Reserve Price Auctions

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Posted By: warshawlaw

I agree that a reserve will deter some people, especially when they make multiple bids that don't hit it, but to jump from there to say that the reserve on this particular item caused the item to fail because a non-reserved lot sold for more is simply not warranted. Many factors out of the hands of the seller affect the outcome of an auction, most significantly differences from day to day in who is surfing ebay looking for stuff. It always blows my mind when an item fails one week and I lower the price only to have it sell for even more the next week. Sometimes, you have a great item that goes begging one day and kills the next simply because the two key players in the latter auction did not spot it that previous time. I go through ebay religiously every day and I still end up missing stuff that I would have bid way more to own than the winning bid had I seen it.

Funny aside that proves the inconsistency of ebay purchases: I once sold a Football HOFer rookie card PSA 7 graded to someone in the midwest. I got around $15. He claimed that the card was damaged in shipment and I agreed to refund it. The envelope looked like the mailman ran it over in his truck and the holder was shattered, but the only damage to the card was a nice horizontal crease. I relisted the card for substantially less with an explanation of what had happened and the darn thing sold for more than the original PSA 7 sale! Just proves that it is all about who is looking at the listings at any given time.