billlaine
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posted on October 21, 2000 06:30:04 AM
As a bidder on ebay I find "reserve" prices really annoying. I tend to ignore auctions that have a reserve unless it is something I really want.
As a seller I don't use reserves because they annoy me so much as a bidder.
So, what am I missing? What is the strategy behind setting a reserve price?
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toollady
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posted on October 21, 2000 06:36:08 AM
billlaine~~~
The reserve has saved more than a shirt or 2 when ebaY has "functionality issues", such as has been the case for the past 6 out of 7 nights.
Sometimes a reserve is used when a seller really is unsure of the worth of an item and they are testing the waters.
Also used as a marketing strategy....... $1,000 item is listed at 9.99 with a reserve sure does get a lot of looks, if nothing else.
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toke
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posted on October 21, 2000 06:37:25 AM
I've done it both ways and find I do better with a reserve.
If I need to get $75 for an item, and start it there, there seems to be a huge reluctance to bid. If I have a $75 reserve, and an opening bid of $19.95...it sells. Just psychology, I guess. Or maybe it's what I sell...go figure.
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DrTrooth
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posted on October 21, 2000 06:38:38 AM
There are a few points, & all include the idea to not lose money and to maximize interest and activity in your listing.
Please....give this a try. Take a month and do 4 'rounds' of listings. Make sure you put up some items that you have at least 50.00 each invested in.
For the first 2 weeks, start them at 1.00 and no Reserve. For the following 2 weeks start them for at least the 50.00 you have invested. Better yet, add 10.00; for the listing and FV Fees and a small amount of $$ for your time.
Then.....come back and let us know how you did.
We will be interested in hearing how things turn out.
Dr. Trooth
[ edited by DrTrooth on Oct 21, 2000 06:40 AM ]
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toollady
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posted on October 21, 2000 06:40:21 AM
Tokester~~~ 
Send me an E hon!
Oops! Sorry for the derailment
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toke
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posted on October 21, 2000 06:48:58 AM
toollady...Hi!
DrTrooth...
I haven't the guts (or the money to lose) for the $1 no reserve. I couldn't take the stress... I know it works well for some. I'm fortunate, in that I have a shop to sell items that don't meet reserve online.
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DrTrooth
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posted on October 21, 2000 06:54:46 AM
Toke - perhaps I should have been more specific.
That 'game plan' was pointed towrds 'billlaine' the originator of this thread.
I want them to be able to put their money where their mouth is.
I do not know what they sell, so their results could be different, but IMHO the dynamics of this online marketplace are the same no matter what goods are being proffered.
Dr. Trooth
[edited for sloppy pre-post spell-checking!]
[ edited by DrTrooth on Oct 21, 2000 06:56 AM ]
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toke
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posted on October 21, 2000 07:00:27 AM
DrTrooth...
I understand...but, I was serious. I have a friend that does very low opening bid - no reserve auctions. Her items are mostly in the $100-$300 range, and she does very well. I don't think she pays close, though. I often do, in my field.
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CleverGirl
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posted on October 21, 2000 07:06:59 AM
I am finding reserve auctions increasingly annoying too. However, as a Seller I sometimes use them. Why? Because as Toke pointed out, sometimes if you list something at what you NEED to get out of it, you'll get no takers at all.
I do wish folks would identify what KIND of things they sell in these kind of discussions because it DOES make a difference. In my category (old glassware) many, many things go at the first bid, if they go at all. I love Dr. Tooth's idea, but I think I'd lose my shirt. No, I know I would. I've seen some things go for big bucks one week and when I listed them the following week or two, few to no bids. Go figure.
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toke
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posted on October 21, 2000 07:34:45 AM
CleverGirl...
You're right. I sell antiques, general line. Glass, china, bronzes, paintings, prints, etc...even small furniture that's easily shipped. I also sell collectibles, if I buy them on a house call. Eighteenth through the twentieth century.
My friend sells new things.
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imabrit
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posted on October 21, 2000 09:28:01 AM
Okay I use reserves a lot.I have too based on the value of the item.These are rare books.
I often find if I place these at a realistic opening bid.Then nobody bids.
Sometimes I will list these at 1c no reserve but with the problems with ebaY in the last week I may no do that for a while.Reason is I got burned on a few items last week.
I ran a book at what I wanted for it 175.00 opening bids and no bidders.
I relisted the same book a week later 1c with reserve for 10 days within 24 hrs hit reserve.
So it speaks for itself.
I currently have another book with a high reserve over 2000.That is within 3 hundred of the reserve.I started it out at 1c its a good way too get a lot of bidders which in turn creates interest.
We always have a tendancy to want something for nothing or for very cheap.Low opening bids with good reserves help to quench that desire as you never really know where the reserve is.It maybe a lot lower than you expected sometimes a lot higher too.
Adrian
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dman3
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posted on October 21, 2000 09:36:03 AM
whats the point of reserve auctions well I have just one point.
If I have an item I can not let go of for under say $1000 and I want to get a buyer for this Im not gonna do it useing the $1000 start bid at all its just not in most peoples nature to see $1000 price tag as an iresistable thing.
so I start my bid low with a reserve I save a bundle on listing fees and the heart ache of my $1000 investment going with one bid of $50 to $100 nuff said 
WWW.dman-n-company.com
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uaru
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posted on October 21, 2000 10:26:51 AM
"so I start my bid low with a reserve I save a bundle on listing fees"
??? Have they changed the listing fee structure? I thought you paid the listing fee based on the reserve NOT the minimum bid.
I don't like reserves and I've noticed most bidders don't judging from my observations. Basically a reserve is just a 'private minimum bid'. Buyers get turned off clicking, entering numbers and seeing "Reserve Not Yet Met".
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toollady
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posted on October 21, 2000 10:31:31 AM
uaru~~ You are correct!
The insertion fee is based on the reserve price, plus you get to pay an extra $1.00 for the privilege of having a reserve!
If the items sells at or above reserve the $1.00 is refunded......unless that has changed as well.
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dman3
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posted on October 21, 2000 10:53:17 AM
Im not sure how the listing fees is charged on ebay for reserve items I havent used reserves on ebay as of yet. I do know they charge a fee just for useing reserve if the reserve is not met.
My point was if I run reserve auction and it gets bids but reserve isnt ment I dont lose my investment due to selling it one bid under priced and I save the FVF I dont pay FVF for a high bid when reserve isnt met.
if I list a $1000 item witha start bid of $50 no reserve I not only lose my money on item I pay listing fee and then to add insult to injury I have to pay the FVF for $50 and with my luck buyer would pay with ebay credit card service and have to pay this fee too you would not only lose $1000 investment but more in fees
WWW.dman-n-company.com
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rpw
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posted on October 21, 2000 12:44:06 PM
When I sell I start the bidding at the minimum price I wll take with no reserve. When bidding, I will not bid on a reserve item *UNLESS* (and thankfully I see this more and more lately) the description of the item states the reserve. I also see statements like "This item is worth $1000 reserve is less than half that." Something like this is ok as well. I just don't have time to go hunting for a reserve that may prove be more than I am willing to pay for an item
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mrpotatoheadd
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posted on October 21, 2000 02:20:50 PM
rpw-
You said:
I will not bid on a reserve item *UNLESS*... the description of the item states the reserve... I just don't have time to go hunting for a reserve that may prove be more than I am willing to pay for an item.
Suppose you had these two auctions to choose from, both by the same seller, with the same shipping terms.
Sceario 1: Gold plated widget, starting bid of $10 (and a hidden reserve of $100), with no bidders at this time.
Scenario 2: Gold plated widget, starting bid of $10 (no reserve), with a bid of $10 showing from a previous bidder, whose proxy bid is $100.
According to your statement above, you would not bid on the first auction, but would bid on the second.
My question is... Why?
In both cases, you would not have the opportunity to purchase the widget unless you were willing to bid over $100, although there is no way to know that before you bid.
In fact, the reserve auction allows you two options, both in your favor, that the non-reserve does not.
1) If the item does not reach the reserve and doesn't sell, there is always the possiblity that you can come to an agreement with the seller on a price that may be even lower than your initial bid.
2)If you really, really want to know the reserve, you can ask the seller- he just might tell you. I suppose you could ask the current high bidder in a non-reserve auction what his high bid is, too- I wouldn't expect him to be very helpful, though.
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toolhound
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posted on October 21, 2000 03:22:39 PM
I hope I never get to busy to bid on reserve price auctions. It takes all of 30 seconds to bid and if I didn't make the reserve I move on.
Maybe that is why I am getting so many good buys on reserve auctions.
I won one on Yahoo last week with a reserve of $10.00 my proxy bid was $65.00
Thanks to all of you who do not bid on reserve auctions for making that possible.
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freddy57
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posted on October 21, 2000 03:42:24 PM
To illustrate the value of a reserve, I will use myself as an example. I have been selling on Ebay items that cost me $60 each. I have listed them starting at $1 and no reserve. At first they were doing pretty well, but lately, as others have jumped in with the same item, the auctions are closing below cost. Now I have a stomach full of ulcers and a whole bunch of auctions that I previously listed that I stand to lose my backside on because I don't have a reserve on them. How much longer do you think I am going to be able to continue selling under these conditions?
By the way, I sell computer parts and related items.
[ edited by freddy57 on Oct 21, 2000 03:45 PM ]
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CleverGirl
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posted on October 21, 2000 03:59:42 PM
repw wrote:
When I sell I start the bidding at the minimum price I wll take with no reserve.
That's what I do with the vast majority of my auctions. and I prefer that. But when I'm listing things with a BV of (for example), $75 and I'd like $40 or $50, you pay a higher listing fee and stand a good chance of not getting ANY bids in my category.
Also, it's been my thoroughly unscientific observation that auctions which already have bids on them tend to attract more bids. Or conversely: that an otherwise attractive item appropriately priced and accurately ID'd might not get bids simply because no one else has seen fit to bid on it.
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imabrit
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posted on October 21, 2000 04:03:53 PM
CleverGirl
I agree with your last statement.That the most reasonably priced item,well described will not get bids.
Kind of like who is going to make the first mistake.NOT me on bidding.
As you say the more bids on an item the more attention it gets as people think wow it must be worth something look at all the bidding.
Adrian
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deco100
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posted on October 21, 2000 05:02:52 PM
This has been debated so many times I thought it was written in stone by now.Here are my 10 reasons for using reserves:
1.) To protect myself against ebay outages.
2.)To protect myself from unscheduled scheduled maintenance.
3.)To protect myself against ebay outages.
4.)To protect myself when you can't get in to bid due to slowness or overcrowding on the last day.
5.) To protect myself against ebay outages.
6.)To protect myself when the search engines aren't working.
7.)To protect myself against ebay outages.
8.)To protect myself when I have an item in a very small area of interest and nobody might want the item that week.
9.)To protect myself when I have too much invested.
10.) To protect myself against ebay outages.
Contrary to the above list, I still use reserves less than 10% of the time and pray a lot to the god of ebay outages.
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twelvepole
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posted on October 21, 2000 05:11:39 PM
I just don't understand why bidders have a proble with reserves. If I want an item, I don't care what the reserve is, I am going to bid what I am willing to pay.
If it meets reserve, fine, if not; well look somewhere else.
Ain't Life Grand...
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