Why is there no option to set a reserve price on a new listing or to change a listing?

[culmarra]

Just listed a couple of computer items and realised after listing that I did not set a reserve price. After reviewing help, despite the instructions, there is no option to set a reserve price when revising the items. Look at what options were available if the item was newlly listed under a different account (did not relist) and again no option to set a reserve price.

[padi*0409 · Accepted solution]

Apart from real estate and motor vehicles there are no reserves on eBay Australia, your start price on an auction needs to be the minimum you'll accept for it.

Edit to add. If you put a BIN on an auction. as soon as the first bid goes in that BIN disappears.

[countessalmirena]

I'm going to use capital letters.

THERE IS NO RESERVE ON EBAY AUSTRALIA - except, as padi has stated, in Motors. ❝On eBay.com.au, the reserve price feature is only available for auction-style listings of Cars, Motorcycles, and Boats within the Motors categories.❞

Real Estate can only be listed now as a Classified Ad, but I think it was at one stage a reserve category. It is more like a traditional listing in the window of a real estate office, as the prospective buyer gets in touch with the seller and the terms are negotiated outside eBay. ❝A real estate listing is not a legally binding offer to sell that property. Instead, similar to an ad in a newspaper, the listing provides a way for sellers to advertise their property to meet potential buyers. Any legally binding agreement is completed outside of eBay.❞

All other items on eBay should be listed with the knowledge that there's no reserve price, and that if you list it with a starting price of $0.99, and the first bid is the only bid, that's it. That's the price at which you're supposed to sell your item.

You can either list the item as a fixed price listing, or you can list it for auction. If you list it for auction, do as padi says and make sure that your STARTING PRICE is the minimum that you will accept. Your STARTING PRICE will function like a reserve (except, of course, that the "reserve" is visible).

Again, as padi says, do not be fooled into thinking that a Buy It Now price added to your auction listing works like a reserve price. It doesn't. It is there solely for the purpose of allowing people who desperately want your item NOW to buy it now rather than have to wait for the auction to end ...or rather than risk having the bidding go higher than the BIN price. Once someone bids on your item, the Buy It Now button vanishes as if it had never existed, as ethereal as filigrees of mist in the bright warmth of morning.

[sugar249]

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@countessalmirena wrote:

I'm going to use capital letters.

THERE IS NO RESERVE ON EBAY AUSTRALIA

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Not sure why you want to yell at us all,  but thats fine,   There is actually a reserve price on all auctions on Ebay Australia,  your starting price is your reserve price... Just list your item at the minimum price you are willing to accept.  Thats your reserve.   If you set it at 99cents, then 99cents is your reserve, simple really.

[davewil1964]

Simple.

But the starting price is not technically a reserve, in the context of the OP. Which was the question you haven't bothered to answer. Unlike the other posters on this thread who gave useful information.

If a post is not All-Caps, capital letters tend to be for emphasis, rather than shouting, especially when signalled in advance.

[countessalmirena]

@sugar249,

If you wish, I'm happy to yell. (I did once stop a train with my scream.) When I yell, it's usually my cat's name, and I try to make it a mellifluous yell so that the neighbours enjoy the process and don't secretly plot to murder a) me or b) Napoleon.

davewil's explained my use of capitals - in the relevant post - to a T. (As well as to the rest of the capitalised alphabet.)

[springyzone]

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@sugar249 wrote:

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@countessalmirena wrote:

I'm going to use capital letters.

THERE IS NO RESERVE ON EBAY AUSTRALIA

___________________________________________________

Not sure why you want to yell at us all,  but thats fine,   There is actually a reserve price on all auctions on Ebay Australia,  your starting price is your reserve price... Just list your item at the minimum price you are willing to accept.  Thats your reserve.   If you set it at 99cents, then 99cents is your reserve, simple really.

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Don't be ridiculous. Captial letters do not, by default, mean yelling. They are more commonly used for titles,proper nouns, emphasis and so on.

A person can achieve a similar result with italics, colour, font size etc.

I have also heard the theory that 'red' is an angry colour and should never be used in corrections. I don't accept that either. I think red has often been used simply for visibility and easy differentiation and that is exactly how countess used her capitals in the sentence.

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Culmarra.

If there have been no bids on your items, you can go in and change the ad. As you now realise, there is no option to set a reserve for most things and there never has been as far as I recall. Not in the last 15 years or more in any case. So buyers certainly don't expect a reserve here in ebay, not on your everyday items.

You better get in there and raise your prices to your minimum, the price you would be willing to sell at. Your other option would be to cancel the ads.

If you have a very low starting price and you're counting on an auction to push it past the reserve you have in mind, think again.

Sometimes it works but it is not a sure thing. What is just as likely to happen is you may have a flurry of bidding but if, for instance, you have started at a very low price, it is likely to go up in small increments. So for instance if you started something at 99c, it might go to $40 but if the reserve you have in mind is $80, you're not going to be too happy, are you.

And believe me, the buyer won't be too happy with you either if they bid up and yet you pull out of a sale because it didn't go as high as you wanted.

And why should they be? It is up to you as seller to read the terms before you list and start at selling price. So... tweak your ads.

[davidl9689]

wel we have established there is no reserve price for most eBay australia listings but not why, and why is it different to other eBay domains. As it stands I won't sell on eBay my guitar amp via auction unless I can put a reserve on it to protect myself. Nor do I want the starting price to be the reserve. 

Can't see the point of this and in my case eBay is going to lose my business

[sandypebbles]

So by all means sell it elsewhere 

You don't want to start an auction at a price you'd be happy to accept if there were to be only one bid

You don't want to list it with a buy it now price you decide 

So pick option c) and sell elsewhere

And if you really are so interested on why there are no reserves, contact eBay and ask them

No quite sure what exactly a reserve price is protecting you from though? 

Your item, you decide how much to list it for , not eBay

To add, you will need to be sign up for Managed Payments , provided all documentation etc required and be aware of the 30 days hold on funds as you are considered a new seller before even worrying about something like  no reserves 

[springyzone]

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@davidl9689 wrote:

wel we have established there is no reserve price for most eBay australia listings but not why, and why is it different to other eBay domains. As it stands I won't sell on eBay my guitar amp via auction unless I can put a reserve on it to protect myself. Nor do I want the starting price to be the reserve. 

Can't see the point of this and in my case eBay is going to lose my business

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I can't see your point.

Why can't you just set your starting price at what you would consider your lowest acceptable price?

If it is an auction format and a few people are interested, then you might get well above that price. If only one person is interested, at least you'll get your 'reserve' price.

I am a buyer and I'm not interested in  wasting my time putting in bids on stuff that might have a sky high reserve. When I bid, I want to know I am in with a chance.

As it is, most ebay sales are set price anyway. Why not go and just set a price on your guitar amp, at the price you'd like to get, not just a reserve?

So where else are you going to sell it anyway? I guess you could try marketplace or gumtree but you have to set a price on those sites too. And the only way is down on those sites, whereas on ebay it is up.