Ebay Auction Protocol

allansieben

allansieben

X1/9 Time
Don't you hate adds that read...
NO RESERVE!!!!! Starting Bid $4500.00


Please correct me if I'm wrong! But technically, shouldn't a "no reserve" auction have a starting bid of $0?
If you claim that there's "no reserve", with say a starting bid of $4500, then the $4500 is your reserve...right???:mallet:

Who's with me on this?

Allan
 
I'd rather see a high starting bid...

Than some bogus $0 starting bid with a mystery reserve on it. At least you know the buy-in price.

Pete
 
Please correct me if I'm wrong! But technically, shouldn't a "no reserve" auction have a starting bid of $0?
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Technically I would say no. In eBay jargon "Starting bid" and "Reserve" are different. "Reserve" is the (secret) lowest price you will accept. I agree that it is weak, though. Both a reserve and a high starting bid really kill buyer interest.

When I see a reserve i think "uncommitted seller".
 
From the sellers point of view, there's a difference

Posting with no reserve and starting bid of $4500 says "best offer over $4500 will be accepted".

Posting starting at zero with an undisclosed reserve says "tell me what you're willing to offer".

The latter seller is less committed than the former, less likely to give you the bargain of the century, but you still might be happy paying a price that he's happy to accept.

(BTW, I once bought an x1/9 on ebay by accident :) It was listed with a reserve, I looked at the listing and thought "well, my best offer has to be way below the reserve, what the hell, let's toss in a bid". It turned out that the seller was willing to let the car go for quite a bit less than I was willing to pay for it... :nuts:)
 
the reserve function on ebay is in my mind purely to get people interested, once they have made one bid/offer and its still below the reserve they might be more inclined to keep bidding until they get above the reserve, by that time you "might" have more people bidding...
Its like once you have bid on something you have made some kind of commitment to yourself that you actually want the item.

I personally don't like the reserve as a buyer, but I can see how it benefits sellers :)

One of the funiest things I see on ebay is when a seller lists an item for below what they want for it! and then it only gets 1 bid :wacko: then they complain... my brother bought some brand new ski boots for what they went on to say was below cost :headbang:
 
Allan... I never liked the "reserve" pricing thingie...

I feel that the starting bid should be the lowest price the seller will accept. This way everyone is up front...

But auctions are an EMOTIONAL thing and an EVENT in themselves... and folks like to see what they can get away with... without getting caught up in a bidding frenzy.

Bidding frenzies are what all the 0 bid, reserve auctions are all about... the GAME as it were...

It up to YOU whether you wanna PLAY by their rules... or go elsewhere.

Lastly... the BEST deal is when someone pays a little more than they wanted to, but not all that they would, and the seller gets a little more than he would have accepted. I just met and traded some parts and money today with just that philosophy. A nice feeling all around.
 
Even the big car auctions...

....don't start at zero dollars, and there are reserves in many of them.
 
Adding a reserve on ebay is one of the best ways to discourage bidding. I have been doing evil-bay for nearly a decade and if there is one thing that will discourage me from bidding or even watching any item is a "Reserve".

There are good reasons to list an item for $0.99. It's a matter of listing fees, the higher the initial listing amount, the higher the listing fee will be even if the item does not sell. The sale price of any item on ebay tends to fall into what the market will pay. I have watched many, many items sold that started at $0.99 and ended with a sale price well into thousands of dollars. There are many ebay power sellers that list all their items initially for $0.99 and they never seem to have a problem.

Then there are ebay sellers who over value their items listed and never sell them even when they are re-listed time after time. ebay is a very market value driven world wide garage sale.

The other bid promoter is free shipping. In the past, many ebay sellers would "pad" the shipping cost in their efforts to make more $. This is a variation of "Bait and Switch". In recent times, ebay has tried to clamp down on this pratice.



Black-Tooth said:
I feel that the starting bid should be the lowest price the seller will accept. This way everyone is up front...
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This certainly depends on the item...

Rupunzell said:
There are good reasons to list an item for $0.99. It's a matter of listing fees, the higher the initial listing amount, the higher the listing fee will be even if the item does not sell. The sale price of any item on ebay tends to fall into what the market will pay. I have watched many, many items sold that started at $0.99 and ended with a sale price well into thousands of dollars. There are many ebay power sellers that list all their items initially for $0.99 and they never seem to have a problem.
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In the past when I have auctioned items, especially arcane items like X1/9 parts, I knew it was not worth my time or effort to sell it for $0.99. There may only be one person out there that needed that part, and they might be willing to pay $50 for it. However, if they are the only one bidding on it, they get it for $0.99. Like I said, that's not worth my time. So I start the bidding at a figure that is worth my time.

The $0.99/let the market drive the price thing only works when you have a large pool of bidders, which is not always the case with car parts. Sure, 300 million people in America want a big screen TV. How many want an X1/9 shift linkage? The one guy that has a broken one, and happens to be looking for it on eBay.

Pete
 
Buyer and seller will always have different emotions on reserve...

But like it or not, reserve or otherwise...sometimes you just can't get what you're looking for ANYWHERE else...so you have to play the "game"

And in regards to the comment mentioned before...maybe that starting bid IS the lowest the seller is willing to accept. As a result, doesn't meant the seller isn't committed but perhaps he/she doesn't HAVE to sell it...so maybe they aren't to a sale if it's going to go for less...
 
My pet-peeve with eBay

I hate how a seller will have 20 of the same item, and list every single one of them in a separate auction.

What a PITA to search for "Fiat X1/9" and wade through page after page of the same steering wheel or spark plug.

Many times the item isn't even Fiat related, such as air cleaner hoses for American cars that say "Fits X1/9".

Grrrr. I can't imagine how many cool things I've missed because I've given up looking through the junk by page 5. :mad:
 
In either case the seller has decided the car won't move for less than price X---in one auction that price is known to the bidders, in the other auction the price is not known.

I can see how that could rub you the wrong way, but to me it's six of one and half a dozen of the other.
 
Yeah, I hate that too----3 pages of ignition coils--grrrrrr!

Do an advanced search and then just search the title and not the words in the listing.

Then if you still hunger for adventure, retry the search and add the option to look for your keyword in the body of the listing.
 
I would have to dissagree. A starting bid like that with no reserve is honest, its the o.oo to start bids that have a reserve up high that are a waste of time. Show me what you want and Ill decide if I am going to bid, no wasted time.
 
What a PITA to search for "Fiat X1/9" and wade through page after page of the same steering wheel or spark plug.
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Try using "-keyword" in your search. A quick search for "X1/9" under eBay motors' "Car & Truck Parts" section just gave me 2493 results, most of them blue tinted bulbs. Searching for "X1/9 -xenon" reduced the number of results to a managable 460.
 
spiderrey said:
I would have to dissagree. A starting bid like that with no reserve is honest, its the o.oo to start bids that have a reserve up high that are a waste of time. Show me what you want and Ill decide if I am going to bid, no wasted time.
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Bingo.
 
Yes, I have to agree with the outrageous reserve on a .99 cent start bid. Start the bid at the minimum you'll take, I'll probably bid on it if I like it, but if I make two bids on something that I know are fair prices, and it tells me I haven't made the reserve, I'm not bidding anymore.

As for the multiple listings, isn't that supposed to be against ebay terms of service for listings?
 
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