don't understand ebay reserve bids
Roland King
I just bid for something with an opening bid of $75, minimum
bid was $76 and there was a reserve. I put in $85 which is
what I think the thing is worth, and ... it's below the reserve.
OK so the reserve is just to get people to start bidding, I
see that, it's annoying but I understand it, what I don't get
is why the bid history for things with a reserve isn't shown.
That means the next guy who comes along has to guess starting
at $75 as well.
I barely understand the concept of putting a low starter bid
and a reserve on, I can see that someone might want to get a
value on the item or might decided after the auction that they
will infact sell to the highest bidder, even though the reserve
hasn't been met; I don't understand at all why the bid history
is hidden. Currently I don't see why it shouldn't show that
someone has bid $76, that I am the high bidder and the reserve
still isn't me. The reserve in that case would just be a flag
showing that the seller is not bound to sell to that highest
bidder.
A reserve auction at an auction house goes on until the end,
openly. If the reserve isn't met then the seller doesn't have
to sell, but the bids are open and it's a real auction. Why
is it different on ebay?
Roland
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Before you buy.
GIRL INTERRUPTED
auction. You can't see who has bid what amount in any auction on ebay until
the auction is over.
Elke
"Roland King" <ro...@my-deja.com> wrote in message
news:8orrul$di0$1...@nnrp1.deja.com...
Kenneth Heffington
the seller has set a minimum price that he will accept.
With the starting bid of $75 and your bid of $85, since the $85 was below
the set reserve, your bid only shows as the minimum allowable bid on the
item. You did not meet the reserve so the proxy system put in your minimum
bid of $75. If some one comes along and bids $80, the proxy system will
increase your bid to one increment above $80, but reserve will still not be
met.
If you had bid an amount that was higher than the reserve on the auction,
your bid would have been increased to the amount of the reserve with the
amount of your bid above the reserve hidden and waiting for use as a proxy
bid.
Roland King <ro...@my-deja.com> wrote in message
news:8orrul$di0$1...@nnrp1.deja.com...
wav...@my-deja.com
Resrves are like insurance. The seller may believe the item you are
bidding on is worth $100 or, most likely, $150. The starting bid has to
be at least 50% of the reerve.
In a live auction a seller does not have to sell beloiw the reserve -
it is the same on eBay.
It is simple on eBay: If the reserve is not met - the item does not
sell.
The seller may choose to relist it at a lower price or he/she may not.
I have stopped using rrserve auctions for 99.99% of items. I list a
starting bid at which I maske a profit on the item. Sone o not get a
bid, some sell for the asking price and about a third go for 3-3 times
the asking price or more.
-*MORT*-
Zadok Allen
>The starting bid has to
>be at least 50% of the reerve.
Nope, ebay never made that a rule. Last year they were making rumblings about
having the starting bid at least 25% of the reserve price and it got shot down
by protesting sellers. That's when they "compromised" by adding the $1
refundable charge to reserve auctions, but they dropped the whole issue of
relating the reserve to the starting bid.
As somebody who does use reserves from time to time, I would have been quite
happy with the 25% reserve rule - it's these people that start auctions at $1
with $100 reserves that get bidders really pissed off. If the 25% rule was in
place, bidders could always figure out the absolute maximum to meet reserve and
probably wouldn't be as hesitant about placing bids.