Thread: General auction/Ebay question

Originally Posted by ChrisL

For a seven day Ebay auction, IMO as a buyer an invisible reserve is an irritation.

With the way auctions are done on ebay these days, I agree with you 99%. However, when ebay was still a relatively new thing, people treated it a lot more like they treat live auctions.

The reason I say 99%, is that a very low starting bid still get's your listing into a few more people's watch lists.

Very true they were closer to a real auction. The big problem now is the competing sniping programs which I think reduces what an item will sell for. Good for the buyer bad for a seller.
As far as bidding wars they still happen. That last 20 minutes or so and two people go at it bidding time after time. Not a very smart way to win and get a good price but they still do it fairly often.
I don't remember the razor but a few months ago there was one of those and the ending bid was almost $2000 I kid you not!!!

Originally Posted by Gunner777

I don't remember the razor but a few months ago there was one of those and the ending bid was almost $2000 I kid you not!!!

What stinks, is that even that doesn't help the seller, because most of the time some idiot posts a ridiculous snipe bid and ends up winning and auction for 10 times what it's worth because somebody else did the same thing, they end up not paying and the thing just get's relisted.

Originally Posted by VeeDubb65

Sadly, in the last few years it's gotten to the point where winning an auction is rarely about who is willing to pay the most, but frequently about who can get their bid in with the fewest seconds left in the auction.

All sniping does is to convert every auction into a blind auction. The highest bidder always wins.

Back on topic, I've seen auctions with hidden reserves, but the reserve value is buried in the description text. A very odd tactic.

There could be some value to it I think.
I did a reserver price listing few months ago. It was a very nice razor and I didn't want to sell it for less than a given amount, but in case I didn't end up selling it I wanted to know what the ebay market things the value for that razor is.
I got 5-6 bidders (I think mostly members) and at the end it sold for the reserve price, everybody else stopped at about 10% less.

Also if somebody comes close enough to my reserve I could change my mind and take just a bit less for it.

But yes it is mostly playing games.

That's right they get caught up in the moment then don't pay when the price goes way high. EBay isn't the fun place it started out as.

Short answer: Its cheaper to put a reserve than a large starting bid. Or at least it was, and if its not still cheaper, then old habits die hard.

Originally Posted by ChrisL

No one meets the reserve and in the end it's a big waste of time for the potential buyers AND the seller.
Chris L

But if they weren't willing to pay the reserve anyway, it still wouldn't have sold. Having a reserve also forces the buyer to put in their absolute maximum bid or else not meet the reserve. Sometimes the max is larger than the reserve and the reserve was pointless. Other times, no one *that week* saw the item and didn't bid. Sometimes the seller is just crazy and theres no use worrying about those crazy cooks. Sometimes the buyer is willing to pay just above the reserve and no one else is, so the buyer gets it and the seller gets his minimum bid.

In the end, the buyer is either going to meet the minimum bid and win the item, or he/she is not and the item will not sell. The advantage of a reserve price on ebay is twofold. And I'm a little surprised some of you don't know this.

1) MOST IMPORTANTLY, ebay used to give the seller back the reserve price fee. Yes, it is/was actually cheaper to set a reserve rather than put up a minimum bid.

2) It may start a bidding war.

But #1 is probably the reason most sellers do it. Pretty sure the policy is still active. You save a few bucks per $100 or so.

It's all psychological just as VeeDub says about his horse auctions.

If you have a retail $2000 item that you want $1500 for, and say that $1500 is on the high side of a fair price, people will just pass on it. Everyone wants a deal. Knowing up front what the price is turns people off. The same reason people try to use ebay in the first place to buy everything vice just buying it new from a vendor. Hoping to get a deal.

If you start such an item at $0.99, you'll get a couple bids of a few hundred bucks, wishful thinking, driving the price into a territory that sounds like a good deal. Then, the next guy might say "geez, I WOULD pay $1500, so I'll put in $1500 max bid, but I sure hope it goes for less so I get a good deal" The same guy would have seen a $1500 starting bid and probably said, nah, forget it, that's no deal.

A low starting price sems to attract more bidders than starting at the minumum you "hope" to get. On most things I just set a low start knowing the final sale will be at an acceptable number.

On some high value items, say something I really would want $200/$300 for I may start at $75 t0 $90 but set a reserve at the minumum I would commit to sell at, say $225. The auction may end with that reserve being met, if not I am not obligated to sell but I always have the option of a 'second chance" offer in case I'm willing to take whatever the high bid is. This is for items I would like to sell but if they don't it is no big deal.

With bidding many guys would never throw out the $200 opening bid to win that same item, but may easily go over $200 if it started at a low $99 instead and they thought they might win for less.

Usually though when I list on ebay I'm putting 6 or 8 things up and really would be happy selling half of them so price them at what I want, rather than at what I am positive they will sell for.

Tony

The one thing that has been implemented by PayPal/EBay is this holding funds to the seller for up to thirty days if you haven't sold at least 100 items.
You sell an item and are expected to send it to the buyer and wait for your money until the buyer leaves positive feedback or thirty days passes. Now we all know what's going on the longer EBay/PayPal holds our money the more interest they make on the banked funds. It's a real racket!