Now those of you who may be doing this already, may wonder where I've been all this time. Well, I was under the ignorant opinion that auctions (I'm not talking about an auction to sell one rocking chair, but auctions as a major business plan) are for special people who could sell the balls in the ballpoint pens, who in turn can hook up with even more special people that would actually BUY them.

However, after reading this book, with a grain of salt, I'm convinced that auctions can make one some serious money. The authors paint a realistic understanding of how auction works and can help you decide if auctioning is for you. Auctioning is ideal business model for someone who has easy and cheap access to a lot of "things" that others may want. Particularly, auctions can be a great help for your business if you have excess inventory or need to quickly liquidate. This is an ideal situation and could make auctioning worth your while. 

If you feel that auctioning is the way to go for you, then you need to concentrate on the five things listed below: 

1. Getting something to sell 
2. Getting people to look at your auctions 
3. Building trust among customers 
4. Maximizing the amount they pay 
5. Providing amazing customer service that builds repeat business 

Auctions appear to be a viable business, with a relatively small amount of money needed to start. Of course getting customers is the other side of this 3-sided coin. The authors are smart to encourage one to follow the eyeballs. Instead of reinventing the wheel, small businesses can instead use existing mass market auction services like Yahoo, Ebay and others. 

Should small businesses drop their existing and successful business plans and start auctioning? Not really.