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Replies: 33 / Views: 5,100 |
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
849 Posts |
Why do sellers put reserves on items?
I find it annoying as a buyer. Why not just start your auction by posting your min. bid you would be happy with? I tend now to not bid with "reserve" sellers. It is often a waste of time after tracking an item for five days.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1804 Posts |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1130 Posts |
You can enter a reserve price when you list it. I don't do reserves. I guess the main goal of them is to create interest and hopefully have a bidding war.
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Rest in Peace
United States
10625 Posts |
I tend to ignore "reserve" auctions now days as the few that I have bid on either did not reach the reserve at what I was willing to pay or someone else won the auction at way more than I would pay. All raw Morgans and way over-graded at MS++++++ or MS PQ stunner (can anyone guess who the two sellers are?).
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New Member
United States
10 Posts |
I agree with you for not setting a reserve price. I think it is a total waste of time, especially if you are closely following the auction and it ends without sale. Very annoying as you said. Set your price to start at your minimum price you would take for the item....it will even save them the reserve price that ebay charges for a reserve!
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Pillar of the Community
 Canada
9873 Posts |
I agree, setting a reserve price is a waste of time for both seller and buyer 99% of the time. I don't bid on them anymore.
"Dipping" is not considered cleaning... -from PCGS website
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Valued Member
United Kingdom
477 Posts |
I agree with 100%, reserve prices are pointless with ebay imho. In real life auctions yes they are good for obvious reasons, but I feel it's ebay's way to give the 'real' auction experience from a desktop. Also while we're on this topic, what annoys me more is a reserve price and a BIN price-9/10 the reserve is nearly the BIN price and it's pointless to bid because someone can just buy it now and waste your time spent bidding.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
797 Posts |
If I see "reserve not met", I won't even bother watching or bidding on the item. I think when sellers put that on their item it is the quickest way to drive people away from the auction.
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
10045 Posts |
 I consider listings with a reserve a bit of a mind-game--the seller expects a lot, but won't show their cards--no thanks. 
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Valued Member
United States
492 Posts |
Bid on the item anyway, with what YOU want to pay. You aren't obligated to buy the item if it doesn't reach the reserve fee, and they may later email you with a second chance offer at the price you want. From what I understand, if bidding doesn't reach the reserve, the seller is still charged the $2 reserve fee even if the item doesn't sell. I'm not sure if the $2 fee is imposed if no one bids on the item. Sometimes I make lowball bids just because.  I understand why people stay away from reserves though. The reserve fee is the biggest negative for the whole reserve system in my opinion. The seller has to recover the $2 for the reserve somehow, so it's going to come out of the bidder's pocket in the end via a higher than normal price.
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Bedrock of the Community
13014 Posts |
Quote: From what I understand, if bidding doesn't reach the reserve, the seller is still charged the $2 reserve fee even if the item doesn't sell. I'm not sure if the $2 fee is imposed if no one bids on the item. It looked like a listing fee when I played around with it one time. As soon as they list it they get hit with that fee regardless of anything else that happens.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1391 Posts |
If I see a reserve item I don't even bother bidding anymore. I don't care if I only bid what I want to pay or not, I am just not going to do it. If you don't want to lose money start the auction at what you want.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1130 Posts |
 Yep, it is a listing upgrade offer.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
7375 Posts |
If I'm really interested in a coin with a reserve, I just message the seller and ask them what it is. They usually tell me, otherwise I agree that reserves are a pain and I usually pass them up. Even a bigger pain are the "no reserve" auctions with a huge opening bid....just a 'reserve' auction in disguise 
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Moderator
 United States
16680 Posts |
I used to do reserve auctions and then I found that ebay just robs you for more $.
swcoin.ecrater.com
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Pillar of the Community
United States
7646 Posts |
Reserves are used by Sellers who have no confidence that the item they are selling will bring what they need for it.
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Replies: 33 / Views: 5,100 |