Reserve Price Auctions

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Posted By: Aaron M.

"So, if other people act sleazy on eBay, that gives everybody the right to act sleazy. Not that I actually don't see the argument in favor of that, just not something I could do."

I don't see bid retraction as at all sleazy, not even in the slightest.

E-Bay operates in an entirely different system than major auction houses such as Mastro and REA, where reserves are not hidden, thus justifying its disallowing bid retractions. (And for the record, I would oppose someone from from retracting a bid [other than for a legitimate mistake] in a non-reserve E-Bay auction. In that instance you are just playing around and messing with someone's auction.)

If an E-Bay seller chooses to hide his reserve price (thus wasting the buyer's time and attention and possibly financial resources), then a buyer has every right to operate within the rules of E-Bay to discover such hidden reserve.

What if you have $1,000 to spend in a given week. Two cards pop up on E-Bay that you desperately want. One card has a low minimum bid, the other also has a low minimum bid, but carries a reserve. You contact the seller, but he refuses to reveal the reserve. You know that you won't be able to afford both cards with your $1,000, but you want them equally (in fact you may even want the reserve auction more). You decide to bid on the reserve auction and bid your full $1,000 but still do not meet the reserve. Meanwhile, the other card sells for just over $800. You end up with neither.

If, however, you had known that the reserve was $1,500, then you would have known up front that you couldn't afford it and concentrated your attention and financial resources on the non-reserve auction. Thus you end up with that card.

That's "sleazy"? Pshaw.

Bid retraction is a meager defense for buyer's, but effective nonetheless.

"Regarding the selling at a profit. Clearly you need to sell at a profit "overall" otherwise why be in business."

Some people (in fact I would venture the majority of sellers on E-Bay) sell from an extremely limited inventory, very rarely offering items. In this case, the importance of profiting (or not taking a loss) on every item is magnified.

Not everyone has a large inventory, constantly offering new items, with the possible luxury to look big picture.