Reserve Auctions

[Tervuren]

Sooo, do you guys bid on them? I see reserve not met on ebay, and just close the window. Its an auction, and I'm not guessing the reserve, I have an amount of money I'm willing to pay, and if I can't see if that amount has a chance to buy the car or not, I quit shopping.

How does the reserve benefit anyone? If its worth X to you, start it at X, and if it doesn't sell, maybe its not worth X to anyone else...

[KevinP73]

I'm a seller on eBay and amazon, two different selling platforms. I post my kayak accessories as a fixed price listing because I know exactly how much they are worth and how much people are willing to pay. I post used Porsche or Corvair bits as auctions because sometimes you really just don't know what the buying public is willing to pay. In most cases it's just a matter of getting rid of used parts and putting a little pocket change in my pockets. But occasionally you'll get some rare or hard to find part that raises the buyers "I've gotta have it" frame of mind. When you get two or more of these buyers then it becomes an ego fight more than a "whats it really worth" auction. I won't reveal a reserve price if I think the biding may be driven by a buyers ego more than actual value of the item. I sell to make money and thats just one way to maximize my earnings.

[kaisen]

Originally Posted by Tervuren

Sooo, do you guys bid on them? I see reserve not met on ebay, and just close the window. Its an auction, and I'm not guessing the reserve, I have an amount of money I'm willing to pay, and if I can't see if that amount has a chance to buy the car or not, I quit shopping.

Then bid your amount and see if that amount has the chance to buy the car

What am I missing here?

Reserve or not, an item's worth what it's worth (to you)..... but that logic can be applied either way

[Esel Mann]

The purpose of the reserve is to protect the seller by ensuring the sale doesn't occur unless the desired $$$ amount is hit.

The reason why a seller doesn't reveal it is because the sale is an auction type situation. Hence being rational goes out the door. So by not revealing it, it increases the chances of multiple parties bidding. Once that happens. Look out, rational goes out the door and the chances increase that not only will the reserve be met, but the sale price may exceed the reserve!

Consider the converse situation. Such is common for bank auctions of homes. They set the initial price up front the majority of the time. And the majority of the time it is not a reasonable price. Thus while I've looked, I've yet to bid on a house. Others have told me similarly. While auctioned homes do sell eventually, they are not selling anywhere near a reasonable frequency to help flush out the real estate mess.

[dad911]

When I was selling on ebay, I typically set the starting price very low, with no reserve. Low start sucks in more bidders, and the items always went up to what the market would bear.

As to bidding, I bid my price. If it is below reserve, or someone out bids me, no sweat, it didn't cost me a dime.

As to non-eBay auctions, I wouldn't waste my time at an auction if I didn't know, or had a feeling it wouldn't make reserve. Very often, the auction establishes a price, and a deal is cut after the auction anway, if there is a serious buyer.

[McLovin]

I'll bid on reserve auction. Like Kaisen says, there's no downside to a buyer - just bid your price and you'll either get it or not. As Belushi said, "Don't cost nothing."

As a seller, I'm almost always willing to roll the dice with no reserve, though. I've found in my experience that in general, items sell for higher when there's no reserve. Even on a $1000 item, I'll usually start at 99 cents, no reserve.