since it will control the interaction between users, handle the flow of money between users and provide the overall interface that everyone uses. Out of everything that you purchase, this should be something that you don't scrimp on, otherwise it may cost you in the long run.
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Advertise your online auction site. You can do this in newspapers, on other websites and even through word of mouth. The more traffic you can get to your website, the more popular and successful it will become. You may need to purchase advertising space on other websites, and if so, you may want to talk to an advertising company about the economical ways of doing so.
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Tips & Warnings
Start small! The most successful companies on the web started small and expanded as they became popular. One of the biggest mistakes people who are new to the web make is trying to be everything to everyone. Find your niche, and expand from there!
Don't copy the layout of other auction sites like eBay, or you may run afoul of their legal departments. When creating your site, make it unique and fresh so that you don't face any lawsuits claiming copyright infringement.
