Build an auction on your Web site with Bidland
 
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Want to get into the auction business? Unless you've got very deep pockets, you won't be able to oust eBay, but there are still niche markets where you might want to set up shop as an auction house.
Rather than having to build the whole infrastructure yourself, Bidland.com offers a new hosted service that allows you to get an auction system up and running in 30 minutes for as little as $295 up front and $99 per month plus 5% of sales revenue.
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Bidland constructs your auction system using a wizard-like procedure. You can either integrate the result with your existing site or run the Bidland hosted service as a site in its own right.
This could be very useful, although I think that 5% of sales revenue is a little steep, particularly when you consider that retail margins (4% to 8%) less credit card costs (around 2%) means that net margins may not be workable - unless you are a true Internet operation committed to a funds burn rate wholly unthinkable in the real world.
That said, Bidland is worth checking out if you want to be in the auction business as quickly and cheaply as possible.
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Gibbs is president of Gibbs & Co., and a partner in Brand3, Inc.. He is also affiliated with a number of high tech ventures including Netratings, Inc., and Click2Send, Inc.
Gibbs can be contacted at webapps@gibbs.com.
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