Any body wish to have reserve prices on their general items for sale?

[albertshepherd]

When items are listed for sale by auction with a low starting price they will usually attract bids from many buyers. However, when one wishes to list an item that is really worth say  $600.00, very few sellers would be prepared to list the item at a starting bis of $0.99. If reserve prices were allowed again by EBay, expensive items would be safely listed with low starting bids. This would attract many more potential buyers and once the reserve bid was reached there could be spirited bidding by the remaining interested parties.

[maranock]

Nowdays most items, even at a low starting price, attract few bids, there are very few bidding wars on anything so there is really no good reason to bring in reserve prices, it is more likely to put off bidders than attract them.

As a buyer I see reserves as unfair and misleading. 

[springyzone]

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@albertshepherd wrote:

When items are listed for sale by auction with a low starting price they will usually attract bids from many buyers. However, when one wishes to list an item that is really worth say  $600.00, very few sellers would be prepared to list the item at a starting bis of $0.99. If reserve prices were allowed again by EBay, expensive items would be safely listed with low starting bids. This would attract many more potential buyers and once the reserve bid was reached there could be spirited bidding by the remaining interested parties.

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I think all it would cause is a lot more bidders using ebay bandwidth (or whatever it is called) to make low bids that would never count for anything anyway.

And a lot of numpties who would claim that they put in a bid 'but didn't expect to win' so didn't really want to pay.

Over the years I have noticed that on plenty of auctions for things I am interested in, things that may start at a low price, that often the first bid is at exactly the starting price. Case in point: I once bought a set of 5 modern, good quality curtains, almost new, with the matching poles, starting bid was about 99c & the first bidder bid exactly that. I have to wonder how much that bidder really wanted them. I ended up winning for about $50 & I consider it was a bargain. That sale did create a bidding war, there was no reserve of course & about a dozen or more bidders, but they were all going up in $1 increments & didn't come close as my one bid was double the price I paid.

I think if you had a reserve, you'd get a lot of sellers starting at 99c but buyers would be left wondering what the 'real' price was, & that could be a turn off.

The other factor is I think ebay is moving towards a 'buy now/pay now' selling model, where the price is exactly as stated or where perhaps soemtimes you can make an offer. But even that may one day be streamlined to immediate acceptance/decline with immediate payment required.

There aren't near as many auctions as there used to be.

[clubesquire]

 Have to agree. Things have changed dramatically since we were last selling her under our original account. The big bidding days are well and truly over. We notice it particularly because many of our items are true vintage collectables and do have a certain price expectation. If we were to list at 0.99c we wouldn't be here for long. We need to put the 'right price ' on our items and wait, be patient for just that 'one' informed buyer to see it. This of course, wouldn't apply to everyone and their items.

The golden days of eBay are long past, at least for sellers, and like most we are diversifying into other markets and platforms. You'll go bust here waiting with the expectation that someone with the required nouse is at the helm with the pure intention of making things better. That has long gone too. Once you are 'owned' you lose the ability to more or less autonomously apply the dictates of your own expertise and professional know how, and instead are led by the immediate greed of those owning you, with very little expertise of their own, or the ability to look beyond today's share price.

Right or wrong, just my take since returning, but I will be corrected.

Melina.

[collect247]

Surely you can't compare eBay auctions to those of realestate lol

[phorum_junkie*]

When I first started selling over in the UK you could have reserves, when people came to the boards asking why their items did not sell they were advised straight off to remove the reserve. 

They changed it to only allow reserves for items over £50, haven't a clue what the policy is now but across the board buyers demonstrated that they did not bid on items with a reserve.

[k1ooo-slr-sales]

I have bid on items listed on USA eBay that have had a reserve price.  When the auction ends without a winning bid that reaches reserve the seller has relisted.  I bid on the relist and, surprise surprise, the auction ends without reaching reserve.  Seller relists, I ignore the listing and buy elsewhere.

I think my experience with reserve price auctions is probably typical for many members who have bid on reserve auctions.  For me, as a buyer, I now only bid on the first listing and don’t bother with relists.

Sellers who have a minimum price they will accept need to set that amount as the opening bid amount and be happy if it only gets one bid.  This makes the opening bid the reserve price.

For some reserve price auctions on eBay USA I have kept track of item listings even though I haven’t bid, and found that some sell on third or fourth relist for less than the high (under reserve) bid on the first listing.  In subsequent relists the seller has obviously lowered the reserve, but it is a case of too late as bidders have not returned to the relists.

[padi*0409]

Here's a classic example of that slr, this item when it was first listed (with no reserve) had around 40 bids on it, with about 15 different bidders. As you can see from the listing the winning bidder claimed his account was hacked and eBay cancelled the listing.

This is a super-rare medal from Japan, and is really a museum piece, but second time around there were no bids (one was cancelled).

Maybe the bidders were put off by the cancellation in the first auction, who knows.................

BTW, although this seller is in Ukraine, he has over 3,000 sales at 100% feedback and is well known in the collectors market.

https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Japan-Marshal-039-s-Badge-Order-Medal-Ordre-orden-medaille-ordine-ordem-...

http://www.imperialjapanmedalsandbadges.com/marshalls.html

p.s. I do have one of the better repro ones made by the Japanese Mint...............