How buyers determine your Reserve amount on Ebay

[Bernice Loui]

Been doing ebay for over 15 years to this day. If an item has a reserve, no bid. Over those years of experience of both selling and buying, adding a reserve is a very significant discouragement to bidders. The hidden message behind a reserve is a desired selling price, the price a seller has in mind but does not want to reveal with the belief bidders will fight for the item. A game buyers often do not want to play.

If there is an amount wanted, simply start the bidding at that amount and leave it at that. What is actually far more effective is to start the item at $0.99 and allow the market to decide it's value. This is often what many very experienced sellers do on ebay, it encourages bidding and the item will sell for what it is actually worth in the vast majority of cases.


Bernice

[mdarnton]

I never understood the reason behind a 'reserve' price. I have never bid on any item with one or sold with a reserve. I interpret 'reserve' as 'it is not really for sale' so I ignore those listing.

That's what I do, also. If someone is serious about selling, they price their things, either with a non-reserve starting price, or a buy-it-now. If they can't manage that, they're just playing games and I don't bother with them.

If you game people, you deserve to get gamed back.

[Alan Gales]

I've sold quite a bit on Ebay but have never put a reserve on anything. When I see auctions with a reserve I just skip over them up because I assume they want too much. Homey don't play that!

[goamules]

Good discussion. But I've been selling on Ebay since 1998, and I've learned a lot of techniques. At one time I was selling a half dozen items each week. Some I use reserve on. 90% I don't. It depends on how known the item is. For example, a Dallmeyer 3B I would not use a reserve. Everyone knows, and is looking for, that lens and keywords. A more obscure item like the Tanack V-3 Camera I sold I used a reserve. Why? Because the few collectors of this make may not be looking that week. These Tanaks usually sell for $500 to $600, but are very rare, only 1 every year or so comes for sale. Mine was mint, in box. I put a $700 reserve, and sold it for $1100. I know what I'm doing, I've learned a lot over the past 10 or 15 years of selling.

Using a Reserve depends. It depends on demand at that particular week. It depends on analyzing what other identical items are being sold right then, and their price. And believe it or not, during Christmas there is more risk of selling a valuable item too low. Buyers typically bemoan it, or say they "just don't bid if it has one..." That's fine, I know serious buyers will bid and buy. I don't mind weeding out the casual buyers, or the ones trying to buy low to sell high. I usually only use Ebay for the top, rarest items. Where the biggest market will help.

For example, if I ever sell a Struss, Pinkham, or such, I probably use a reserve. I don't want it to be a "slow week", and have to sell a $5,000 lens for $1200 because someone got lucky. My job as a seller is to offer the best, and most accurate description. Not offer a "lottery service" for low ballers.

When I sell a $50 Pen-F lens, or a Rapid Rectilinear, I do it cheap, on forums like here. Look back over the years at my sales in the classifieds. Almost all sell within 1 day, often within hours. I know how to price things right so they sell. Hundreds of happy customers would agree, and I've sold some very rare lenses, at great prices. I just won't give them away or let offshore people scam me into low prices, partial refunds, and all the crap some try to pull.

[HMG]

(snip)
If there is an amount wanted, simply start the bidding at that amount and leave it at that. What is actually far more effective is to start the item at $0.99 and allow the market to decide it's value. This is often what many very experienced sellers do on ebay, it encourages bidding and the item will sell for what it is actually worth in the vast majority of cases.
Bernice

I think that's fine if you sell enough items to average out. But I've seen more than a few items (both as buyer and seller) that went for significantly less than the average price. And that's with auctions ending during midweek and Sunday evening hours.

As a buyer, I don't care about reserves. But I always wait to the end of an auction to make a serious bid, or use Bidnip (which doesn't work as well given the changes ebay made a bit ago). My reason is simple - I don't want to be committed to buy something 7 days later in case I find something else I want.

While as a seller I generally do a buy-it-now if using ebay, I don't think starting an auction at that amount works well. It's the auction psychology where a bidder is more than happy to up his/her bid to a certain level, but reluctant to start at that level.

[goamules]

Exactly. I don't mind when I'm selling 10 fossils like I used to do, if one sells way low, one too high, and most average. But when I have a Struss Pictorial that you only see once in a lifetime, I take no chances. And again, buyers of these items don't worry about a reserve, they know there is going to be one.

[DrTang]

you got your reserve - why care?

[Dan Fromm]

Will people who are wiser than I am explain the difference between a reserve set at $x and an opening bid of $x. Either way, the item won't sell unless someone wants to pay at least $x for it. The only difference I can see is that an reserve is invisible and tells me nothing about the least the seller will accept for the item. And then, if I'm willing to pay as much as $y for it I can bid $y and then que sera sera.

I think that you're all, um. overthinking the problem of extracting as much as possible from an auction's bidders without resorting to shills. On the other side, you're all overthinking the problem of paying as little as possible for an item that's being auctioned.

[pdh]

Apparently you stopped reading after the first sentence of my post.

Apparently you feel the need to be sarcastically unpleasant to total strangers.

[Tin Can]

As buyer, I don't get crazy trying for lowest price as I want the best quality or condition. But I do watch sales and prices closely. I carefully study the seller.

I decide exactly what my maximum purchase price, including shipping is. I don't go up. I always Snipe and forget about it, until I get an email.

Then I examine the bidding closely and I am amazed, how often I get the item at $5 over the next highest bid. Either I know prices real well, or something else is happening. I am beating other buyers, who are bidding like mad, and must really want the thing. They are are also Sniping, if not I see the low count buyer lose to clumsy manual bids. They learn as I did.

Any theories on how I get high bid and purchase?




BTW I hate selling on eWay. And I never bid on Reserve listings.