Reserve auctions on ebay

So I’m looking around on ebay, and I notice a great digital camera that is currently $66, but there’s a catch. The seller has set a minimum reserve price, and if the highest bid is lower than the reserve price in the end, the deal’s off. And the seller has chosed to keep the reserve price secret.

What’s the point? Wouldn’t it make more sense for the seller to just start bidding at the lowest acceptable price?


Life is a tragedy for those who feel and a comedy for those who think.

They do the same thing at auctions in real life, hoping to generate the “bidding frenzy” that pushes prices way up. At some auctions when the price goes above the minimum they “throw silver”, silver dollars or more recently Susan B Anthony dollars. On eBay one thing you could do is keep raising your bid until you hit the minimum or if you bid exceeds the minimum the software will bump it up to the reserve rather than just above the last bid.

Just don’t be bidding against me on Pokemon stuff…

Don’t be afraid to email the seller and ask what the reserve price is. They will usually tell you.

Also on eBay, the listing price is based on the initial price, plus a % of the final price.

Lower initial price, lower total cost to sell on eBay.


Sue from El Paso

Experience is what you get when you didn’t get what you wanted.

I sold an amp on E-bay once with a reserve price of $500. I let people know that if they e-mailed me. I started the bidding at $100. What would be the point of an “auction” (on e-bay or in real life) if they said “let’s start the bidding at $500”. Sold!

You hope that the various people bidding will put in their maximum bid and one will go higher then the reserve. This also protects the seller on E-bay in the event of a service outage (which does happen there).

On other reason e-bayers use reserves is this. Say my digital camera has a reserve price of $400. The highest bid I get is $350. The seller is not obligated to sell the item, and E-bay collects no percentage of the “sold price”. Then I e-mail the person and ask if they want to buy it for $350. They agree, we exchange funds and merchandise. I saved myself the cut E-bay normally takes of my sale. The buyer gets a “deal”, the seller saves a big fee, and everyone is happy (except E-bay, since this is against the user agreement).

Zette
(E-bay queen. Or E-bay aholic…one or the other)


Love is like popsicles…you get too much you get too high.

Not enough and you’re gonna die…
Click here for some GOOD news for a change Zettecity

Many auctions don’t accept reserves. It cost them money to do so.

Zette, plus if you have something that was sold on ebay before, you can find the emails of the people who bid & ask them if they want it for less. I haven’t done that but I have got emails from people asking me if I want to sell.

I’m still confused with ebay & its reserve system. I got the impression that if the item didn’t make the reserve price that ebay still got some money from you some way?

eBay still gets the posting fee, plus a fee for listing a reserve auction.


TT

“Believe those who seek the truth.
Doubt those who find it.” --Andre Gide

In the beginning, I couldn’t figure out what “reserve” meant.

Then I did something real smart… I went to their HELP screen!

It explained, in pretty clear terms, that a person will use the “reserve” if he doesn’t know what the real value of the item is. If he starts the bidding too low, he’ll lose some big bucks. And if he starts the bidding to high, he’ll scare everyone away. So the solution is to use a reserve price, which is the minimum he’ll sell it for and not cry about it. If no one meets that price, he can look to see what the bids really were, get an idea of what it really is worth, and consider selling it again.

I believe the eBay listing fee is based upon the higher of the minimum bid and/or the reserve price. If seller “A” has a $400 minimum and no bids, and seller “B” has a $300 max bid (but a $400 reserve), both sellers pay the same to eBay, although the selling commission is paid by neither.

I asked one seller (who routinely sold new merchandise) why they had a reserve. Their response was that the bidding frenzy was more likely to cause a sale.