not disclosing reserve

[254575]

Whats the deal with people not disclosing the reserve on ebay auctions?

 

i get put off bidding on such auctions as you have no idea whether it is within your budget

 

as long as you ask politely, I dont see what anyone has to lose by disclosing it?

 

or am i missing the point completely here?

[MrRegieRitmo]

They always say just bid & find out, so I suppose you bid upto the amount you would be prepared to pay & if it doesn't reach the reserve you've got your answer! I don't see why they need to be secretive though....

[carlo]

Also most people have a totally unrealistic idea of their heap of old crap is worth, which is why you see the same car listed every week. It also usually comes back with the same reserve because they're too thick to realise the reason it's not selling. There is a 405 on ebay currently which has been on for nearly a year. I mailed him a question recently saying I was bored of looking at his bloody car and why didn't he lower the price - and got the predictable response "Do you want to buy it or not?". Then of course there are the muppets who list their half interesting stuff at three times its value then moan that there's "hundreds of watchers but no bidders". Ebay is addictive but it don't half wind me up.

[Cavcraft]

-1 sorry. I never reveal reserve for a couple of reasons. From past experience people either never get back to you or expect you to sell it for the reserve price before end of listing. I always set my reserve price at less than market value to try and attract bids (ie reserve met early on so bidders can see its available for a ptential bargain) and also if people are asking me the reserve they're sure to be asking every one else too until they get the answer they want. It seems to me most peuople treat ebay like Autotrader now and want to buy everything immediatelt. If I want a sapecific price for something I'll advertise on the net or in the media. If I put or reveal reserve price then its not an auction.

[Mr_Bo11ox]

Whats the point of them putting a reserve if theyre just going to then tell you what it is? If they do that, theres no point in setting (and paying for) a reserve price.

 

If you want it, have a bid, it makes sense. The 'affordability' (to you) is of no consequence to the seller, he just wants to know if someone is buying or not buying his item.

 

If I had set a reserve i wouldnt tell folk what it was.

[Pete-M]

I'm with Mr B. on this.

 

Say you want £1500 for something, if you start the auction at 99p with no reserve and there isn't much interest, the auction might make it to £600 and that's it. You've just lost £900. If you start the auction at £1495 with no reserve it'll just frighten off the cheapskates who'll go "That's worth £1500, and I want it cheap" and they'll not bid. So it'll spend the rest of the auction at £1495 and not sell.

 

With the reserve at say £1400 and a start price of £700, people will look, think "That's cheap" and bid. Ok, they may only chuck a grand bid at it, but that grand bid is a bid, and that gets other people interested "Hmm, there are a lot of people bidding on this, I'll throw £1200 at it" and so on. Someone else will chuck a £1450 at it and bingo, reserve met.. Once the reserve is met, someone might say "I'd pay £1550 for that" and so on.

 

If you tell everyone what the reserve is, you're pretty much knackering yourself as you don't get the chancers chucking cheeky bids. Without cheeky bids, auctions don't work.

[Vin]

i get put off bidding on such auctions as you have no idea whether it is within your budget

 

Is that not the whole point of an auction?

[carlo]

I've had success selling used cars with a 'Buy It Now' which I consider reasonable and gives me a sensible profit/return, along with a reserve set about £50 below that. That means any low bids won't remove the Buy It Now, and anyone who is tempted by it has the chance to buy immediately.

[254575]

 

i get put off bidding on such auctions as you have no idea whether it is within your budget

 

Is that not the whole point of an auction?

possibly, but if you attended a car auction that lasted 7 whole days would the analogy still apply?

 

so from what i can tell its purely down to a chance that someone will offer a ridiculous amount for it if you dont tell them?

[Mr_Bo11ox]

you dont have to offer a ridiculous amount, just what you think its worth, its not freakin rocket science

[Pete-M]

 

i get put off bidding on such auctions as you have no idea whether it is within your budget

 

Is that not the whole point of an auction?

possibly, but if you attended a car auction that lasted 7 whole days would the analogy still apply?

 

so from what i can tell its purely down to a chance that someone will offer a ridiculous amount for it if you dont tell them?

An interweb auction lasts 7 or 10 days so that a lot of people can see what you're offering for sale and they give you the chance to go and see what they're selling if it's something big like a car. It's not as though there's some little eBay pixie standing on a rostrum for a week, hammer in hand, shouting "C'mon now, who's gonna up the bid, I've been here for five days and there's loads more stuff to get through.."

 

Then there's the other thing, you could bid £100,000 on a £1500 item and it'll only go to whatever someone else bids plus a few quid, so you'd need two people offering ridiculous amounts in order to pay a ridiculous amount (or a shill bidder..). You could enter £100k as a bid on a £15 quid item and if no-one else bids, you get it for £15. It's how auctions work.

 

If you want something, put your maximum amount in as late as possible. If it wins, well done. If it doesn't, no loss. If you don't meet the reserve, you weren't willing to pay enough.

 

Have you never been to an auction?

[autofive]

i never reveal my reserve, and always reduce the reserve (only by a couple of quid) a day before the end. then bidders and watchers get a little note attached ' the seller has reduced the reserve'

 

on a side note why do sellers get annoyed when a small amount is bid on their auction?

i tend to add a small bid, (usually 13.33) early in the auction, to show my interest and make the auction easier to keep an eye on (otherwise it gets lost in the 199 other auctions in watching), if the bidding goes silly, i dont add another bid.

 

This tactic has enraged a couple of ebay sellers enough to send a message of complaint to me, one of the messages stated 'my bid was an insult, and im now on the sellers blocked bidders list'

 

WTF?

 

if you dont want small bids dont start your auction at 99p

[Rocket88]

I just stick in a bid for what I think it's worth, if it comes back as "reserve not met", I won't bother again. The good thing about sticking in a high bid early as it frightens off the tossers who increase in increments of 9p!

[Pete-M]

Yesterday morning when bidding on the Jag, I threw in as much as I could afford +50p. The 50p won it

[Rusty Pelican]

Yesterday morning when bidding on the Jag, I threw in as much as I could afford +50p. The 50p won it

ll loan you the 50p Pete , same charges as Visa OK

[Pete-M]

Bargain.

[HillmanImp]

possibly, but if you attended a car auction that lasted 7 whole days would the analogy still apply?

 

It is a problem when you see 3 different cars you are keen on all ending at different times. Do you go for the 1st one which the reserve has already been met that you quite like, or do you hang fire and wait for the last one that you really like where the reserve has not yet been met in the hope that the reserve is in your budget.

 

Obviously this is no different to a normal aution, its just protracted over the longer online auctions.

 

Personally, i dont really understand the entire reserve thing at all. Why dont you just start the auction at the reserve if thats the minimum you will take? I suppose i am missing the point there or enticing potential bidders etc....

 

Was there not a thread about reserves a year or so ago where people were starting an auction at 99p with a reserve of £900 etc?