Is it "ebay-legal" to put your reserve price in your description?

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Posted By: runscott

I've noticed people doing it - no reason for it to be a secret that I can think of. Thanks

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Posted By: Tom Boblitt

Scott......don't think it's illegal. Some people would want it to remain unknown. I've seen people put it in there--especially if it's a large item and if they don't have the buy it now set up. Don't think the ebay gestapo are gonna come after you if you put it in there or not.

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Posted By: warshawlaw

but I don't get the idea of a reserve in an ebay auction. In a regular auction, you reserve to keep the card from selling too low because the auction house would otherwise have plenary authority to blow out your lot. In my naive days, I got ****ed plenty by Teletrade because of their ability to set whatever price they wanted on a lot (I once netted a buck for a lot--the rocket scientists at Teletrade set the price of the lot at $1 over their commission). On ebay, if you want a price, you can just set it as the minimum. I realize some people say that it creates traffic to set a low opening, but if it doesn't get the card sold, who cares if there is traffic. I far and away prefer to see what the seller wants right up front.

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Posted By: mike mullins

I have often considered putting stuff up on ebay with an enormous reserve, just to see what it's "worth". Start bidding off at one cent and see where it goes.

Also, I might do this if I MIGHT want to sell, but only for the right price. Again, set the reserve really high (so that there's no way it will actually be met), and then when the auction ends, if the reserve isn't met but I like the last bid, I'll sell the item. I do realize that you lose eBay's fraud protections when you choose to sell something that hasn't met the reserve - I'd only probably sell to someone with a high feedback, or someone I knew...but then again, I reserve the right to do whatever I want.

Well, that's my thought on reserves. I've never actually used one (I don't sell much), but I might for reasons above. Would appreciate your comments.

Best Wishes!

mm

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Posted By: Lee Behrens

Just some thoughts on reserves. I may be wrong with this but I think when I first started on ebay, you were charged for your minimum bid with the reserve fee charged only if it didn't sell. Now it seems that you get charged the price on your reserve, not the minimum bid. I think people were using reserves for two purposes eliminate those stupid bottom dwellers that wiped out BiN, and to save a little cost on ebay. Putting a reserve in your listing was a way of letting serious bidders know what to bid to really get the auction going. I always laugh when these auctions get bids below the listed reserve.
I personally do not like bidding on reserve auctions that have not met there reserve, I feel it is a waste of time alot of these people seem to have very high reserves. i know I am not the only one with this theory and if that is the case you do not get the true auction price THE END.

not that I would not use the feature in the future.

Just my thoughts

Lee

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Posted By: David

I've never understood using a reserve price. Is there a difference in cost to put something at a $300 reserve price with $1 min bid vesus a straight $300 minimum bid?

Though I've never used a reserve before in my auctions, many who do set more than resonable reserves-- so the practice doesn's bother me. No harm, no foul as they saying goes.

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Posted By: petecld

Ebay is set up to be auctions, not sales and I like that. To that end, putting a $300 minimum bid on a $300 card takes all the need for the auction process and the fun out of using the site. Setting a reserve puts off some but at least keeps bidders coming back. You'll get more bidding if you start low and get bidders going, this is human psychology. It's easier to get many people started out by agreeing to a small step (low minimum bid) then to get them started using a huge step(high minimum bid).

Setting an artificially high reserve just to "test" the value is really unfair to people putting in good faith bids and just wastes everyone's time. I've considered it but won't do it. This is why ebay switched to chargeing based on the reserve price and not the minimum bid price. There are a few dealers who I feel do this all the time and I don't waste my time with their auctions.

I know price and money is important but can't we have a little fun too? I think just buying an item is boring but the auction process is exciting. Sure it's risky to NOT use a reserve but if a card has "true" value and has a histroy of steady sales at a certain level you don't have to worry too much. It's the speculation or "Hot" items that you need to worry about.

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Posted By: runscott

I don't normally use reserves. Here's why I did it this time - I have two cards that are worth a lot. Unfortunately, there may not be "enough" knowedgeable interested ebay bidders to realize this, and so my card may sell low, to one very happy buyer. The only way to avoid this is to not auction such cards on ebay, using Mastro or some other service. Actually, I had planned to auction the Matty Hindu through Mastro, but screwed around and missed the consignment date. The OBAK error card was a last-second lark and I will regret it if it only goes for the reserve ($500)

I could be all wrong about this, but I'm not quiet ready to take my chances on these particular cards.

Thanks for all your input!

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Posted By: runscott

...and the Brown Washington for an even different reason! This is a card that is normally quite valuable, but has been selling unusually low on ebay lately. I would love to sell it (I don't collect t206 variation), but not for an unrealistically low price. If someone else is willing to pay what it is worth to me, then I will sell it happily. If not, I will sell it later when the market is better.

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Posted By: Anonymous

I've been using eBay since almost day one. The early scam was to run your auction with a reserve price of $1,000,000 with $1 opening bid. You were only the charged the price of the opening bid. At the end of the auction you would then offer the card to the high bidder for the price he did, thus avioding the final sale fee. eBay's solution was to charge the fee based on teh reserve price and charge a added fee on top of that if the lot did not meet reserve, that way they were getting some money from the deal even if the transaction went on oof-line.

The only time I have run reserve auctions is on items that I would sell for the right price, or like Scott were unique and may not get a reason price if there are not some knowledgable bidders involved, and if it wasn't met, then I would rather keep it. If someone emailed me asking the reserve I would always tell them, but never posted it in the auction. It hink there is a certain group of bidders out there that like to play "let's guess the reserve".

reserve auction tend to annoy me, but I will throw in a bid anyway. I have 'won' several items by being the high bidder without meeting the reserve and seller offering me the item at my bid after teh auction closed. So it is worthwhile to throw up a bid on something you are interested in. You never know what will happen.

I like to sit outside, drink beer and yell at people. If I did this at home I would be arrested, so I go to baseball games and fit right in.

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Posted By: David

Scott, as I noted, though I don't use reserves, I've happily bid in reserve auctions before. I'm sure your reasons are resonable, and there isn't a need to justify using a reserve to this board, whether or not some think it's their business

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Posted By: Ed Hans

A lot of good points have been made here. I personally don't like reserves and usually don't bother bidding in auctions that use them. Too often the "reserve" is just a retail price. Go set up at a show or take out an ad in SCD or open up a card store if you need to get retail for your cards. This is an auction format. Ebay is a vast marketplace with huge exposure. The vast majority of items will fetch a reasonable facsimile of market value (not to be confused with "book" value). I have never used reserves for items that I sell, though I can certainly understand wanting some protection for a really special or unique item that might get lost or overlooked on ebay. I think I would be inclined to use Mastro or another high profile auction house for those items. As to publishing the reserve price, I am totally at a loss to understand this. Surely the theory of getting lots of bids and bidders by starting with a low opening bid is by the boards, since those bottom fishers (like me) can see that their bids will be worthless. Why not just cut to the chase and set your minimum bid as your reserve.
Thanks for a great forum on vintage cards!

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Posted By: runscott

Surely you aren't implying that there is no difference between a reserve and a minimum bid? check the e-bay fee structure. If there wasn't a market for both, they wouldn't both exist - ebay is in the business to make money. Also, if there wasn't a market for multiple auction houses (ebay,Mastro,even Festberg), we would only have one. Do I know which items will do best in which auctions? No. But I think the different listing formats available through e-bay allow some flexibility and experimentation that isn't available through other auction alternatives - that is one reason (probably) that it is so successful.

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Posted By: Julie Vognar

is bidding in an auctiion with a Buy it Now and a Reserve (not to mention an opening bid)--and the Buy it Now remains in effect until the "reserve has been met." If you really want the card, you have to fish around until you've met the reserve in order to ward off people who might want to jump in and Buy it Now for a price you don't want to have to pay.

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Posted By: runscott

...you use BIN. If someone else uses BIN before the reserve is met, then they wanted it more than you and they should win it.

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Posted By: runscott

then the seller gets to keep the card because it didn't sell for bottom line. I know it's frustrating for the bidders, because we're always looking for a great deal, but sometimes the seller is only going to give you a "reasonable" deal. A reserve with a BIN can simulate such a situation - if the reserve and BIN are set right, the seller can get a reasonable deal or a great deal, but not a "Bad" deal.