Why?

Surely the minimum bid should be the reserve?

Why would you start an 'auction' at less than you are prepared to accept?

Are 'auctions' that normal these days?

I sell books. There are about 30k auctions out of several million book listings. And if I was to do an 'auction' it would be unlikely to be less than the BIN price. Or my acceptable 'Best' Offer for those I would contemplate BO for.

Plus it costs me 5c for a GTC BIN with BO. It would cost me $1.50 for a 10 day 'auction'. Which would mean I need to have a book listed, unsold, for 30 months to equal the fee for one 10 day auction. My auction start would be significantly higher than my BIN. And if nobody bought it in 2 1/2 years there is a fair bet it wouldn't sell for a reasonable price at auction.

For non-media, it is still 7 1/2 times more expensive for a 10 day 'auction' than it is for a 30 day BIN.