Pixelrage.net

In terms of auction software, it’s a pathetic state of affairs – even after years of high demand, nothing out there is worth anyone’s money. If you’re a developer, this is my gift to you: a mega niche that is guaranteed to make you a lot of cash, because you’ll have no real competition.

I started off my college career as a CS (computer science) major back in 1996, hoping to graduate as a coder making mega bucks. While that never worked out due to my hatred of Turbo Pascal and the overall boredom and lack of interest in staring at a blank screen, I now kick myself at the amazing, lucrative opportunities out there for people who can code. Here’s the biggest one of all: tackling niche Content Management Systems.

There are two CMSs I’ve identified that simply don’t exist out there, and I’ve searched for years: 1) a dating website CMS, and 2) an auction site CMS. When I say “don’t exist,” I mean, a valid option that can actually be used for a serious commercial site that both performs and looks great. Regardless, this article is about the latter — auction sites.

Here’s one resounding fact I’ve done in all of my research: one of the most asked for scripts on internet marketing forums, including DigitalPoint (ugh), Warrior Forum et. al., is for auction software, also referred to as “ebay clones.” Google search it, and you’ll see that most if not all of these requests are either left unanswered, or are replied to by some developer from a sketchy country, shilling a link for his own horrible excuse of a script.

Before you submit a comment trying to prove me wrong about there being no such thing as auction software, give me a chance, here! For the record, yes – there are lots of auction software packages out there. And yes, they all suck. All of them…believe me.

Here’s a short list of several factors you have to consider before buying auction software:

1. Can I modify it? If it is a stand-alone CMS, keep in mind that you’re probably going to be at the mercy of the developer while paying for an eternity of fixes, updates and new features, since it will probably be made of compiled code. No thanks. Also, what if the developer is some guy working in his mother’s basement? Is he going to be around in 5+ years from now, still updating his own software? If not, how will you (or a hired freelancer) modify the code?
2. How’s the support? If the development house can’t write or speak English properly, maintain a corporate website that looks like its from the 21st century, or answer posts in their own forum, you might as well discount them as a valid option and save yourself from getting lots of migraines. Many developers are wonderful in the pre-sales stage and turn gemini after you shell over the money. With that being said, the next step is to…
3. Do your due diligence. Don’t ever buy a script before checking reviews for it online, especially at big sites like Hotscripts. Or, just Google “SoftwareName reviews.” Also, be smart enough to notice when a developer gave his own stuff a 5-star rating. Don’t fall for those kinds of jackasses.
4. Beware of anything with the word “clone” after it. That includes “eBay clone” and everything else. Guess what – one genius who created an “eBay clone” got hammered by eBay Inc., as did all of his customers who bought his script, because the CMS was “confusingly similar” in both appearance and features to that of the eBay.com website. Also, the word “clone” is scammy, kind of like the word “torrent,” “serial” or “crack.”
5. “Penny auction” software is a scammy fad. That’s right, it’s kind of like the newest internet craze, just look at sites like SkoreIt and QuiBids. There already are auction software CMSs capitalizing on them. If you didn’t know, “penny auctions” involve users to purchase “credits” in order to bid on auctions, where they can win things like an iPad for only $32. Yet, they spent like $1,100 on auction credits just to get the stupid $32 iPad. It’s a scammy and dishonest system, and undoubtedly a fad we’ll see coming to an end in the near future once the sheep become aware of how generally bad the system is. Stay away from penny auction software.
6. Appearance is everything. Why on earth would you sacrifice having a good looking site for any reason? It’s not only about the fact that impression equals credibility, but also about branding and creating a good looking site that people will remember. Not a piece of crap that was designed by a web developer (all of you web designers out there just laughed when reading that comment…admit it!) I refuse to run an auction site that looks bad.
7. Always view the demo first. It’s all about the demo, it’s the first thing that you, the potential customer, must see before you consider buying anything. If the demo looks like ass, or if it simply doesn’t work or have any example auctions, then you’re probably going to do what I do – click the back button and go back to the SERP.

Without further adieu, here’s what I’ve found when doing a few hours of research for auction software. Keep in mind, most if not all of these contenders has appeared on Google pages 1 and 2 for short-tail terms like “auction software” and “auction cms.” With that in mind, knowing that the following sites are appearing so high up are an indication that there just truly isn’t much of anything out there.

Auction Software that Looks Like Shit

First impressions are everything – that’s where these products fail.

PHP Pro Bid (phpprobid.com): At around $170, it’s one of the most economical options and certainly the most widely known auction software packages out there. You might be impressed with the list of features, but that immediately dissipates when you see the front end demo, which looks like a widescreen nightmare of framed HTML tables and colored heading bars. There was practically no effort in making this software look good or at least modern in any way.

AuctionFlex (auctionflex.com): Costing $1,100 for a single license, you’d expect this to function and look like solid gold…or at least sterling silver. However, it looks like it was one of the first websites you’ve ever visited, back when you were still wearing flannel.

PHP Auction (phpauction.net): It functions well, but design and usability took a back seat. In fact, there’s absolutely no visual appeal to this CMS when I look at it through the eyes of a customer. They give you two options: $379 for a compiled code version, or $946 for an open-source one. Whoever formulated this pricing structure needs to attend Marketing 101.

xcAuction (xcauction.com): Right off the bat, I have a problem with it because it’s ASP. Sorry, I just hate ASP. With that aside, the software design itself looks like it was thrown together in about ten minutes with Dreamweaver. It’s yours for $800.

Auction Software Developers Whose Websites Suck

Sorry if this comes off as immature, but I can’t consider the services of a company who can’t manage a normal looking business website.

Sold II (soldii.com): God almighty, this is the worst website I’ve seen in the past 15 years. Not only does it look worse than some Angelfire personal website from 1995, but it has incomplete sentences and enigmatic navigation. I would be in a state of absolute shock if they even sell one license of their software per year. One fatal flaw: you have to contact a salesman for a software demo — there isn’t even a live demo on the site. What is this, 1996? *looks at website again* – ahh…yes, it is.

Beyond Solutions (beyondsolutions.com): You’re greeted with one of the worst fads of the internet age, which should be burning in hell: the “walk on” video-graphed salesman who starts talking when the site loads. If you can get past that atrocity, as well as the fact that the site template is misaligned, you’ll want to note that the auction software itself is only viewable if you contact a salesman. Good luck with that tactic in the current day. I shake my head at companies like this who are missing so many opportunities because they are acting archaically. From the looks of the screenshots in the header, this is one of the worst looking auction CMS designs I’ve ever seen.

AJ Auction Pro (ajauctionpro.com): I’m going to ignore the fact that this site has horribly written sales copy and many flaws in English grammar, and skip ahead to the actual demo. Wait…what demo? All demos point to dead pages. Fail! From the look of the thumbnail screenshots and the list of features, it appears to actually be a valid package to consider, but if the business owner can’t run a demo page, then I have lost faith in them.

Auctionawy (mewsoft.com): Aside from the terrible product name, the entire site is unpleasant to use and look at. The $175 software itself looks truly dreadful and is completely unusable in a professional setting, unless the look-and-feel is entirely redone from the ground up.

The “I Guess I Have No Choice, So I Might As Well Consider This” Choices

When everything is horrible, you have to pick the best of two evils. Well, here’s what has some promise, but still isn’t worth taking your credit card out for:

Auctionworx (rainworx.com): This is promising, but it’s ASP, which means you can forget about tweaking it. It has a lot of features, but the “look” looks like there was little effort into making it appear pretty in any way. Ironically enough, it’s the least ugly of all other standalone software packages I’ve researched.

ikiAuctions (ikiauctions.com): This software is *almost* there. Lots of great features, a low price of $120, PHP/SQL, and lots of modern features like Google Maps. You may agree, however, that it looks a lot like a circa-2004 link-heavy business directory site. Regardless, chalk this one up as one of the “lesser evils.”

PremiumPress (premiumpress.com): This add-on to WordPress will excite any WordPress fanatic looking to start an auction site. But, don’t get ahead of yourself: the design leaves much to be desired, and there is no way to implement “percentage of final selling price” rule sets, which are so crucial to any auction site webmaster. However, it’s one of the better auction site options, for lack of a better term.

Sitemile (sitemile.com): Yet another package that turns WordPress into an auction site. This one has a superior design to its competitor, PremiumPress, and runs off of a “credit” system that allows you to act as an actual escrow site. In fact, Sitemile’s theme has the best “look and feel” I’ve seen, although you’ll probably want to commission some custom work to make it a truly professional system. Their support is very quick to answer your questions, and does offer freelancing.

What Else Is Available?

I didn’t even bother listing anything that was being marketed as an “eBay clone,” as they’re all either ripoffs or potentially illegal scripts that have infringed on eBay’s site design and trademarks, or have no support, or are sold by someone who is a scam artist.

If none of the choices above are valid, your only option is to hire a freelancer. That topic in itself would require a whole new blog post. Freelancers are not cheap, especially ones you can actually communicate with, or don’t have attitude problems or throw temper tantrums. Also, note that most freelancers who custom develop websites are more than likely terrible web designers, and/or will develop a website that will require you to keep coming back to them for custom fixes and new features, all of which will carry steep hourly rates.

If you truly need a professional auction website for a serious business you’re about to start, the only option is to hire a reputable development team who will recommend AND implement a corporate-caliber CMS, and the total bill between the cost of CMS + labor is going to cost you in the tens of thousands. Unfortunately, it is the most valid route, yet, the impossible one for any at-home entrepreneur who isn’t making six figures.

Why Can’t You Have It All With Today’s Auction Software?

Simply put, web developers make terrible web designers. Every option I’ve researched above will prove this point. Developers and designers both use opposite sides of their brain. They can’t coexist without each other, which is why development firms exist and have both sets of professionals working together.

Also, many of these auction software developers have obviously created software without ever bothering to create a BRD first, and it shows. Nothing about today’s auction software screams “professional.” Either it works great and looks like crap, or it works terribly and looks like crap. Or, it doesn’t have the vital features one would need for a serious auction site.

So, if you’re a developer and can create auction software that can:

• …allow for multiple pricing tiers (% of final selling price based on dollar amount tiers, buy-it-now pricing, other perks as seen on sites like eBay),
• …be effective in terms of marketing, so that the home page can be adorned with seasonal or other changing banners and box ads,
• …actually look beautiful and web 2.0-ish with modern features including geo-targeting and geo-search
• …be integrated with uber-popular platforms like WordPress
• …be able to conduct yourself like an actual business person and offer real support

…then, you’ve got one hell of a niche with a lot of poor competition that you can easily chew up. Just be sure to contact me when you’re done, so that I can buy a license :)