ebay question

[cisamcgu]

This may well be a stupid question, but I am trying to bid for a small table. The starting price is 0.99p but there is a hidden reserve. I tried putting a bid of £5 but was told I wasn't reaching the reserve that had been set. My question is : Why have a hidden reserve, why not just start the auction at the lowest price you will accept ? If the price was, say, £8.50 I might well have been tempted to bid, but as it is I have no idea how high I need to go, so I will not bid - what is the benifit to the seller to hide the price ?


Andrew (*not well versed in ebay*)

 

[rockyraccoon]

I'd say by starting the action with the reserve price ans as low as 0.99 the item would be showed first on Lowest Prices search results. Also there is no insertion fees for auction starting as 0.99

Contact the seller and ask if they have a Buy it Now Price.. Avoiding doing deals outside ebay. If they are willing to sell the item ask them to re-list it

 

[ohnovino]

Reserves are used to tempt people in with a low price.

A lot of people sort their search results by price, so if you list something with a hidden reserve of £20 and a starting price of 99p, it will appear higher up in the results than if you'd put a starting price of £20. The more people you can get to see your item, the greater the chance of a bidding war.

 

[cisamcgu]

Thanks

OK, it now makes a bit of sense .. I never order my list really, I just search for things and scroll but I can see the advantages of having it at the top of the list. I will keep an eye on it and see if anyone manages to guess the reserve and get a valid bid in, then I will know how much is expected.

Ho hum...

 

[accountantpete]

I can only think that the seller would get some idea of what people are willing to bid and how much interest there is so that if it doesn't sell they can withdraw it from sale or lower the reserve.

 

[JamesMorgan]

With increasing Ebay seller fees, many sellers now use Ebay to get a valuation only. They put in a very high reserve which will not be met. They can then determine what the value of the item is likely to be, then sell it at that price on sites that do not charge sellers (eg Gumtree, Preloved etc.)

 

[Archie_tect]

The deviousness of people to find loop-holes, in systems set up to be as fair as possible, never fails to astound me.

 

[Black Sheep]

Many sellers will happily tell bidders what the reserve price is, might be worth trying.

 

[Arch]

Speaking with all the wisdom of someone signed up to Ebay for a whole week, and one auction won...

You don't need to know the reserve. Decide on your maximum price, and put that in as a bid. As I understand it, the computer will automatically then register the bid at the lowest acceptable price. I assume that would be the reserve price, if there are no other bids. Then, if someone else bids a little more, but not above your maximum, you continue to stay the winner, with your bids going up in small increments, until someone bids more than the price you entered and they become the current winning person. At that point, you can decide if you want it badly enough to add to your bid.

For example, I bid up to £4.50 on something with a £3.99 reserve, and as there were no other bids, won it for £3.99. (now waiting for it to arrive...)

 

[Rhythm Thief]

Speaking with all the wisdom of someone signed up to Ebay for a whole week, and one auction won...

You don't need to know the reserve. Decide on your maximum price, and put that in as a bid. As I understand it, the computer will automatically then register the bid at the lowest acceptable price. I assume that would be the reserve price, if there are no other bids. Then, if someone else bids a little more, but not above your maximum, you continue to stay the winner, with your bids going up in small increments, until someone bids more than the price you entered and they become the current winning person. At that point, you can decide if you want it badly enough to add to your bid.

For example, I bid up to £4.50 on something with a £3.99 reserve, and as there were no other bids, won it for £3.99. (now waiting for it to arrive...)

This is a good way to "do" ebay, but it's even better if you can wait until ten or fifteen seconds from the end of the auction before you bid the maximum you're prepared to pay. This is known as sniping, and it avoids anyone pushing your bid up to your maximum, either legitimately or by shill bidding (where a "sock puppet" account puts a load of bids in until your maximum is reached). I never quite understand why people bid on something the moment it appears on ebay: it's great for me as a seller, but it seems odd as a buyer.

 

[Arch]

This is a good way to "do" ebay, but it's even better if you can wait until ten or fifteen seconds from the end of the auction before you bid the maximum you're prepared to pay. This is known as sniping, and it avoids anyone pushing your bid up to your maximum, either legitimately or by shill bidding (where a "sock puppet" account puts a load of bids in until your maximum is reached). I never quite understand why people bid on something the moment it appears on ebay: it's great for me as a seller, but it seems odd as a buyer.

True, but I'm bidding on stuff I'm prepared to wait for getting at the right price, and at the moment don't have the nerve for last minute stuff - suppose my mobile broadband ran out at the critical moment!

I can see how it gets addictive. I'm winning on something now, with an hour and a half to go, and it's quite exciting!

 

[ohnovino]

I never quite understand why people bid on something the moment it appears on ebay: it's great for me as a seller, but it seems odd as a buyer.

I bid early sometimes, in the hope that some buyers get put off items that already have bids, and therefore the last minute rush will have slightly fewer bidders. Also, it helps with my annoying habit of watching items but forgetting to bid on them!

 

[Ludwig]

There arent any hidden reserves. What happens is that bidders are asked to tender a maximium amount after they have placed an bid. For exmple if there is a Mercian bike at £50 you could place an amount of £500 you wish to go up to so you are outbidding rivals in your absence. It is like placing a commision bid. Another thing about ebay is that you get a flurry of last minute bidding due to the auctions being time limited wheras in a bricks and mortar auction bidders will fight it out to the death and think this is a flaw in the ebay business model. I have often been out bid a few seconds from the end when I would of gone on bidding.

 

[stephec]

I remember selling a kids garden slide a few years ago, when I tried to put a reserve on it the lowest ammount I was allowed to set by eBay was £50.

 

[stoofer34]

Bid late,keep an eye on the bid increments then blow um away! in budget of course!

S