To Reserve Or Not To Reserve..that Is The ?

CEO of ebay.

She's sitting in her hot tub right now sipping champagne thinking what a great idea (for her) reserves where.

I understand the buyers perspective, but I too have lost my shirt on .99 cent auctions on ebay. I'm actually just now trying to make all my auctions with starting bids that cover my breakeven. I think thats fair, but of course a potential buyer will have to take my word for it and it will probably be a rare occurance when they do.

Buyers have to understand though that there is so much material, especially common date and grade stuff, being offered on ebay that its hard to get the necessary attention to turn any profit on ebay. This goes double for true low margin dealers. And selling is expensive. You have to cover aquisition cost, selling cost and overhead. Most ebay buyers just have the attitude of naming their own price.

I'm trying to save common type coins as I buy them just to offer as a lot to better cover selling costs. I've tryed to compensate with extending my return policy, but we'll see. I've got a nice Morgan out right now where the starting bid is half of Red Book but no watchers yet. Its under seller not_enough_time_to_play. Do you think a start at half RBV is too high to attract even one bidder?

Double_Die I can empathize, but if you maintain a cavalier attitude about buyers wants/desires, you are destined for disappointment on ebay. I have virtually lived there over the past four years watching Seated coin auctions and occasionally others. Older, desirable coins (in virtually any condition) and bullion do well, some final bids are downright ridiculous.

Moderns (1964 to present) have so much competition that it's hard to separate the wheat from the chaff. High-end errors, PCGS-70 and NGC-70 slabs, and outrageously toned coins are the exception.

I would like the link to your Morgan, so that I could give my personal assessment of the presentation and offer suggestions ... I may even want to place a bid!

Bobby & SeatedNut,

Good advice. I think your going back to the idea that the majority of buyers are looking for specific denominations or dates and in turn search based on those keywords. I've never put a lot of thought into the keyword thing because I believed that the majority of ebay buyers were just searching out the deals, and made distinctions only between truly rare old coin types and less valuable modern stuff. I figured the majority was sitting there looking at what was ending in the next 30 minutes, watching each item pass sniping .99 start auctions that were undervalued. That's where I was hoping they'd notice mine that lists both the RBV in the subtitle line and starting bid at half the RBV. I was hoping they'd realize getting something for half its value is a good deal and thus bid. I'll let you know how it goes.

Double_Die,

I do exactly that for Seated pieces, Barbers, and WL halves ... but there are too many Morgans ... it makes me dizzy. I go there and sit about once a week, but only last about an hour. Guess I'm gettin' too old!

It's from Sellathon.

How does one go about getting that pretty little graph?

I don't know why so many people make such a big deal about "Reserve Not Met". If it's a coin I'm interested in I'll put it on my watch list. I usually don't bid until the very last seconds anyway. By that time I can simply bid the most I'd be happy with, and if I don't win who cares? I move on to the next coin.

That's why I don't know why it's such a psychological killer. Bid a price you're happy with, and if the reserve isn't met move on.