eBay-ers, what's your thought on reserve v. no reserve listings?
 

i'm gonna dabble in eBay selling and don't see the upside in having a reserve.

why not just start the bidding at what the reserve price would be?


:2 cents:

Consider that ebay nickels and dimes you with fees, it costs to have a reserve.

On the other hand, if you start your sell price low and you don't have a reserve, someone could win your item at a ridiculously low price.

So....based on what you're selling is what would determine the need for a reserve.

I've got stuff on Ebay now ...I'm an Ebay newbie, for sure....I had been told that reserves are a pain in the ass, don't use them. So far, I haven't needed to implement that service.

What I don't understand is what the difference is between "reserve" and "minimum bid" listings? Aren't they one in the same? Oh wait, one you see and one you don't see. So what the FUCK is the difference!

It all depends on the price of the item. For high priced items, it's usually better.

From my experience, if it's a low priced item, don't use a reserve but definately use a Buy It Now option. I was always surprised at how many people would use that (and pay more than if the auction went down to the end without the BIN).

Start everything at $1.

yes, i see.

actually, i'm going to be moving some vehicles.
so it seems a reserve would be a good thing?
why is that?

Thats the way to go. If you have a price in mind that you want just start the bidding at that. That way one bid you got it, any more than that is bonus.

BUT the good thing about starting it at $1 is you tend to get more bidders involved in it - and most of the ebay folks get caught up in bidding and get carried away and will keep bidding till they win. Then after the listing is done they see the price and think "oh shit" - trust me, it happens often.

Exactly. But have a few buddies to bump bids for you if need be, don't give anything away.

i never use reserve, it costs more. i usually start it out at a price that i wouldnt be losing any $ on and hope it goes higher.

Selling cars eh? I would use a reserve, and a low starting price. That way you can get lots of people bidding early, then you can spam the losers later :winkwink:

You could get little exposure and few bids = loss or little profit on your part.

I've sold (same) items which sold for $30 on some days and $5 on others.

Eventually, someone will find your items who is willing to pay top $. Better to take a $3 loss for the auction than a $100 loss for not selling it as high as you had hoped.

Yep, that's rite. I actually have id/passwords of 2 of my buds accounts, plus another 3 more people that'll bid something up if I need it. I think that's the way to go, fuck the reserve, if you have another logon/pass or someone else to bid it up, you don't need the reserve, just bid the lowest amount that you'd let it go for IF it's almost over.

Also, I agree with starting the bidding low, that's the best way to get people to bid on it and USUALLY once you bid on an item, even if you get out-bidded on it, you usually watch it until the end. I know that I pass up items with high starting bids all the time, it's a turn off.

As a buyer, I hate seeing reserves. As a seller, it has it's uses.

The main benefit of a reserve is being able to get your auction to show up in eBay search as having a low opening bid. You can't tell if an auction has a reserve on it until you view it. By the time they see it has a reserve, they already have the auction open and at least look at it, and possibly will even make a try for the reserve.

But reserves cost extra money, plus the listing fee is based on the reserve price, not the starting price... and reserves do piss some buyers off. It's a toss up.

If not using a reserve, try to start the auction at the very lowest amount you would take for the item. There's always the chance an item will sell for the starting bid.

I wouldn't suggest having your friends bid up your auctions. Shill bidding will get your account deleted by eBay.

i personally hate reserves because u dont know how much the person is willing to take and if you are willing to pay that much, so i wait until the reserve is met before i even consider bidding. but i also like the buy it now feature. i use that the most

can you elaborate?

Sure, if you really wanna get $100 for an item and it's only at $40 and it's on it's last day, either use one of your friend's log/pass or have them make a bid for $99, that way the only way someone will be able to win the auction would be to bid the $100 to get it AND if the auction ended at $50, you don't have to sell the item because it'd be your friend that won it falsely :)

The only downfall about doing it like that without a reserve is that you'd have to pay the fees for selling it, even though you're not really selling it.

The one good thing about HAVING a reserve is that if it doesn't sell for what you want, you can relist the item once for free most of the time.

Fucking cheaters, I wonder how many items I lost cuz someone had their friend bid and bring the price up:321GFY

I've seen people list something with a reserve price but then they reveal exactly what that reserve price is in their description.



:2 cents:

Absolutely correct. I've sold a ton of shit on ebay and always get more than I expected by setting up starting bid at $1. You get a ton of early bids, then people get emotional investment in what you are selling and bid more than they would have in the first place.

Worse comes to worse, if you aren't getting your reserve price, you can cancel your auction.

Shill bidding sucks because you still have to pay the % if your "friend" wins the auction.

I never use reserve and when I see it on an auction I won't bid on it... reserve sux