Whats your reserve?

Jeff, according to ebay rules, you are not supposed to tell them. It would defeat the purpose of the reserve price auction and give one person who asked priveledged information. I wouldn't even email them back, there are nasty people that might want to do you in selling the same kind of stuff. Not to be paranoid, just careful of ebay policy.

OK, thanks, sounds like a plan. Just tell them its against EBay rules to reveal the reserve.

I've actually put the reserve will not be revealed right in the item description and still got inquiries. Just goes to show you that a large % of viewers don't really read the description.

One of these days I'm going to run an auction and buried in the desription put that the first bidder to send an inquiry will get a $1 Paypaled to them. See how long it takes.

quote:

Originally posted by Jett:
I am constantly being asked this question by potential bidders. Probably you are also.

So far my reply is that I don't reveal the reserve since after all this is an auction.

What I really like to do is tell them to Paypal me $5 and the reserve amount will be revealed.

Just wondering how you are handling this?

Just my opinion...but I think you are out of you mind if you are using reserves. Nothing makes a buyer click out of your auction faster than seeing a reserve.

Why not just start your auction at the amount you want to get for it rather than giving all those fees to eBay?

quote:

Nothing makes a buyer click out of your auction faster than seeing a reserve.

This isn't necessarily true (depends on the item) but I do think a hidden reserve will make more buyers hit the back button.

Jett, if you ask this same question on the eBay forums you'll be pelted with suggestions to reveal your reserve. The thinking is why should the buyer have to guess how much your item costs? I think a lot of buyers will hit the back button rather than playing games.

I think the people who will tolerate a hidden reserve are the people who would more likely meet a revealed reserve anyway. So why not reveal it (in the listing itself) and encourage more people to bid?

The reserve is only there to ensure that you make a certain amount for your item. But I don't see how it benefits anyone by being a secret.

Also, I have my doubts about it being an eBay rule that you can't reveal your reserve. It's your listing -- nobody's going to stop you from revealing it if you choose to do so.

quote:

Why not just start your auction at the amount you want to get for it rather than giving all those fees to eBay?

The reason is because a high start price will put off way too many people. A lower start price will get them in the door, so to speak, so the listing itself can do its job in selling the item.

quote:

I've actually put the reserve will not be revealed right in the item description and still got inquiries. Just goes to show you that a large % of viewers don't really read the description.

Nah, they're just pushing to see if they can get it out of you (although it is true that a lot of buyers don't read the listings). I'd be willing to bet that the majority of the people who asked and didn't get an answer ended up not bidding..

Also, I don't mean to sound so opinionated (even if I am!). It's just that -- even though I've only used a reserve two or three times -- I've done a lot of reading about it because I'd been wondering about these same things. So these are just the conclusions I've come to.

I've done my own tests with identical items and it sometimes helps to have a reserve. Alos, I read some university studies that suggested that a reserve on identical listings will statistically bring more $. The reason stated, is the perceived higher value. I really hate you have to pay more on ebay for listing fee's based on start price. Sometimes high priced item goes for a very low start bid and we lose money. I then sometimes put the reserve at the lowest I'll take and start at a low price, then it usually attracts a few more bidders as it's climbing towards the reserve, and the extra bids look like it's a sought after item and gives it credibility, as apposed to starting at the reserveprice which will show just one bid, which usually doesn't cause the same frenzy. Just my 2 cents worth, since I'm bored, and the site isn't completely functional!

quote:

The reason stated, is the perceived higher value.

Yeah, it's crazy, huh? Similarly, I've heard a number of people say that unsold items in their stores would sometimes sell when they raised the prices.

EITHER WAY, EBAY GETS THE MONEY!

quote:

Originally posted by Rick Bradford:

quote:

The reason stated, is the perceived higher value.

Yeah, it's crazy, huh? Similarly, I've heard a number of people say that unsold items in their stores would sometimes sell when they raised the prices.

When I have a low start bid, I end with a low ending bid it seems.

The high start bid accompanied by a strong BIN seems to be working best for me...I've seen twice as many BIN purchases as Auction Sales, which is making ebay worth my time...finally.

I guess perception is something to consider.

lol....Raise your prices people....seem's to be working for me anyway.

But then again, it could just be the Auctiva benefit's kicking in!

I've wondered the same thing about reserves. If you have something that's valuable, but only a few people bid, you may not get the price you want. But, if the few people bidding know it's value and really want it, I've seen them bid several times to meet the reserve.

Like Rick says, I think it really depends on what you're selling.

So then...if you know what you want to make, and the potential bidders know what the reserve is why don't you save fee $$ (and avoid pi$$ing off bidders) and just start it at the lowest amount you are willing to sell it for?

I haven't used reserves, but there are times I wish I had. Again, if you start the item too high, sometimes they don't bid either.

I've watched items similar to mine end at nice prices, so I've listed mine with a BIN just under the highest price. My items have been in comparable condition to the one that ended, but I still have people chose to bid instead of use the BIN. Sometimes it goes even higher than the BIN... which is always good!

I would like to see the ebay rule that says you can't tell the reserve.
I always ask if I am interested in bidding on an item. If the seller won't tell then I won't bid.
The reason the bidder needs to know is so they can decide if it is worth waiting or bidding on one from another seller. For example, there is an item with reserve ending in 3 days that is at $100. There is another item at $200 ending in 2 days. If the item with the reserve had a $150 reserve then I would bid on it. If it had a $250 reserve then I would only bid up to $250 on the first item. If I don't know the reserve then I would just buy the first item (assuming it went in my price range) I can't bid $200 on the item with the reserve right away because if I meet the reserve then I can't bid on the item ending sooner. If no one else bids, there would be no problem but there is a good chance the earlier auction will end at the $200 bid and then I get outbid on the item that had the reserve. Now I have to start all over looking for a new item.

quote:

Originally posted by jivemofo:
So then...if you know what you want to make, and the potential bidders know what the reserve is why don't you save fee $$ (and avoid pi$$ing off bidders) and just start it at the lowest amount you are willing to sell it for?

As I said earlier, the reason is because a high start price will put off way too many people. A lower start price will get them in the door, so to speak, so the listing itself can do its job in selling the item.

It's like getting people in the door of a brick & mortar shop. If you can't get people to walk in and actually look at your merchandise, presentation, professionalism, etc. then there's no chance your item will sell.

I'm sure some people do find it underhanded in a way and will hit the back button. But some other people -- these being people who really want the item from this particular seller -- will stick around and bid the reserve.

I haven't found anywhere on Ebay rules that restricts revealing the reserve.

But I do think that many people who ask are trying to find out if you have a reserve that is too low, and then will try to buy the item outside of Ebay.

But you do have to remember that in the case of having a reserve, it is an auction. And if you go to a real live auction, for instance a classic car auction, their will be many cars with a reserve. That's to protect the seller. Its an accepted auction practice. The auctioneer doesn't call out "And the reserve is $50,000" LOL. If you shouted out "What's the reserve" probably two dour faced strongarms would kindly escort you off the premises.

There are no guarantees at a real live auction, other than if you got the bucks and are the high bidder and meet the reserve, its yours. If there's an item you really want and have been looking for awhile for it, bid high. Is it fair? Not really. That' how it is in the big world. And just about everything at an actual auction is sold as is, except maybe works of art . Didn't see that crack on the bottom of the priceless vase before you bid, too bad.

I typically use reserves on the more expensive items. Its to prevent giving it away. Sometimes if there is little action on an item, lowering the reserve is a good idea, probably cheaper in the long run than having to relist it. So sometimes I set the reserve a little high, knowing that it can be lowered.

I know a guy who starts all his auctions at a fairly high price, and notice that he has to relist many of them. A lower starting price really does seem to help, but only if someone bids fairly early and gets it going. Seems like in the last year or so more Ebay buyers have been holding off and bidding at the last moment.

And like several folks have mentioned, on some items which didn't sell I have relisted them at higher prices and they have sold - its all a perception thing about worth.

During these slow days of summer, using a BIN seems to work better. People just aren't logged in as much during these vacation months and don't want to wait around and remember to bid on an item when it ends. They seem to lose patience, they want the item but are distracted.