Auction site, HELP!

Hi,
I have some questions in regards to developing/maintaining an auction site.
1. How much does it cost to set it up?
2. How much would it cost to maintain it?
3.What 'tools' exactly do I need for such a site?
Hope to hear from you soon,
Cheers.

Please tell me you're not another person who wants 'a site like eBay'...

Now to answer your question:
1. How much does it cost to set it up?
It depends how big a site you want. How many users? How much data? What sort of traffic will you get? How much marketing? What type of marketing?

2. How much would it cost to maintain it?
Again: How many users? How much data? How much traffic?

3.What 'tools' exactly do I need for such a site?
A powerful server, a database (MySQL or MSSQL at least), lots of bandwidth, a database management tool and notepad.

Thnx Spinal007.
EBay-NOOO.
let me try to explain what i want:
A membership(possibly)site, people to people ONLY , where they sell wha eva things. Other people bid, the item is sold. smth like getafreelancer, course not that huge and not web/IT oriented.
That's the main picture.

And what would be the approximate costs(initial& monthly) for the IT part klike mysql programming, that server etc.

Sounds like you need to do a lot of research and then develop a business plan. There is more to this than 'what kind of coding and how much does it cost'. With out a business plan, you doen't even know if the ideas is workable.

This would be a hell of a project but it would be oh so much fun to do. I dream of projects like this, do it yourself, it'll be awesome.

If it's successful, it could be expensive but you should be making enough to cover those costs just don't buy too much bandwidth/ storage space too soon. A business plan would be a good idea too.

Pete.

Hey, Pete....Great minds think alike!!!

Yes. Business plan. We always get asked how much it costs to build sites like this, but no real thought has been given to the requirements. You need to break it down to every function this site needs to have. What does it need to do (step-by-step)? How should it work? What about emailing? Mailing lists? Feeds? Searching? Advanced searching? Content management? Premium memberships? and the list goes one...

thnx guys,
1. I asked for an estimated cost,not for 'how -to-start-up-a-biz-in-7-days' guide.
Seems like I did not get the answer to my question.
If you're in web development you could have said smth like for A amount memberships with X amount of dunno what it will appx cost you Y amount to start and Z amount to maintain.
Cheers,
PS Golden Rule for biz plans, Research always comes first.

We would if we could, but it just doesn't work that way...
I'm sorry we weren't able to help.

I recommend you join a site like LinkedIn. I'm sure if you ask the question there you will find someone that runs or has runs a similar business. They'll have first hand experience on what you're trying to achieve and will be able to throw some numbers your way.

As developers however, we can't come up with numbers until we have a solid to-do list...

thnx guys =)

Yeah sorry manga doll... I only freelance on small to mid sized sites... no way I could help you on that...
sorry again..

I have done a site that seems to be around what you are talking about. I was working with a company and this site was a $200,000 site and constantly adding up charges for repairs, changes, and stuff. So I'd recommend learning the coding and doing it yourself if you are serious about doing this.