Ebay ? - high bidder, reserve not met

[mom2boys]

I assume that I will be under no obligation to purchase the item if I remain the high bidder but don't meet the reserve. Am I correct?

 

[RitaZ.]

That's correct.

 

[stitch79]

Yup, thats right.

Small vent here- I really don't under stand the whole reserve price thing. If you want to set a minimum price for your item then make that amount the starting bid price. Don't start your item at $50, but have a reserve price of $150 ! It just makes no sense to me.

I've tried to ask people what their reserve price in the past so that I can decide whether or not I am interested in or can afford an auction and I usually get a nasty response back. Whats the deal?

 

[DukeStreetKing]

If you have a reserve price of say $50.00 and make that the starting bid, chances are you will not get very much bidding for your item. By keeping the minimum bid low, more people will be enticed to bid. Or at least, that's the way it's supposed to work.

 

[dizneegirl]

It's extremely annoying when you'd be willing to pay the reserve price, but are the only bidder, so that it never gets to the reserve price... I don't see where anyone wins there.

Only way I can see a reserve price auction works is if the seller doesn't *really* want to sell the item, but would if they got their dream price for it.

I'd much rather take my chances posting a high starting bid, then posting a reserve auction, personally.

 

[Beauty]

I hate reserve price auctions too! In my experience I've had quite a few people email me AFTER the auction and say even though you didn't meet my reserve I will sell you the item for what you bid.

I'm thinking then WHY put the reserve on in the first place. Its annoying.

 

[Gwene65]

What is a reserve price? Sorry to be so dumb but I was just wondering.

 

[EsmeraldaX]

I hate them too. I simply refuse to bid on reserve price auctions, no matter how much I want the item.

 

[Buzz2001]

I don't even bother with auctions that have a reserve price. Makes no sense

 

[MICKEY88]

Originally posted by dizneegirl
It's extremely annoying when you'd be willing to pay the reserve price, but are the only bidder, so that it never gets to the reserve price... I don't see where anyone wins there.

.

just bid in small increments 'till you hit the reserve.... then you'll get it...

 

[ToyStory Fan]

I'm not a huge fan of the system either, but I think it also allows the seller to get a feel for the market. Maybe they placed an unrealistic reserve on it...this gives them the opportunity to re-list it with a more appropriate reserve price, or let them know that there is no market for their item. I agree though, the low opening bid is to entice buyers to bid.

Bottom line is if you know the product you also know what it is worth - what you or anyone else is willing to give for it or ask for it is irrelevant.

 

[robinb]

I like to use a reserve when I have a Buy It Now price. The reserve price maintains the BIN price even though there are bids on the item until the reserve is met. There is nothing worse than setting a reasonable BIN and having someone toss in a minimum bid just to get rid of the BIN.

 

[jwfla422]

A reserve price auction is when a seller sets a (secret) minimum amount to win their item that is up for auction even though they start that auction at a certain price (usually low, but not always).

For example, lets say a seller has a camera up for bid and starts the auction at 99 cents, if it is a reserve auction and you bid 99 cents there will be the words (reserve not met) next to the bid price. And you might even bid $20 and it still may say the same thing and so on until someone bids the amount which is the minimum the seller will take for it. It's kinda like a "big secret." If you end up winning the auction and the reserve is not met the seller doesn't have to sell the item to you.

The reason a seller may do this is because they don't want pay the fees that are associated with starting the auction at a higher price however if their reserve price is met the seller then has to pay a fee anyway. (not sure what the difference is)

I'm not big on reserve auctions either and agree that if there is a minimum a seller wants then they should start the auction at that price but I on the other hand I do understand not wanting to pay a high fee to list something if you can't get what you want for it. But, I also agree that opening an auction at 99 cents when you know you won't take less than $50 or $100 for that item is just a big game.

 

[Melora]

We sell on ebay almost full time.

Reserve price auctions work very very well if you have an item that you want to get at least a certain amount of money for but want to start the bidding low to get people interested.

We sell many antiques so one ever knows what the final price will be. Truth be told, if you start an item at too high a price there is a chance no one will bid... I don't know why but experience has shown this more times than I can count.

Example: I put up an antique lamp once and started it at $49.99. No takers by auction end. So I dropped the price next time around to $29.99 and lo and behold 3 people bid on it the first day and by auction end I got $61.00 for it. I think people like it better if they see others bidding on an item, it makes them feel its "worth" trying to get. If no one bids on something expensive, I think people worry that maybe its not worth that amount to begin with.

With a reserve price auction you can start the price low to get people bidding but you know you wont have to sell it if you dont get a minimum amount for it.

 

[jipsy]

Melora's right. People like to bid. We sell high end guitars and amps and I can tell you from experience that starting an auction at $2500 (what we actually want for the guitar) gets no bids. But starting the auction at $49.99 with a reserve will get us usually more than the $2500 we originally wanted.

However, eBay has changed their fee structure, making reserve price auctions extremely costly for higher priced items.

I've tried to ask people what their reserve price in the past so that I can decide whether or not I am interested in or can afford an auction and I usually get a nasty response back. Whats the deal?

A reserve price auction is secret for a reason - to entice people to bid. When you ask people what their reserve is, you are defeating the purpose of putting a reserve on there in the first place. Also, what if I had a reserve of $200, but you were willing to pay $300? If you ask me my reserve, and I tell you my reserve is $200, I just cost myself $100.

If you have ever been to an auction house, you will see items auctioned off with reserves by the seller. They DON'T tell you the reserve either.

If you are bidding, it really shouldn't matter what the reserve is - just bid the most you are willing to pay for the item. For example, you see a camera you like. The bidding starts at $1.99 and it has a reserve. The most you want to pay for the camera is $200. Then bid the $200. If the reserve is $300, then your starting bid will be shown as $1.99 and the next time someone bids against you, ebay will automatically up your bid until it reaches your $200 max. However, if the reserve was only $100, your max bid of $200 obviously will meet the reserve, so ebay will mark your bid at $100, and show the reserve as being met. After that, anyone who bids against you, ebay will automatically up your bid until it reaches the $200 max you specify.