How buyers determine your Reserve amount on Ebay

[Dan Fromm]

Tony

1) On eBay.com the final value fee is usually 10%. See http://pages.ebay.com/sellerinformat...ure/index.html

2) Yes, the seller's reserve is the least the seller will accept (before eBay and other charges). Only a stupid seller will treat the reserve as the desired price net of eBay and other charges.

3) See http://pages.ebay.com/help/buy/bidding-overview.html and http://pages.ebay.com/help/buy/bid-increments.html Short answer, if there's only one bid and it is >= to the invisible reserve or visible opening bid (= visible reserve, think about it) the item will sell for the reserve

4) the rules on bid retraction: http://pages.ebay.com/help/buy/biddi...ew.html#change

5) I think you're objecting to sniping. eBay treats bids entered by "sniping" engines like all others. Using a sniping engine to post a bid at the last minute is equivalent to but easier than placing the same bid manually at the last minute. eBay doesn't run a sniping engine. Shill bids cost the seller the final value fee. Remember, shills are sellers' agents. If a shill wins, the seller will pay or claim to pay the final value and will owe eBay the final value fee. That's all.

7) I don't know what you mean. BIN reduces uncertainty. The buyer can be sure it will get the item at a price no higher than its reserve (yes, buyers have reserves too, the most they'll pay), the seller can be sure that if the item sells at the BIN price it will get at least its reserve plus the final value fee plus other charges that may or may not be incurred. Only a stupid seller will treat its reserve as the net price.

[tonyowen]

Only a stupid seller. 5) I think you're objecting to sniping. Shill bids cost the seller the final value fee. Remember, shills are sellers' agents. If a shill wins, the seller will pay or claim to pay the final value and will owe eBay the final value fee. Only a stupid seller will treat its reserve

Hi Dan
1] Maybe I'm extra sensitive, but I object to the implication of your two times use of stupid.
2] Checking the various eBay definitions I was not referring to sniping or shill bidding. The former being an automated bid generated at 'the last moment' and the latter being prohibited. I was referring to the option of placing a maximum bid either earlier on in the bidding cycle or during the last 30s or so. My unproven theory was that any person who 'buys' on eBay with the sole intention of reselling the item, 'can' afford to state a maximum and perhaps unrealistically large bid with the intention of freezing out the majority of other bidders. The financial argument would be that the majority of successful bids at a reasonable price would compensate for the occasional successful bid at an excessive and beyond reasonable price. My theory/objection is based on the assessing the hidden bidders on many similar items offered on eBay where the (hidden) bid is often dated at the start of the bidding cycle. Again I could be extra sensitive over a technique I cannot afford to use.

regards
Tony

[DonJ]

I was referring to the option of placing a maximum bid either earlier on in the bidding cycle or during the last 30s or so. My unproven theory was that any person who 'buys' on eBay with the sole intention of reselling the item, 'can' afford to state a maximum and perhaps unrealistically large bid with the intention of freezing out the majority of other bidders.

So you object to the option to place a "proxy" bid, for the highest amount you're willing to pay? IMO, I don't think a 24/7 auction site could have been successful without that option. And your hypothesis that it's mainly useful to resellers couldn't be more wrong. It's used by everyone who understands that eBay auctions have a fixed end time, and that they can be outbid without having enough time to counter-bid. It's also used by everyone who doesn't want to be, or can't be, at their computer at the end of an auction.

And frankly, the idea that a reseller would risk an "unrealistically large bid" on anything is illogical.

Can you explain why you "cannot afford" to decide the most you are willing to pay for an item, and then place a bid for that amount?

[Dan Fromm]

My unproven theory was that any person who 'buys' on eBay with the sole intention of reselling the item, 'can' afford to state a maximum and perhaps unrealistically large bid with the intention of freezing out the majority of other bidders. The financial argument would be that the majority of successful bids at a reasonable price would compensate for the occasional successful bid at an excessive and beyond reasonable price.

My theory/objection is based on the assessing the hidden bidders on many similar items offered on eBay where the (hidden) bid is often dated at the start of the bidding cycle. Again I could be extra sensitive over a technique I cannot afford to use.

Tony, the reseller's motto is buy low, sell high. There are exceptions but in general arbitraging between eBay and eBay loses money. A high bidder's reserve doesn't freeze out other bidders, it tops their bids fairly and squarely. I don't see the problem.

What is a hidden bidder? A bidder whose name, address, telephone number and other attributes you don't know? In the beginning, eBay's list of bids reported the bidders' eBay screen names. This lead, some claimed, to tracking what knowledgeable bidders bid on and then bidding against them. Eventually eBay anonymized bidders' identities. Or do you mean a private bidder? Again, I don't see a problem.

Why can't you afford to bid the most you're willing to pay for an item? It seems to me that you want to buy for less than the most you're willing to pay. I'm with you on that, from the buyer's point of view a low price is better than a high one, but surely you can afford to pay the most you're willing to pay.

Cheers,

Dan

[goamules]

Of course, the views expressed here are based on perspective, as with any topic. But perspectives are widely disparate for ebay discussions.
Buyer or Seller.
Socio-economic class - sell for profit, or just get rid of. Buy to use, or buy to flip.
Ebay engagement - use it frequently, or seldom if ever use ebay.
Etc.

I think we've all said how we operate and feel about the Reserve topic, anyway. Now it will just be for others to re-state what's been said, based on their perspective, above. When new members join to just discuss ebay, I think it's time to move on to photography topics.

[Oren Grad]

Looks like we are starting to generate more heat than light, so let's close this for now.