Ebayer want to know reserve price...should I tell him?

[Sundog]

Originally posted by: athithi
It still does not mean rude bidders can demand to know the reserve price :disgust:

I agree with not being rude. But if I ask for the reserve price, it means I am looking to see if your price is even in the ballpark for me. I am not going to sit there and try to guess the stupid ass reserve price by bidding multiple times trying to get to the super extra secret reserve price.

If I am politely asking for the reserve price it means that I am interested enough to take the time to email. If the seller throws attitude then that is a person I don't want to buy from anyway......and when there is an item that I am asking about it almost always means that I need that item now, which means I will always outbid someone else. Some people in the UK that had some out of date stuff got a whole lot of cash several times.

 

[Vette73]

You tell me you do you want to sell it? If yes then tell him, if not then why did you list it?

 

[NightTrain]

But the next person to bid would do it above $100, not $80. eBay buyers are nuts if they try to get the cheapest deal in an environment where the buyer is the *highest* bidder

This is why whenever I need to sell something, I'd rather do it at AT FS/FT than at eBay.

What you fail to see is if the bid is at $80, he could bid $1,000,000 and it would only take the bid up to the next increment. Someone ELSE must bid also or it doesn't even matter.

Telling someone your reserve costs you nothing and won't affect the auction at all.

If someone knew the reserve, they wouldn't bid at $100. The difference becomes obvious when someone tries to outbid you. You knew the reserve and bid low, so the other bidder bid just a little over you to beat you. If you didn't know the reserve and bid more than the reserve, the other bidder would cement the bidding level higher by bidding a little over your bid (which would now be higher than it would have been had you bid only reserve).

The bidding will stop at whatever the "other bidder" is willing to bid. The guy you told could bid anything and it won't matter. The other guy will either outbid him at some point or stop.

Let's assume the reserve is $80. You tell someone. They bid $80 instead of $100. If no one else is willing to bid at least $81, the auction ends at $80.

Let's assume you do NOT tell the reserve and the person bids $100. Unless your auction is currently at $99 (which is kinda stupid cuz the reserve would be off) his current bid will be one more bid than the previous high. For arguments sake, let's assume it's $80 as well. If no one else is willing to bid at least $81, the auction ends at $80.

No difference.

 

[athithi]

Ok this could go on forever 🙂 so this will be my last post on the subject...I will read any responses and I agree to disagree.

Let's assume the reserve is $80. You tell someone. They bid $80 instead of $100. If no one else is willing to bid at least $81, the auction ends at $80.

What if someone is interested in bidding $100? Not that you would know until they actually bid. But by revealing the RP you are reducing the chances of someone overbidding for your item. In an auction, why do you expect the seller to tell you 'this is all I need'? That's not an auction!!!

Let's assume you do NOT tell the reserve and the person bids $100. Unless your auction is currently at $99 (which is kinda stupid cuz the reserve would be off) his current bid will be one more bid than the previous high. For arguments sake, let's assume it's $80 as well. If no one else is willing to bid at least $81, the auction ends at $80.

What if someone is willing to bid higher? If the RP were revealed, there is a possibility that the bidding would increase much slower. Why do you think eBay keeps the RP hidden? Just for fun? 😛

 

[waggy]

Originally posted by: athithi
Ok this could go on forever 🙂 so this will be my last post on the subject...I will read any responses and I agree to disagree.

Let's assume the reserve is $80. You tell someone. They bid $80 instead of $100. If no one else is willing to bid at least $81, the auction ends at $80.

What if someone is interested in bidding $100? Not that you would know until they actually bid. But by revealing the RP you are reducing the chances of someone overbidding for your item. In an auction, why do you expect the seller to tell you 'this is all I need'? That's not an auction!!!

Let's assume you do NOT tell the reserve and the person bids $100. Unless your auction is currently at $99 (which is kinda stupid cuz the reserve would be off) his current bid will be one more bid than the previous high. For arguments sake, let's assume it's $80 as well. If no one else is willing to bid at least $81, the auction ends at $80.

What if someone is willing to bid higher? If the RP were revealed, there is a possibility that the bidding would increase much slower. Why do you think eBay keeps the RP hidden? Just for fun? 😛

you are missing the main point. IF someone is willing to bid higher then the current price THEY WILL BID. regardless of teh hidden reserve price. If they bid $80 and the reserve is 100 but they dont want to pay more then $80 then they will NOT bid.

 

[dahunan]

Reminder Folks.... Ebay Buyers and Sellers are no different... Both Camps seem a bit disturbed 😛

 

[NightTrain]

What if someone is interested in bidding $100? Not that you would know until they actually bid. But by revealing the RP you are reducing the chances of someone overbidding for your item.

If no one else is interested in bidding at least $99, then it's moot.

If someone else *is* interested in bidding the $99, then your reserve is irrelevant.

As an aside, it's been my experience that reserves can often make bidders shy away and slow down alot of runups at the end of an auction. If I *know* I will get the item, I'm more prone to do something really stupid 😉 More often than not when I see something really cheap in completed items, when I open it up, it will say "Reserve not met".

 

[kranky]

athithi, your reasoning is totally out to lunch on this. To say that letting someone know your reserve price means reducing the chances of someone else bidding higher makes no sense.

I know you said you won't be coming back to this thread, but do yourself a favor and think through this again. I know a lot of people who sell stuff on ebay for serious money, and they do not hesitate to let an interested bidder know the reserve. Maybe the difference is that they want to actually sell the items, not watch auctions end without meeting the reserve.

 

[andrey]

If you want to SELL your item, tell people how much you want to get for this item as a minimum. Be honest with people, and people will be honest with you. Can you just imagine post in the For Sale/Trade forum with the lines "I would like to sell this and that, but I can't tell you the price". Sounds ridiculous, huh? Your situation is not different.

I personally never bid on items where sellers don't want to tell me the reserve price. If they're hiding that, what are the chances that they're not hiding anything else from me?

 

[HappyDude111]

reserve prices are gay. I get a screwjob by them

 

[Jzero]

The reserve price is hidden so I can make a f*cking profit if you value my item more than what I value it at - which is the essence of an auction. If you want to pay fixed price, shop at a f*king retail store.

My counter to that is that if you want to be able to demand a fixed price, then open a retail store.
The essence of an auction has nothing to do with one party or another having an "advantage." The essence of an auction is that it's capitalism in its truest form. It doesn't matter what you or anyone else thinks the item is worth, the only thing that matters is what the high bidder thinks it's worth.

I NEVER bid on reserve auctions. If you aren't serious about selling the item, you shouldn't be selling it.

 

[halik]

first of all reserve is just a safety mechanism so you dont lose money on your stuff. However in general reserve price discourages people form bidding and it costs a ton.

Now telling people youre 'secret' reserve price will have no effect on the final outcome of the auction - people ask only to see wether its in range of what they're willing to pay. If you dont tell them they will bid the same amount, its not like they're gonna bid away like crazy to find the price. Quite the opposite actualy, if i email someone about the reserve and he wouldnt tell me, i most likely wont bid on the item because the price is bound to be jacked up.

The best way in my option is to avoid reser all together, just watch your auction and stop it if its not high enough. You will get some crackpots asking to sell your thing up front for laughably low prices (i had a guy that wanted my 800 dollar ibook for $220) but you will end up with less ebay fees at the end

 

[athithi]

kranky,
I didn't say I wouldn't revisit this thread - just that I wouldn't prolong the debate. Your points have been read and I still disagree. You see it from a buyer's point-of-view and I see it from a seller's point-of-view, that's all. I think I am more correct because I think auctions are a seller's playing field. Maybe that itself is debatable. But then I could care less; I haven't dealt with ebay in a very long time.

Jzero, you are spot-on with your counter 🙂 I prefer selling at a fixed price and then working my way down to my minimum (bargains) and hence I stopped participating at eBay and trade exclusively at FS/FT now 🙂 Selling on eBay is not my interest because bidders think of it as a huge discount store where they can purchase stuff for less than what it's worth. IMHO, that's not what an auction is - in fact, that is the opposite of what an auction is 😀

EDIT: Arguments like that of andrey's are why I am more insistent that sellers should not reveal RPs. Bidders seem to think they are entitled to it no matter what the seller thinks. Sellers can do a favour for the bidder by revealing this number. But by no means are bidders entitled to it. FS/FT is a completely different ball game. My logic may be biased, but it is not irrelevant unlike the logic others are using here. No buyer can demand that I reveal my RP - if that means an obnoxious person won't be bidding on my item, good for me 🙂

 

[0roo0roo]

reserve not met generally means few people have bid and price remains low. people will wait till last momment to bid war. being caught up in fervor they might spend quite a bit more then reserve. if reserve is met already, listed bid price is already high, less attractive initially to others.


duh?

 

[rudder]

Originally posted by: Garet Jax

Originally posted by: axelfox
Guy emails me and wants to know the reserve price on one of my auctions. Should I tell him? Would I be against eBay policies (can't find it). I would think it wouldn't be right, since it wouldn't be fair to the other.

What do you guys think?

I have always told bidders the reserve price when they request it for my auctions. Since the reserve price is the minimum acceptable price, there is no skin off my back if I get it and get nothing more. If you want more, then you should have set a higher reserve price.

Why even set the reserve price? Why not just start the auction at your minumum acceptable price?

 

[Rob9874]

Not revealing the reserve is a dumb move. I keep hearing, "What if someone would bid $100, and you tell them the reserve is $80, so that's all they'll bid." Regardless, if they're the only bidder, they can bid $5000, and will win it for your reserve at $80. It's not going to go higher unless someone else is interested, and there is a bidding war. If that happens, the final price is determined by them, not on whether or not you reveal the reserve. In my 6.5 years on eBay, my experience is that, more times than not, hiding the reserve makes people not want to bid. I see $200 items all the time end for $50 or lower, because there was a reserve. "Reserve not yet met." People don't want to play games. Let the market determine the price of your item. Just start the auction at the lowest price you're willing to accept.

 

[styrafoam]

I always laugh at Ebay people though. I always start my auctions at $5, no matter how expensive the item is. I listed a Sony Vaio docking station that retails for $400 or so, and I had a guy email me about 6 hours after the auction started offering me $40. I politely told him no way. He then emailed me to tell me that the auction is only at $5, and he acted like he was doing me a favor by giving me his generous offer of $40.

I had a guy do that to me on the second day of a seven day auction, I didnt even set a reserve I just opened it at the minimum prices I wanted. There werent any bids so he says " As you havent recieved any bids would you be willing to end early and sell straight to me?" Ebay is full of low-ballers and goofy people in general, this fellow more than likely wants to last minute the item for the lowest price possible. Tell him the reserve, I doubt he would mail each bidder and get them to cooperate in some kind of last minute low bid scheme.

 

[Mallow]

I've never had this happen but I figure I would tell.