Why bother with reserve auctions?

[Hoosier_Daddy]

Honestly? I have been buying and selling on ebay for many, many years and I still think reserve auctions hurt the seller. Look, you know how much you want for your machine. Put you're "buy it now" at $2500 like normal and instead of starting your auction at 0.99 cents and putting a reserve for $1000 just start your auction at $1000. It discourages people from bothering to bid when they see buy it now for $2500 and it is bid up to $500 and says "reserve not met". People say "he probably has his reserve set close to $2500 anyway" then they move on to other auctions.

In my opinion, if want at least $1000 but think you might get someone to bite at $1500 or $2000 then start the auction at $1000 and put buy it now for $1500 or so. It's just discouraging to see so many auctions that have ended with "reserve not met" because a lot of people don't bother with trying to guess the reserve and move on.

Just trying to give some helpful advice.

[300rman]

i see people put reserves on, and mention in the description what the reserve is set at.....stupid cause it costs ya extra to do that.

[200x newby]

well it protects you from loosing your ass on the item. it also scares people when you start the item real high. i personaly love the reserve.

[erectordale]

well like me trying too sell the tiger 500 I won't take less than the reserve price even though it's low I've tried the no reserve route and lost my butt

[Orangecnty250r]

Yup....I have made out very well with reserve auctions in the past....sometime people keep bidding up to the reserve...it can draw more bids and more money for the seller....more bids create more interest...thats why they cost more...plus they protect you when you start low...starting low has its benefits.

[Blown 331]

Also if you have a buy it now at $2500 and start the auction at $1000 with no reserve as soon as one bid is made then the buy it now goes away. If you have a reserve the buy it now does not go away until the reserve it met.

[mike from long island]

Actually,the "buy it now" stays for a longer period of bidding before it disappears.

[Blown 331]

Actually,the "buy it now" stays for a longer period of bidding before it disappears.

Is this something new? I have never seen this happen.

[mike from long island]

Yes it is a fairly new feature.I always hated it when someone threw a bid in to get the Buy It Now off the sale page.Almost 99.99% of the time the first bidder never won the auction.I am not sure at what price from start to the Buy It Now does it disappear???

[NINJA]

When you have a buy it now option it also gives people the opportunity to eff up your auction. I had a Yamaha V-max I was trying to sell that had a $2300 BIN and some jackazz from India clicked "buy it now" and was then removed from ebay shortly after because he was a scammer. Nonetheless it caused me added headache, so, no more "buy it now".

[NINJA]

My auction that just ended is exactly why I had a reserve. You know the economy sucks when someone won't even bid $1600 on a f***in 200R!

[Blown 331]

When you have a buy it now option it also gives people the opportunity to eff up your auction. I had a Yamaha V-max I was trying to sell that had a $2300 BIN and some jackazz from India clicked "buy it now" and was then removed from ebay shortly after because he was a scammer. Nonetheless it caused me added headache, so, no more "buy it now".

Had the same thing happen to me but there is an option where you can only allow bidders from the United States to bid.

[The Goat]

there is always the option of creating two ebay accounts. setting your initial bid at .99 cents, waiting for a day, and then using another computer from a different location, bidding on your own auction in small increments. You can only do it once with a user name before you get busted, but in all honesty, it costs you nothing, and it's a free way to get around the reserve issue. Someone is more likely to get into a bidding war with another user than they are to getting into a bidding war with your reserve...that's life.