Using ebay for language lesson auctions

I awoke with this thought in my head…Edufire could promote its services by setting up auctions for a set of maybe five lessons or so with any tutors and in any languages for people to bid on. Then, when the auction closes, and the lessons are taken, each tutor would receive their fee for tutoring and Edufire could pocket their share. There could be some profit if the bidder paid more for the prize of five lessons. If so, perhaps they could also receive a free lesson, or something like that. Think this over guys, and make suggestions for this idea to market the business. What would be the benefits and what would be the concerns?

Sounds like a good idea Candy. I have thought about marketing on ebay myself.

Yeah! It would be awesome if Edufire did it for the benefit of all the tutors, too. But, of course, any tutor could offer their services in an auction. You and I think alike!

Candy,

It sounds like a great idea. You ought to put it on the idea board!

I did post it on the idea board and I saw that two people voted on it as a great idea. I hope that with the proper funding this can come to fruition some day.

Great idea. I never thought about offering services on ebay. Sounds like it’d be worth a shot though!

Candy,

I’m not an eBay expert so maybe I’m missing something – how would this work? How do you bid on something like tutoring, something that is a service?

I have never actually held an auction, but you would get a user name, and then check into having an auction. It costs a small fee to sell anything on ebay and I assume it would cost a small fee to hold an auction. If Edufire did it to promote the site, they could have an auction with these offers: five lessons for $40 when tutors that normally charge $10 per lesson, $60 when tutors chosen normally charge $15, $80 when a tutor who normally charge $20. So in effect….the winner or winners could pay $20 less for the five lessons than if they had five lessons at full charge, no matter what tutors they chose. The thing is, the winner could use either one tutor or try out up to five tutors, but they would have to be tutors that all charge the same fee. The offer could also include a free lesson at the end if you want to add incentive. Perhaps someone could think of another way to work this as an auction.

Excellent idea! You can post it under Specialty Services >Advice and Instruction >Lessons, Tutoring and enter the language you are teaching in the subject line.