I listed a motorcycle with a starting bid of $6500.

[yellow32deuce]

I now see one bid but it shows $6500. I always thought if you put a bid in it would be higher than the opening bid. Why bid if you do not place a higher bid? What would the point of the bidder be?

thanks for reading

[petitecroissant550]

Starting Bid is just that, and with eBay's (auto bid) it will only increment by the minimum amounts set up.

If the S/B is $6,500, and there's only one bidder - it doesn't matter if his first bid is $6,500 or $10,000 - the starting amount will sit at $6,500 until someone outbids him. 

To answer your other question, if you want people to bid higher then don't make the starting bid so low - that's a sign of an ignorant seller.

[dmil8030]

Hello 'yellow...',

If you want to see how ebay's automated bid increments work, there's this page, with

related links about bidding on the right:

http://pages.ebay.ca/help/buy/bid-increments.html

Ebay auctions are not like live auctions where you call out your 'max bid' and there it stands.

The online system is a brilliant way of getting a maximum for the seller and a minimum for the

buyer at the same time.

And as the saying goes, never start an auction at a price lower than what you will be happy to accept.

Good luck with your auction 

[amethyst1415]

Why are you complaining? You set a reserve so it isn't like the bid of $6500 means you have to sell it to them. I don't understand why you are selling a motorcycle on eBay. All they have to do is say something is wrong with it and eBay will give them back their money. I would end this listing and sell locally.

[yellow32deuce]

\

First I am not complaining, I am learning. Second have you ever noticed how many motorcycles are for sale on E bay. It's a great way to sell a motorcycle but yes, local is preferred. Thank you for your comments.

[yellow32deuce]

Actually the starting bid will remain posted until the reserve is hit. Your last sentence in your response makes no sense at all. I was asking a question about bidding process not how to get a higher bid. As far as "ignorant" seller,what exactly does that mean? What is an ignorant seller? Sound like I can learn something from you but what is it? Thank you for your response.

[yellow32deuce]

I am now understanding that in a reserve auction a SB will remain posted until someone hits the reserve price. The other part of my question was: why would a bidder bid the SB and not an amount higher? That does not make sense to me. Thank you for responding

[pjcdn2005]

---

@yellow32deuce wrote:

I am now understanding that in a reserve auction a SB will remain posted until someone hits the reserve price. The other part of my question was: why would a bidder bid the SB and not an amount higher? That does not make sense to me. Thank you for responding

---

Have a look at the following link

http://pages.ebay.ca/help/buy/automatic-bidding.html

The first bid of an auction will always match the opening bid even if the bidders maximum bid is higher.  Only the buyer knows what max bid they entered...the seller and other bidders will not see that number. For example, if a buyer was willing to pay $7000 for your bike, they might put in a maximum bid for that amount but the actual bid will show at the opening bid until someone else places a higher bid.

In this case the next bid would have to be at least $6600 so if another bidder placed a bid for that amount, they would immediately be outbid as the original bidder had a higher maximum bid and their bid would now become $6700.

I don't bid on auctions very often so my numbers might be a bit off but the link I gave you should explain it better than I can.

[femmefan1946]

New sellers make a lot of mistakes. I think that was all that was meant by the 'ignorant' comment.

One error is using a reserve, particularly an undisclosed reserve.

You pay the reserve fee whether the item sells or not.

Many buyers will backbutton from a reserve auction because they feel as if the seller is playing games. They leave even before reading far enough to learn the reserve.

Low starting prices lead to bottom feeder bidding. These are the worst customers to deal with, generally.

In my opinion, using a reserve is an expensive way not to sell an item.

Remember that ALL eBay auctions have a reserve of sorts. No one can bid less than your asking price, so your opening price is in effect a 'reserve'.

If the motorcycle doesn't sell, use Sell Similar to relist at your true price.

I just get excitable as to choice- like to have my options open.-- Jayne Cobb