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Frustrated by not being able to easily find farm auction listings on the Internet, Portage la Prairie, Manitoba, farmer Dwayne Leslie created the www.FarmAuctionGuide.com Web site. He later joined forces with seven other industry-specific Web sites to form www.GlobalAuctionGuide.com. |
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The Internet is one huge shopping center. How do you make sense of it all? How do you find that needle in the haystack that will make your farm run a little bit smoother? You would think that the easy answer would be to Google it and find everything you need. But farmers are more skeptical of sales from outside their area. Using the Internet to find equipment dealers can be very easy and can give you peace of mind knowing that you're dealing with a real company with an office and a reputation to uphold. Most dealers will have their own Web site, which is the quickest, easiest, and most cost-effective way to communicate with their local farmers. It really is a long shot to attract customers from outside their local territory. When a dealer is trying to compete for a top listing on eBay, Google, Yahoo, or MSN against thousands of other dealers selling the same item, it will be nearly impossible to find anything useful in a short time. |
| Good dealer sites |
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While every mainline manufacturer has a Web site for its dealers to list inventory, try any one of the aggregate used equipment advertising Web sites that are available. This gives you the ability to search for a used John Deere Model 4020, no matter if it is for sale from a green, red, yellow, blue, or orange dealer. In the North, visit www.agdealer.com, while www.fastline.com is strong in many parts of the U.S. These sites are both especially effective because their monthly print publications direct farmers back to their Web sites. Finding traditional auction sales on the Internet can be even more frustrating than finding dealers. With thousands of auction companies across the continent trying to attract attention for their upcoming sales, it is often impossible to find anything easily in the search engines. This is where an aggregate Web site makes finding equipment so much easier. Using a Web site such as www.FarmAuctionGuide.com gives farmers the ability to simply browse or do a specific item search. Many auction companies now also offer online Web casting where you can watch, listen, and bid from your home or office. |
| Searching for classified ads |
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Finding specific classified ads online is very much a matter of luck at times. There are many Web sites out there, but there is no one site that has all the answers. High-traffic Web sites draw farmers from across a wide spectrum of size and geography. Many newspapers place their print ads online, which gives you perhaps the best choice for local ads in your area. If you are looking for a specific item from outside your region, then you must also know the Web site address for newspapers several states away. If you are looking for antique machinery, this can be frustrating. There are hundreds of small classified ad Web sites out there. If you are interested in starting one, you can go to eBay and purchase a complete Web site for $100 or less and then compete with www.ebay.com or www.Craigslist.com. There are several classified ad Web sites that are doing a great job either nationally or locally. The best way to measure how useful any Web site is to take note of how many new ads are posted every day. Some good starting points include these sites: |
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Collector Web sites will usually contain an advertising section. Great general sites for antique power include www.antiquetractors.com and www.atis.net and www.agelessiron.com. Also be sure to look to specific collectors' Web sites. |
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