Please help me understand this eBay bidding.

keets

I e-mailed the seller about this auction because I'm looking for a Millenium C/C Set still sealed in the box. He answered that his is, so I bid. That's where my confusion begins. Since there was a reserve, I bid just under the BIN price but was the first bidder at $49.95. Why would my bid amount jump up to $65.95?

The "Confirm and Place Your Bid" page showed me bidding $49.95 with my proxy, so why wasn't my bid entered there and the reserve not yet met. Why the bid leap and the start of $49.95 with one bid, yet current at $69.95? Are you confused yet?!?!?!?

Thanks.

Al H.

ClarkOfKent

I'm confused. Did you bid more than $69.95?

MrEureka

Sounds like the reserve was $65.95.

From eBay's site: "The system places bids on your behalf, using only as much of your bid as is necessary to maintain your high bid position (or to meet the reserve price). "

MadMarty

I have seen that happen before, The start is 49.95 with a reserve of ???, you bid $70 and the bid jumps to the reserve.. Don't know why, but I have seen it happen. All you can do is retract you bid and re-bid again.

keets

the BIN was $70.95 so my high bid entry was $70.50. i assumed another bidder would be needed to push me to the reserve and noone would be bidding to my proxy who wouldn't already have used the BIN. it's a strategy i've used before and never has the bid jumped without another bidder.

just to avoid a post telling me the grey sheet of the set is $45, i'm putting together the C/C sets in unopened boxes directly from the mint. don't ask me why cause i'm really not sure!!!

al h.

Rampage

Your high proxy met the reserve so that is why the bid jumped. That is the way reserve auctions work.

If you retract and rebid, I would fear that the seller would turn you into eBay for trying to find out his reserve and then retracting which is against eBay rules.

Wolfy00002

I pasted this from ebay, so you can have the explanation from them.


Why did my bid jump so high?

Chances are that the auction that you were bidding on was using the Reserve Price Auction format. Sellers who use this type of auction set a Reserve amount. The amount that is set by the seller is the minimum amount the seller is willing to accept for the item they are selling. When you place your bid, if the amount you bid meets or exceeds the reserve that the seller set, your bid will raise to that reserve price immediately.

For example, let's say there is a Reserve Price Auction that has an opening bid of $5 and a reserve amount of $30. If you make a maximum bid in the amount of $25, you would become the high bidder at the opening bid amount of $5 because you didn't bid enough to meet the seller's reserve price.

Now, in the same example, let's say instead of $25 you bid $35; in that case, you would be the high bidder at the bid amount of $30 because you had bid enough to meet the reserve price.

mnmcoin

Look at a reserve price as just another bidder...once you bid, the reserve basically bids against you and whola, your minimum amount to clear the reserve bid is the current bid.

hope that helps

morris <><

keets

.......and thank you all for the explanation. i guess in all the other auctions where i was the first or only bidder, i must have never bid higher than the reserve. this is actually a good thing to know. in the past i have been a lone bidder in reserve auctions of coins i was willing to bid strongly on, only to languish with noone pushing me to the reserve. i'm assuming that i can now resolve a situation like that by sniping just under the BIN or e-mailing for a reserve amount.

al h.

sinin1

I guess sniping to find reserve is okay - unless reserve is really close to BIN and you don't have time to get out. Can a bidder have unlimited retractions? I noticed they are on feedback page now.