Ebay - Reserve auctions... Why?

[nakomis0]

Auctions with a Reserve price, this pisses me off. I'm watching an auction thats at $300, reserve not met. So I write the guy and ask 'Whats the reserve?' He says I'm sorry I can't tell you thats not how Ebay works. So being agitated and nothing better to do I write this guy back explaining why I would like to know the reserve. It goes something like this...

"What? Chief I know how Ebay works, I been using it for like 10yrs. Is this some top secret? Whats your min. price for this bike? Quit being a douche bag. You see what I'm saying, If your min. is $2500 I don't need to even pay attention. Now if its $2000 then I know, ok I can afford it so I will watch. Why you wanna waste my time? Wtf is the reserve. Why would a reserve be a secret?"

Ok, it went exactly like that and I'm probably an a-hole. A-hole actually was his reply back... never did find out what that reserve is.

Am I missing something on why reserves are good. Just list the min. price for the item. Don't fool me to come look at your $5000 item thats currently got a low price with 'reserve not met' You know how many items with low prices I click to look at and really its a waste of time cause its the reserve not met scam, I wopuld say it seems like 90%... ok so you get more views from guys like me looking for deals, thats it, more looks we ain't bidding on your mystery auction.

Ok I'm done with my rant. :mad:

[quad2xtreme]

I never really understood it either and never used that option when I've sold anything.

I also never understand why people bid and then keep increasing their bids. I put in the maximum amount I am willing to pay and that is it. If somebody wants to pay more then that is fine. If nobody is bidding against me then I still get the item for less than I was willing to pay. That last minute bidding crap won't get you anywhere when I am part of the bidding process. You aren't going to win unless you are willing to pay more than me...my max bid is already in the system.

As a seller, ebay auction shouldn't be over until 10 minutes of no bidding activity. This would closely resemble a true auction where you get the going once, going, twice, sold type of scenario. It maximizes potential return for the seller. This too would end all that last minute bidding trying to get a bid in right before the auction ends. If a bid occurs within 10 minutes of the auction being over then it should be extended.

[hondariderdylan]

that is pretty dumb on his part.....

he is actually the one missing out on potential buyers

i never really like buying anything over a few hundred dollars online becuase you dont really know the guy on the other end of the deal

[Brad77]

I don't understand a "secret" reserve either. Although I have used the low starting price with a reserve. The reason I have used it is to get a general idea on how much the bidders are willing to spend on the item. In some cases I have actually put what the reserve is set at in the description or either told buyers who asked.

[Quad18star]

I'd have called you an a-hole also if you sent me an email like that.

[Scro]

The bigger companies use it for advertising. It's all about getting the consumer to click on the ad. If you see a refrigerator worth $6000 with a bid of $500, the consumer would more than likely click on it to see what the deal was. This leads to them seeing the other stuff that's in your "store".

Seeing a price of $6000 pop up on your screen is enough to scare anybody away.

For some people like yourself that know how ebay works, you know that the refrigerator isn't going to sell for $500. But for the everyday consumer that isn't ebay-savvy, they are thinking it's a steal at $500.

Your email was a little out of line:ermm: Maybe he was just implementing good marketing skills.

[Warnerade]

Originally posted by Quad18star
I'd have called you an a-hole also if you sent me an email like that. amen

[PhilMoore]

Bid what you want to pay, and stop.

"Shop Victoriously" is a ridiculous slogan for fools and children using their parents credit card.

feebay sucks.


If the douche wants to put a reserve on it, he should expect to answer the question. He doesn't have to answer you. But if he don't answer, he is probably a scammer.

my .02. cha ching

[nakomis0]

Originally posted by Quad18star
I'd have called you an a-hole also if you sent me an email like that.

Oh ya me too for sure. Harassing people on the internet is one of my guilty pleasures. I did send this guy a similar not so nice reply, followed by ...

"This is really going to be uncomfortable if I win this auction. You gonna be able to handle this?"

... no reply. :)

[scuzz]

low starting bid + higher reserve price = higher interest and likelyhood of a bidding war.

Also, if you start the bidding at a higher rate you pay higher fees. ( I think.)

If I was the seller I would just block you from bidding, nothing personal, but I wouldn't ask for trouble.

[smr]

I do agree with you about secret reserves being silly but I don't think you handled it very well. Maybe the guy just really didn't understand why you wanted the info....of corse you could have just thrown out your highest bid to see if you met the reserve.

I also think it's silly to post something on craigslist without a price. I will not even respond to an add with no price.


I had a buddy one time selling a tractor. He made up these nice posters and put them around town, then didn't put the price and couldn't understand why poeple would call thinking they would get the tractor for about half what he was asking. He went back wrote the price on there and the phone calls stopped until a guy saw the add and wanted to pay his price.

It's just silly to keep a price secret.

[Ruby Soho]

i've used reserves before.. i always thought of it as like..

say you wanna sell a pipe. your not sure how much you want for it, so you start the bid at say 99 cents.. that way people see it cheap and look at it, and bid on it. you put your reserve at say 50 dollars thinking thats the least you would take for it. that way you dont end up selling your pipe for a dollar.

i dont know why you would keep it secret... if someone asked me id tell them.

[Snipe]

Reserves are stupid if I open a auction and see it has a reserve I just close the page and look at something els not worth my time and money to set and wonder what the reserve price is. I never sell anything with a reserve I never sell anything with a BIN either as ppl want the best deal they can get im that way as well.

I start the auction at what im willing to take for it and then they can do the rest.

[scuzz]

I'll bid like $2 when they do that.

As a matter of fact I just bid $2 on a full exhaust that they started the bidding at $1 and have a reserve somewhere around $200+.

I ALWAYS use reserves unless the thing im selling is dirt cheap, but the difference is, I ALWAYS put what the reserve is in the bottom of the description in bold letters. That way when I get bids on it, I assume that they are willing to pay reserve price and I know they're truely interested.

But then there's always that ONE guy that emails me and says "Whats the reserve price?"


:mad: :mad:

[Kickstarts-suck]

Originally posted by Quad18star
I'd have called you an a-hole also if you sent me an email like that.

^^^

[Snipe]

But why pay for putting a reserve price when its free to just start the price at what ever you would want the reserve price to be?

[scuzz]

Originally posted by Snipe
But why pay for putting a reserve price when its free to just start the price at what ever you would want the reserve price to be?

From eBay:


Why have a reserve price?Many sellers have found that too high a starting price discourages interest in their item, while an attractively low starting price makes them vulnerable to selling at an unsatisfactorily low price. A reserve price helps with this.

Important: eBay will never reveal your reserve price to potential bidders. But sellers often receive inquiries from bidders about the reserve price. This is allowed on eBay. Likewise, revealing your reserve to a bidder is allowed, but not required. If you don’t want to reveal your reserve price, you can politely let the bidder know that they can bid what they like and if the bidding meets the reserve price the item will be sold.