Seller will not reveal reserve price?

[number6]

There is an auction I was interested in recently with a rerve set on it. I asked the seller what the reserve price was like usual. Every other time I have asked a seller they would either straight out tell me what the reserve price was or they would give me the general amount. Not this time. The seller of this item says he wants to keep it private. Why the hell would a seller want to do that? I certainly won't bid on the item now that's for sure.

[Zing]

If the seller tells you his reserve price (i.e. what he feels the item is worth), then he has little chance of getting more than that for it. If people know that the seller "only" wants $10 for an item, they probably won't bid $20.

I always felt that the reserve price was intended to be private. It allows sellers to put up an item for auction without giving away what they feel the value of the item should be.

This idea was very prevalent back when I was heavy into Magic: The Gathering. When trading cards, I never want to give away what I really feel the cards are worth, as the other person may intend to trade me more than I am expecting. If I let them know that I don't care for a particular rare card and would take any common for it, that is exactly what I will get: a common instead of at least getting a junk rare.

[jonjandran]

If the seller tells you his reserve price (i.e. what he feels the item is worth), then he has little chance of getting more than that for it. If people know that the seller "only" wants $10 for an item, they probably won't bid $20.


.

A reserve price usually has nothing to do with how much people will bid on the item.

If someone wants an item they will bid what they have to in order to get it. What does it matter what the reserve price is ? All that matters is hw much you're willing to pay. If I know someone has a $10 reserve and I'm willing to pay $20 , I'll put in a max bid of $20

I personally think that this seller is just being a prick. Don't bid anything .... LOL

[number6]

Well I guess I can understand not wanting to give away what you think the item is worth. Of course you can over value something and never sell your item. The item in question is worth maybe $25, but I am guessing the seller thinks it is worth a lot more than that.

The seller has already relisted this item from before. So how much does it cost to put a reserve price on an item if it does not sell?

[FlufflePuff]

I always keep my reserves private. That way if I was way off what it sold for I don't feel like an idiot. Plus, you always have the option to sell even if it doesn't hit. So if your reserve of 500 only gets a high bid of $350, you could offer to sell at say $400 without having to reveal what you thought it was worth and you might get more than without it. Or maybe I'm just really tired and rambling.

[SoulBlazer]

In that case, tell him how much you honestly think what the item is worth. Tell him how much you are willing to spend to, and not one penny more, if it was a 'normal' auction. Ask if that price meets the reserve. If it does, go ahead and snipe the auction to win. If not, then tell him good luck in trying to sell the item at that price and walk away. :D

And if he still won't give a clue on the reserve? Go ahead and enter a snipe bid for how much you are willing to pay. If it does'nt sell because the reserve was'nt met, but your bid WAS the highest, make that same offer in e-mail.

[Griking]

If reserve prices weren't ment to be private then they'd be publically shown on the auction listing.

[number6]

I personally hate reserve auctions because it generally wastes my time. I want to know what someone is willing to accept as payment to sell there item. If they can't give me a ballpark figure then I don't want to waste anymore time with that seller.

The last time this seller put up this item for auction the high bid was $6. I guess he figures eventually someone will go crazy and try and meet his reserve price which again brings me to ask the question how much does it cost to keep putting an item up for auction with a high reserve price?

[Zing]

The Ebay description of reserve prices:


A reserve price is a tool sellers can use to stimulate bidding on their auction-style item while reserving the right not to sell below a price they have in mind.

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.

So basically, the intention is to allow sellers the benefit of a lower starting price, without actually having to sell the item at a lower price.

[Promophile]

Unless your selling a rare item reserve auctions are stupid and annoying.

[Griking]

*shrug* I guess I don't see the big deal.

I bid on reserve auctions like I do every other auction I bid on. If I don't meet the reserve I just understand that the seller wasn't willing to sell it for what I bid. It doesn't bother me, life goes on.

[captain nintendo]

I have a few items I have been pondering putting on ebay. But I dont think I would do so without a reserve. I think its a way to protect a buyer from people waiting to snipe at the end if nobody else is watching your auction.

But then again I would probably tell somebody my reserve if they asked.
*shrugs*

[Kamino]

Unless your selling a rare item reserve auctions are stupid and annoying.
mark today down, i agree wtih promophile.
Reserve auctions, imo, are the dumbest thing invented. Grow some balls, start the auction at what you will pay. auctions that stay low do so for a reason - either the listing was written poorly, the item was low quality, the seller has bad rep, or the item isn't worth much to begin with.
Reserves do -not- help.
my personal evidence to this:
A guy i know here at college was having terrible luck with his listings. Seeing my success rate, he asked me for a few tips. i helped him write a few listings, got him to ditch reserves, and all the stuff sold. this was stuff he'd already tried to sell. I did the "Re-listing".
Good selling works. I sold a bag of garbage once.
Bad selling doesnt work.
"What in the hell kind of a sales pitch is that? You boys couldn't sell a dollar for fifty cents!"

And it seems to annoy me either way, when they won't tell the reserve(and its usually sky high) or when they post it in the damn auction. x_x so i just don't bid on them unless its something i really, really need.

[Darth Sensei]

I think reserve auctions should be abolished, but then again I'm an ebay buyer and not really a seller.

The primary reason people come to ebay is to get a deal on something.

If too many sellers use reserves then the chance of getting a deal dimishes and therefore less people will buy from ebay.

[imanerd0011]

I truely don't understand the point of a reserve at all. Is it cause the price looks low so people keep on bidding? Why doesn't the seller just list the item at what price he/she is willing to let it go for ? That's what I would do anyway.

[jonjandran]

The last time this seller put up this item for auction the high bid was $6. I guess he figures eventually someone will go crazy and try and meet his reserve price which again brings me to ask the question how much does it cost to keep putting an item up for auction with a high reserve price?

Ok i had an item I was selling for $99.99

1. To sell it starting at $99.99 it would cost ----- $2.40 Listing Fee

2. To sell it starting at $0.99 with a $99.99 reserve it would cost --- $4.40 Listing Fee

Just for fun :

A $999.99 item. Same Rules.

1. $4.80 Listing Fee

2. $14.80 Listing Fee

So I really don't see why someone would use a reserve. It makes absolutely no sense.

[Zing]

If you sell an item with a reserve price, and the bids go over the reserve price, you get the reserve fee refunded to you. So basically, setting a reserve is free as long as the item actually sells.


I truely don't understand the point of a reserve at all. Is it cause the price looks low so people keep on bidding?

If you read the quote from ebay's page describing this service, you will understand that is exactly the point of it. It is to allow a seller the benefit of having a low starting bid price without having their item end up selling for less than they will accept.

[Funk Buddy]

The last time this seller put up this item for auction the high bid was $6. I guess he figures eventually someone will go crazy and try and meet his reserve price which again brings me to ask the question how much does it cost to keep putting an item up for auction with a high reserve price?

Ok i had an item I was selling for $99.99

1. To sell it starting at $99.99 it would cost ----- $2.40 Listing Fee

2. To sell it starting at $0.99 with a $99.99 reserve it would cost --- $4.40 Listing Fee

Just for fun :

A $999.99 item. Same Rules.

1. $4.80 Listing Fee

2. $14.80 Listing Fee

So I really don't see why someone would use a reserve. It makes absolutely no sense.

Word!

A lot of people say just start it at the minimum amount you'd take, but that seems to scare some of the cheap asses off. :D I don't think I have ever used a reserve in any of my auctions, or ever will.

[jonjandran]

If you sell an item with a reserve price, and the bids go over the reserve price, you get the reserve fee refunded to you. So basically, setting a reserve is free as long as the item actually sells.

.

True but it's not that simple.

With the examples I used the listing fee included 2 figures .
1. The listing fee
2. The Reserve fee.

Now with the examples I posted above. If I started it at $0.99 with a reserve the 1st listing fee was higher than normal. A normal listing fee on a $0.99 item is $0.35 , but in my example of the item starting at $0.99 with a $99.99 Reserve, the listing fee was $2.40 + the reserve fee of $2.00 for a total of $4.40........... Remember if you started it at $0.99 with no reserve the listing fee would have been $0.35

So on a Reserve item the listing fee is always going to be for what you have the reserve set at and not what you start it at.
Start it at $0.99 with a reserve of $99.99 or start it at $89.99 with a $99.99 reserve and they still charge you the $2.40 listing fee + the Reserve fee of $2.00 for a total of $4.40...... They are charging you a listing fee as if you listed it for $99.99 and not $0.99... @_@

This is total BS.....

Also yea they refund your reserve fee if you sell the item but as we all know most reserve items don't meet the reserve. More free money for Ebay...

Also Ebay is jacking up the Listing fees on a Reserve auction as I just showed. So it doesn't save the seller money by starting it low and adding a reserve.

[blissfulnoise]

I use reserves for one reason only. To keep my BIN's active until someone is willing to bid the range of what I'm looking for. I've had a number of last minute BINs on my goods because people begin to fear a bidding war and I make a few extra bucks. It's good business AND you get your reserve refunded if the item sells.

From a buyers standpoint, reserves means you can watch items with very tempting BINs for a lot longer since meaningless bids (a $5.00 bid on an item that will go for $50.00 or whatnot) can't highjack an item ruining the BIN for everyone.

Without using a reserve, BINs are worthless unless you start your item at a high price (something I'm opposed to).

Finally, just because a reserve isn't met doesn't mean you can't sell your item for that price. It's a no brainer to me too. Reserves pay for themselves.

To answer the original question, I don't give out reserves to people with very low feedback because i don't want them to empty bid and break my BIN. That's not me being a dick, that's me looking after my auctions. That said, if someone with decent feedback (30+) asks, I'll typically let them know the range, if not the exact amount.

[number6]

Well if you have a BIN I can pretty much determine what your reserve is anyway so I would not even bother asking you about your reserve.

Like I said before this seller did not sell the item last time so they had to pay fees for the last time and I am pretty sure they won't sell it this time either. I don't feel like guessing what they want to get for the item so I just won't bid on it. To me keeping your price secret is really silly if you truly want to sell your item.

[briguy578]

I agree with blissfullnoise, Reserves are best used in conjunction with BINs. I don't use reserves often, but when I do it will be on some semi-rare game. I put the reserve at the bottom end of my expected selling range and the Buy-it-now at the top end.

For example, say I'm selling some game that DP says is worth 100 bucks. I'll put the reserve at 80 and the buy-it-now at 110. That way the buy-it-now stays active until someone ponies up.

[lurpak]

if you tell a buyer how much the reserve is; and its above thier maximum they wont bother bidding at all, whereas if they dont know and bid thier maximum it helps the next bidder to get closer to the reserve and so on..

surely theres no point setting a reserve if your going to tell everyone what it is..your just wasting money, when you could have started the auction at that price if you wanted it to be public.

lastly by setting a reserve, and a low start point you attract more views and so potential buyers as once you bid the item then goes on your "my ebay" and so reminds you, and if your owt like me, I hate getting outbid. and often bid a low amount rather than watch the item, that way theres a slim chance i might actualy get it at that price, and your outbid notice serves better than an item nearing end of auction.


so I dont think your sellers a prick, he's using the reserve the correct way, wether a seller reveals a reserve or not is thier discreation.

[Sylentwulf]

I always thought sellers that DO state their reserve are just weird. If you need $50 for something, put a starting price of $50, and skip the whole reserve thing. Here is why you DO use a reserve price auction:

You bought combat for $10, have NO IDEA what it's worth, but don't want to lose your money. You list it for a penny, with $15 reserve. Bidding gets up to $12 and ends. You say "screw it" and sell for $12.

This way, you CAN sell for a $2 "profit" (ignoring fee's and stuff) or you can choose to re-list it with a starting bid of $15 now that you know combat isn't worth $250 or anything weird.

[Kamino]

Without using a reserve, BINs are worthless unless you start your item at a high price (something I'm opposed to).


Not at all.
It's all about being at the right place at the right time.
I've found COUNTLESS items on the BIN in the first 1-12 hours.
Sometimes even later into the auction.
Checking my selling record, i'd estimate at LEAST 95% of my items sell on the BIN. I can think of THREE items of mine in the last year that went to bids.
And to those who claim reserves attract more bids:
I'd seriously like to run a survey of ebay users on this one...but if reserves are so good, then why do i see "NO RESERVE" as an eye catcher?

[number6]

if you tell a buyer how much the reserve is; and its above thier maximum they wont bother bidding at all, whereas if they dont know and bid thier maximum it helps the next bidder to get closer to the reserve and so on..

surely theres no point setting a reserve if your going to tell everyone what it is..your just wasting money, when you could have started the auction at that price if you wanted it to be public.

lastly by setting a reserve, and a low start point you attract more views and so potential buyers as once you bid the item then goes on your "my ebay" and so reminds you, and if your owt like me, I hate getting outbid. and often bid a low amount rather than watch the item, that way theres a slim chance i might actualy get it at that price, and your outbid notice serves better than an item nearing end of auction.


so I dont think your sellers a prick, he's using the reserve the correct way, wether a seller reveals a reserve or not is thier discreation.

It's true that I won't bid if I think the reserve is too high, but what does the seller have to lose by telling me the reserve? It's not like I am going to broadcast it or anything. Bottom line, I won't bid on an item with a reserve unless the seller has the common courtesy to let me know what they are looking for as far as price. I for one do not bid early and often which seems to be the point of these reserve auctions. I snipe all my auctions and I need to know what the seller wants in a reserve auction or it's a waste of my time to even think about bidding. Why would I bid on something not knowing what the seller feels is fair and reasonable?

I usually just ignore reserve auctions, but like I said in an earlier post this guy has listed the item (which I am interested in) twice. So far he has had less interest the second time around since to date there have been no bids and the auction will end early Monday morning. The last time it was listed he had a couple bids, but the price never went over $6. I guess he does not mind paying the listing fees over and over. The game is not worth all that much to warrant a reserve unless it is complete which this one is not.

[number6]

Well the auction ended with the reserve not being met. This time the high bid was $7.85 . I guess this guy will keep listing and paying reserve fees. Here's a link to the auction:


http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=5939034787&ssPageName=STRK:MEWA:IT

[SoulBlazer]

I never heard of that one. I'd pay $10-15 total for it.