What Is an Online Auction?
Online auctions are Web sites where people post descriptions (and often photographs) of items they wish to sell. The duration of the auction can vary, ranging from a few days to a week or more. You register with the auction site and then may place bids online. Other people bid against you on the same items, sometimes waiting until the very last seconds to slam a winning bid in to beat you. If, at the conclusion of the auction, you are the winning bidder, you and the seller contact one another via e-mail and work out the arrangements for payment—cashier's check, money order, credit card or, less often, personal check—and you will usually pay what you bid plus shipping and handling. It is all very exciting, and you can often find some great values.

As a seller, you may want to sell items you no longer want. Sellers must also register and typically pay a small fee for advertising each of the items they list for sale at the auction site.

What Genealogical Items Can I Find in an Online Auction?
The question is probably better put as, "What WON'T I find in an online auction?" The range of available items is unlimited. All you need to do is go to a site, such as eBay, and use the search feature to locate items of interest to you. From a genealogical standpoint, here are some types of items that may be of particular interest to you.

Books. Is there a genealogy book you have been wanting to acquire, especially one that is out of print or related to your specific area of research? Do you want to find a county history or a military history of a specific unit? There are literally thousands of books available for auction at any given time. You might search for "tennessee genealogy" and find lots of books on the subject. Perhaps you are searching for a book about your family surname. Enter the surname in the search box and see what you get. Personally, before I place a bid, I check the Bibliofind Web site to see if the book is available through one of the vendors there, and if so, its price. This helps me learn if the bidding goes higher than the regular sale price at an outside vendor. Most often, however, the deal is better at eBay. If I lose the bid, I can always go back to order it on Bibliofind.

Yearbooks and Annuals. Are you searching for the 1925 yearbook for your mother's high school? You may just find it in an auction.

CD-ROMs and Software. People often auction off CD-ROMs they no longer want. I have acquired several titles this way. The selling of software products has some limitations in online auctions, but you can sometimes find special bargains.

Maps. As you conduct research, you must always concentrate on using maps from the period in which your family lived in an area. Historical atlases and gazetteers are certainly available for bid, but so are individual maps. Many sellers auction off old maps, even those from service stations like Esso, and some even dissect old atlases and sell individual maps. Many of these are excellent period reference resources, and they can be matted and framed as an attractive decorative addition to your home.

Postcards. I am always interested in the historical appearance of the places where my ancestors lived. Picture postcards are highly collectible, and you will find a wealth of them for auction. As I wrote this column, I searched on eBay for postcards using the following keyword searches: "newberry, sc" and "newberry, south carolina." I found a number of vintage postcards dating from 1895 to the 1940s of street scenes, buildings, and other subjects. These views can give you an idea of the flavor of the area at the time when your ancestors lived there, and if the copyrights have expired, these may be used as illustrations in the family history you're writing.

Photographs of All Sorts. By extension, real photographs take the illustrations found on postcards one step further. You will find photographs of places, people, clothing fashions, and other subjects for auction. A relatively new hobby for me is collecting stereographic photograph cards. I bought a stereographic viewer from the 1890s in an online auction and am now collecting the stereographic cards from various areas and time periods. These add to my understanding and enjoyment of my ancestors' lives and are a source of endless entertainment.

Military History. Military memorabilia is highly collectible too. Military books, swords, medals of all types and periods, uniforms, insignia, pins, patches and stripes, equipment, weapons, photographs, flags, figurines, documents, and hundreds of other items can be found for auction. For example, I saw a Confederate Cross of Honor for auction on the Web.

Money and Coins. Coin collecting has always been one of the foremost hobbies, and online auctions have accelerated the interest in coins and paper money, including Confederate currency and money printed/minted by states.

Family Group Sheets. People are selling their family group sheets in online auctions these days. Is this unusual? Well, not really. People have been selling family group sheets and pedigree charts through genealogy magazines for decades. Online auctions are just another forum for this type of sale.

Some Tips about Online Auctions
You begin to get the idea, I'm sure. Use your imagination to see what you can find that could aid your family history research. In the meantime, here are several tips I'd like to share about these auctions.

1. Learn how to search! If you are unsure of how to focus your search to find items effectively, take the time to read the Help facility or tips posted at each auction site. Like Internet search engines, each auction's search facility differs a little from others. Invest the time to understand the tool with which you are working, and your search results will be better.

2. Misspell names AND the word "genealogy." Everyone makes mistakes, especially with typing. Learn how to misspell the surnames and place names you are seeking, and misspell "genealogy" when you are searching auction sites. The word is most commonly misspelled as "geneology," but other misspellings happen too. Also, if at first you don't succeed, be creative and use alternate search terms. For example, when searching for autographs, you might look for "bette davis autograph" as well as for "bette davis signed" because a seller may describe the item as signed and not autographed.

3. Check sellers' feedback. Most auction sites allow buyers and sellers to leave feedback about one another regarding their experience, and you can usually check a seller's record that way. Beware of feedback reports that indicate a seller was slow in processing a purchase or if there are other major complaints.

4. Don't overbid! It is easy to get caught up in the bidding process and spend a lot of money you don't have. I usually check the price of an item elsewhere on the Web before placing a bid. I check Bibliofind on book titles; I check other auction sites for the same item at a better price; and I always use a search engine to check prices on commonly available retail items to see if an auction is really a great price. An auction can really be a great deal, however. For example, there were a number of glucometers (for measuring blood sugar) on one auction service for less than $15 when they retail for at least $60. Whatever you do, be a savvy shopper and comparison shop on the Web.

5. Last-minute bidding. If there is something you decide you really must have and you get into a bidding war with another bidder, don't go into a bidding frenzy. Withhold your bid until the last minutes before the auction ends, and then submit a bid. You may make the other bidder think you have lost interest, and you may just shut the other bidder out and win the auction. Of course, he or she may do the same thing too.

Enhanced Genealogy
While many people do not want to participate in online auctions, there are many who do. The items you can locate through these facilities can add reference resources to your library, provide visual images from a time period to your family history collection, and increase your understanding of your family. You may also want to liquidate unwanted items from your own library too. I'll see you at the auctions!

Happy Hunting!

George

Three Weeks until the Cruise, and You Can Still Join Us!
Join two of your favorite online columnists from Ancestry.com, George Morgan and Drew Smith, on Genealogy Cruise 2001: A Family History Odyssey! We're headed on a terrific cruise from Tampa Bay to Key West and back on February 1-4, 2001. Along the line, we'll enjoy the pleasure of oceangoing sailing and present five on-board genealogy workshops. There will also be lots of time in Key West for shopping, dining, touring the famous cemetery, and enjoying the local color. For the itinerary, the workshop schedule, and complete registration information, visit the Web site. You still have time!

George G. Morgan is a proud member of the International Society of Family History Writers and Editors, Inc. He would like to hear from you at atl@ahaseminars.com, but due to the volume of e-mail received, he is unable to answer every message. Please note that he cannot assist you with your individual research. Visit George's Web site for information about speaking engagements. George is also the author of The Genealogy Forum on America Online.

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