eBay

spidermanuj · ‎03-27-2004

I have seen many listings which reveal the reserve price in BOLD letters right there in the listing.
My question is whether it is allowed by eBay?

your-chic-shopper · ‎03-27-2004

I Do it all the time on high ticket Items

deltone · ‎03-27-2004

Absolutely ok. The main reason for the reserve is to protect the seller from having the item go for a lower price than the buyer is willing to let it go for. Some sellers hate to reveal it but bottom line is.......why the secret?

shooger · ‎03-27-2004

It's odd that it's allowed, but it is. Reserve is just another way to make sure you get a certain amount, I guess. But if you're not willing to take less than $25 for something, why not just put up a $25 BIN, or even start the auction at $25? It's just a weird outdated little thing that eBay has always had, and will probably always have.

deltone · ‎03-27-2004

It's just the way auctions are. Even a real life auction. Sometimes there is a reserve but rarely if ever does the auctioneer start the bid at the reserve. It's a way to generate interest.

I may have an item that I want to get $50 for but I'll start the bid at $9.99 to save on listing fees. Doesn't mean I want to sell it for $9.99. For added safety I could put a reserve on it just in case ebay is down, or some other thing doesn't give the item the traffic I'm hoping for.

Often if you start the opening bid at $50, nobody will bid. I've seen it happen many times on other people's auctions......if the opening bid is high, or close to what people want for the item, it often gets less, or no bids. It's a psychological thing, really.

amberwoodottawa · ‎03-27-2004

I have the same experience as deltone with respect to not getting bids if the starting bid is set at what I would put my reserve at.

I start the bidding at $1, use a reserve (which I never reveal) and have a BIN.

I get lots of bidding on almost all of my auctions and I find that is what will often have my items selling form even more than my BIN.

Statistically, my items that dont sell, reach 75% of my reserve. If the Canadian dollar was as weak as it was last spring, I would be selling close to 100% of my listings (not too hard to do right now as I dont have anything listed).

Malcolm