Thread: Reserve Price

Originally Posted by Suticat

Simple answer, personal entertainment....

Yea, understood and clearly stated in your post. Meant strategies in general. Oth I don't view Oboy as entertainment either so that makes a difference. I know people who have been forced to pay more because of the bumping game and have gone out of their way to return the favour as often as they could manage.

Bob

Originally Posted by thebigspendur

If the item is cheap reserves make no sense but if it's a pricey item it makes a lot of sense.

Absolutely. That is why I make the lowest price I'll take the minimum bid, or list at a fixed price BIN.

Originally Posted by Magpie

Oddly, I have put up a number of auctions at a higher than I expect to sell it for BIN, and a "Best Offer"

I have never received an offer that was not at least 40% less than the BIN and 3 out of 4 of the razors have actually been bought up at the full price. Go figure.

I've seen a BIN (no reserve) auction along with the alternative of bidding, and wrestled with whether to go for it, or throw in a token bid and see where it ends up. When there is no reserve as soon as there is a bid the BIN disappears. More than once I've seen the item end up going higher than the original BIN.

Originally Posted by BobH

Yea, understood and clearly stated in your post. Meant strategies in general. Oth I don't view Oboy as entertainment either so that makes a difference. I know people who have been forced to pay more because of the bumping game and have gone out of their way to return the favour as often as they could manage.

Bob

I've known some sellers who definitely have their view of strategy. One successful tobacco pipe seller always times his auctions to end at 8PM central time, and on a Sunday. Feeling that more people are at the computer at that hour/day. He always lists with a reserve, and though not everything sells, it averages out to his benefit. At least he says it does. OTOH, I know some very successful sellers of pipes and of shaving gear, who always start at $0.99 with no reserve. Some of their auctions go unbelievably high, but they do sell first class vintage stuff, and have a following.

Originally Posted by JimmyHAD

I've seen a BIN (no reserve) auction along with the alternative of bidding, and wrestled with whether to go for it, or throw in a token bid and see where it ends up. When there is no reserve as soon as there is a bid the BIN disappears. More than once I've seen the item end up going higher than the original BIN.

Usually I follow your method, opening bid absolute minimum I will accept. But I have seen numerous auctions with BIN that the BIN does NOT disappear with the first bid. I have yet to figure out how that works. I would love to list like that.