question about ebay sellers' action...

[NeoPTLD]

Sometimes people would set up a reserve price, then tells you right there in the auction.

Since the reserve price is disclosed, it's implied that's the minimum price. What is the point of setting reserve for $50.00 and disclosing it when he can just set the starting bid to $50.00?

I don't know how this is effective at all unless the bidders are dense. It only costs the seller extra money to set the reserve and makes more $$$ for eBay.

 

[KarenMarie]

it is cheaper to list it low, and have a reserve then it is to just have a high starting price.

Ebay charge listing fees depending on what the opening bid is, but for reserve auctions, they charge a low % and that is refundable when the reserve is hit. Plus, many bidders will shy away from reserve auctions.

 

[Ness]

starting at a low price and getting people into a bidding war makes the chances of the auction going higher much better. The reserve is there to ensure that you don't get the shaft trying to get people to do that.

As KarenMarie said, since using the reserve costs an extra fee, that fee is oftentimes smaller than the price it costs to list the item at the reserve price to start with. Not only that, but most importantly, ebay often lists items by their starting bid price, which can get people into your auction faster, then they read the description, get hooked on the item, then realize the current bid is higher, but OH, TOO BAD, they want it anyway now!