How to choose a good auction as a seller

Published: July 21, 2021

Updated: July 13, 2021

online auction Japanese auction B2B Auction selling Star Buyers Auction

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When you’re looking to sell in an online auction, you want to sell your company’s luxury watches and jewelry at prices that match their value. One of your best options is to list your items in B2B auctions (auctions involving business-to-business transactions).

But how do you choose a good auction? Let’s explore that here.

Why B2B auctions are gaining popularity around the world

When an antique dealer wants to cash in any items, they have two main options: selling to general customers, or selling to other companies. If the items are extremely rare and valuable, there is also the option of listing them at a long-established auction house, but their auctions have high listing standards that items must meet in order to be listed.
But if you’re listing mass-produced items that are highly valuable but not rare, there are not so many suitable auctions to list them outside Japan.

However, Japan, does have B2B auctions that handle mass-produced, high-value items, and they can be used to cash in at levels equivalent to market price. And, since 2020, these auctions have been conducted online, making it possible to list items from all over the world.

The advantages of B2B online auctions

So what are the advantages of using B2B online auctions?

(1) Make the whole world your sales channel
Online auctions can reach the entire world. You can find buyers from all over the world, without limiting yourself to certain areas.

(2) List items that are hard to sell through your own sales channels
Even if you already have established sales channels of your own, there will be cases where you’re handling an item that doesn’t match their customer base or price range, making it hard to sell. If you want to sell an item like this at an advantage, listing in a B2B online auction is a very good option.

(3) List items that are not handled at high-price auctions
As with the long-established auction houses mentioned above, many items will not meet the listing standards of auctions that focus on high-priced transactions. But B2B auctions handle many genres and have broad listing standards, meaning a wider range of items can be listed.

But B2B auctions handle many types of products and have broad listing standards, meaning a wider range of items can be listed.

What a seller should check when listing in a B2B auction

So if you want to list in a B2B auction as a seller, what kind of auction should you choose? These are the six questions you need to ask.

(1) Is there a large number of buyers?
Auction prices are more likely to rise when there are more buyers. Also, if the participants are diverse in terms of nationality and sales channels, it’s much more likely that there will be buyers who value the items, making it easier to attract bids.

(2) Are the cross-border sales procedures simple?
In global auctions, the successful bid often comes from a buyer from another country. These cases involve cross-border sales, which require various procedures that can take a lot of time and effort. You should check whether the auction service offers sufficient proxy support and language support.

(3) Is there sufficient time and resources for buyers to assess value?
The preliminary inspection and bidding periods should be long enough to give buyers sufficient time to review many listings and assess their value. It is also important to have a means to confirm the product details. This means more opportunities for buyers to confirm the items and to recognize their value, which leads to higher bid rates.

(4) Is the bid acceptance rate high?
Check the bid acceptance rate of the auction you’re considering. If it’s high, that means that buyers trust the auction and that the market is active. If buyers trust an auction, it’s because it has many sellers listing high-quality items and auction operators who provide thorough follow-up, giving them peace of mind.

(5) Are there any privacy concerns?
From the perspective of customer and competitor relationships, you don’t want people to be able to determine who listed what items, how much they sold for, and other such information. It’s a good idea to confirm that transactions can be conducted anonymously, without disclosing personal or company names, so you can be sure that the auction operator is serious about privacy.

(6) Is the listing process low-effort?
Listing can be a very involved process. Beyond creating product information and taking product photos, once bidding is over, someone needs to pack and ship the items and collect payment. It’s also smart to check whether you can outsource services like information registration, shipping, and payment to the auction operator.

Many sellers choose Star Buyers Auction because it meets all six of these conditions

Many sellers choose Star Buyers Auction because it meets all six of these conditions.

(1) Many buyers participate from all over the world
Star Buyers Auction has approximately 1,300 corporate participants (as of May 2021), including many notable partners, and it is growing rapidly.

(2) No need for cross-border sales procedures
Even if the winning bidder is from outside the country, all cross-border sales procedures will be handled by Star Buyers Auction. This means that the seller doesn’t have to worry about the language barrier, exchange rates, or other differences.

(3) Long periods of preliminary review and bidding
The preliminary inspection and bidding periods are six to seven days each. This gives buyers plenty of time to carefully compare, consider, and make bids, increasing the chances of a high winning bid.

(4) Bid acceptance rate of 90% or above
Star Buyers Auction has a bid acceptance rate of 90% or above. This is higher than other auctions, so you can expect a high bid acceptance rate on listed items.

(5) Strict privacy protection
To protect the privacy of our partners, Star Buyers Auction operates throughout the whole market without disclosing the seller’s or buyer’s names.

(6) Completely online, from listing reservation to shipping
Star Buyers Auction handles many of the tasks related to auction listings. All you need to do to list an item is fill in minimal information because you can have Star Buyers Auction issue product information paperwork, take pictures, pack and ship the item, and even collect the payment for you.

If you have something you want to list right away, you can complete the procedures online if you’re in Japan. If you are based outside of Japan, just call the Star Buyers Auction location closest to you, and then you can send your item to the designated address. See below for further details.

◆ For users based in Japan:

Step 1: Make a listing reservation online.
Register any items you want to list online. Log in, then enter the listing genre, the number of items, the estimated arrival date, and other necessary information.

Step 2: Log in and register information for the listed items.
Once Step 1 is complete, Star Buyers Auction’s management will email you a Listing Form. Fill out the necessary information on the Listing Form and send it back.

Step 3: Tag the item you’re listing and ship it to Star Buyers Auction.
Attach a tag to the listed item and send it to the specified address by the required date. Any type of tag is fine, as long as it allows the item to be checked against the listing reservation. It just needs to be a small piece of paper that gives the same information as the Listing Form and that is tied to the item so that it won't cause damage. If you can’t make a tag, you can let Star Buyers Auction do it for you.

◆ For users based outside Japan:

Call our sales office in your country and let them know that you would like to list something.* The person in charge will call you back and ask about the listing genre, the number of items, and other details.

*Registration is required.

Feel free to contact us with any questions.