Should eBay consider having a "No Reserve" section?
Dave99B
Posts: 8,605 ✭✭✭✭✭
And I mean a "TRUE" No Reserve section.
No silly starting bid, no reserve price.
You know, kind of like a "real" auction???
Maybe they could add another tab called “No Reserve” along side the existing "Auctions" and "Buy It Now" tabs? Maybe even give seller's a break in terms of fees, it they list true N/R type auctions.
I’d love this feature. It’d be nice to be able to review these listings without having to parse through all the noise of "N/R" and NO RESERVE! auctions with $600.00 starting bids!
Well....?
Dave
No silly starting bid, no reserve price.
You know, kind of like a "real" auction???
Maybe they could add another tab called “No Reserve” along side the existing "Auctions" and "Buy It Now" tabs? Maybe even give seller's a break in terms of fees, it they list true N/R type auctions.
I’d love this feature. It’d be nice to be able to review these listings without having to parse through all the noise of "N/R" and NO RESERVE! auctions with $600.00 starting bids!
Well....?
Dave
Always looking for original, better date VF20-VF35 Barber quarters and halves, and a quality beer.
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Comments
Otherwise I would suggest a bidders reserve system. A bidder could make any bid he wanted for as much as he wanted, except the buyers REAL bid would be hidden and only activated if the seller met his price. Of course this would cause a lot of reserve users to cry because they don't realize that this totally unethical and absurd situation is what buyers are forced to deal with every day..........
Items like Morgan Dollars, that are popular, I usually start at $9 and let 'em go to wherever they end up. Items like half dimes or three cent silvers......forget it. There aren't (usually) enough bidders hunting that stuff down to get the bidding up high enough.
I'd also like to see a seperate category for the Ebay Live auctions. I HATE having to sift through that stuff, in with the normal Ebay fare. I'll go to the host aucton companies website to view that stuff.
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Endo
Doggedly collecting coins of the Central American Republic.
Visit the Society of US Pattern Collectors at USPatterns.com.
On eBay I set my reserves at either Greysheet or what I've been offered sight-seen by a dealer. Many of the guys who bid on my coins know me personally, and a few of them have resold coins they bought out of my eBay auctions for a decent profit. I've done the same with coins & antiques I've bought out of reserve auctions.
Guess my point is, "get over it". If you pass on reserve auctions as a matter of some silly "principle", you only end up spiting yourself.
This is utter nonsense. I would suggest these same dealers would scream bloody murder if they walked into a supermarket and the store forced them to try and guess the selling price of a loaf of bread.
Rittenhouse, in my rather extensive experience with ebay I've noticed that reserve auctions are almost entirely a waste of time. Almost all of these auctions have the reserve set at some ridiculous level, and many buyers simply ignore them. In addition, the concept of a reserve can be translated into "I'm smarter than the market" which is arrogant and almost always dead wrong.
This is utter nonsense. I would suggest these same dealers would scream bloody murder if they walked into a supermarket and the store forced them to try and guess the selling price of a loaf of bread.
Apples and oranges. You can't compare a retail store to an auction.
The same whiners that complain about reserves are often the first to ask for a return policy. They want their auctions to be a "true" auctions so they may get their coin for pennies on the dollar, then want return privileges as well. Thats utter nonsense.
I have said it before and I'll say it again......the better material on eBay will almost always have a reserve or high opening bid. The seller most likely paid alot to get that nice coin, and will likley protect his investment.
You folks really want ebay to be like that?
A return privilage has nothing to do with whining collectors. It is almost entirely the result of dishonest dealers who cannot bring themselves to accurately describe a coin's true condition. Furthermore, since it seems you are a dealer who keeps the selling price a secret and thinks that a return policy is 'utter nonsense', I can guarantee we will NEVER do business.
Apples and oranges. You can't compare a retail store to an auction.
This is such a compelling argument for why I am incorrect, I think I'll just leave it alone.
NOT providing a return policy changes ebay from a real auction into a dumping ground for problem coins. With all due respect, I think you have it backwards.
One more comment, I've returned perhaps 10 ebay coins in my life. Every one of these was mis-described or simply lied about. Out of the hundreds of coins I have sold on ebay, I have NEVER gotten a single return. Returns are about the seller, not the buyer.
Guess my point is, "get over it". If you pass on reserve auctions as a matter of some silly "principle", you only end up spiting yourself.
makes me think you are missing my point...
I'm not saying auctions with a reserve price are a total waste of time. A lot of nicer stuff is listed with reserves, and I'm cool with that. I would just like a chance to review listings without looking at them. I don't see much harm with that.
I kind of like MrEureka's comment about adding a sort option what would allow this. That would work for me...
Dave
Return privileges, usually with a loss of two-pay postage, are really a poor substitute for inspection. In 40+ years of live auction buying, I have yet to bid on an item I hadn't had a chance to examine and determine my maximum bid.
"Hidden" reserves - at live auctions they are uniformly concealed until the hammer falls, and high bidder learns whether or not he/she has bought the item. On E-Bay and Yahoo I frequently ask the seller, and about 90% of the time I get an answer. I always say something in my message to indicate that I am a serious potential buyer, such as a comment on some feature of the coin or aspect of its history that isn't mentioned in the listing. Example, inquiring about the reserve on an 1870 silver ¥1 I might mention that I'm interested in "that coin from the first year of modern Japanese coinage", or on an undated gold/silver 19th Century Koban, I might ask, "is this the 11.25g or the 13.13g type?"
A return privilage has nothing to do with whining collectors. It is almost entirely the result of dishonest dealers who cannot bring themselves to accurately describe a coin's true condition. Furthermore, since it seems you are a dealer who keeps the selling price a secret and thinks that a return policy is 'utter nonsense', I can guarantee we will NEVER do business.
Iwog,
I am not a dealer, just a collector who sells from time to time to help pay for my upgraded material. When I do sell on eBay I use a reserve for the higher priced, high-end material. I pay for the quality, so I am not about to take the chance that eBay is having a slow week and some bottom feeder is just lurking around, waiting to buy my coin for half price withi the last few seconds.
Also, its no secret what my reserve is. Anyone who asks, and plenty do, will be told exactly what my reserve is. All you have to do is ask, most sellers will tell you. Try it. As for us not doing business together, I think I can live with that.
The most amazing thing about dealers in general is there absolute total refusal to take a loss on a coin!! Excuse me, but there is no god given right in this world to make a profit on a sale. If I get hammered on one coin, more than likely I'll get double my loss back on the next one so who cares?
Anyway, we're getting off track. Use a reserve if you want, but lets not play games with terminology. A reserve has no other purpose than to hide the true price of the coin, and force buyers to make pretend bids up to the reserve amount. I DEFY anyone to give me any other purpose that cannot be handled with a higher minimum bid.
For me, a higher minimum bid is boring. I like starting my auctions at $1 just to watch the action on it. If you start the auction at the high bid, most people will wait for the closing seconds before bidding. No fun!!
I too have lost money on a few coins ( again I am not a dealer), and I have made a few bucks, but I do use a reserve to protect my investments on my better coins.
You obviously have a major hang up about reserves, and that's fine, don't bid on them. You are entitled to your opinion, but please remember that its your opinion and not every one agrees with you. To suggest that every one that uses a reserve is up to something or hiding something is just plain wrong.
<< <i>Conder, providing a return policy DOES make it a real auction. In a real auction, the buyer has a chance to inspect the coin prior to purchase. Allowing a coin to be returned does exactly this. >>
Ever REALLY read the terms of sale in the auction catalogs from the major auction houses? They don't really have much in the way of a return policy for those who bid by mail and who haven't had a chance to examine the lots personally. Return only with permission and permission must be requested within a very brief time window, and the reason must be a matter of authenticity or as I said a case of a SERIOUS mis-description. Often time if the coin is TPG it is returnable for authenticy only, even for mail bidders. I live in the middle of nowhere so I don't have the luxury of in person examination (For which you give up all rights of return except authenticity.) I guess these sales by the major houses aren't REAL auctions then since they don't really have return priviledges.
<< <i>I DEFY anyone to give me any other purpose that cannot be handled with a higher minimum bid. >>
It's a marketing ploy. Nothing encourages a high hammer price more than active bidding and nothing encourages many bids more than a low bid level. Starting out with a high minnimum bid rather than a reserve stiffles a lot of potential interest and precludes the active multiple bids that would attract attention to the auction.
Conder, when you brought up 'real' auction, you were refering to a live auction where lots can be viewed ahead of time. I'm not sure why you changed that definition to include mail bids, but the fact remains that allowing coins to be viewed in person before cash changes hands is a requirement for every live auction and buyers would not tolerate anything less.
IF there are major auction houses that take bids sight unseen and don't allow returns, they are much less a 'real' auction and as I pointed out before, far more likely to be dumping grounds for inferior or problem coins.
Regarding the purpose of reserves, I've already satisfied myself that a reserve on an auction actually discourages bidding and drives away potential buyers. People aren't stupid and although a coin with a low minimum bid and high reserve might get more action, it is all fantasy action and meaningless to the sale.
I also don't like dealers who list numerous coins with a minimum bid which is a full retail price. Ebay is supposed to be an auction website, not a dealers inventory retail price list IMO.
dragon
You could not be more wrong. I have said this before, but it is worth repeating..... If a seller picks the wrong time to sell something on eBay and he doesn't use a reserve, he could lose a lot of money. eBay ( and the coin market) has many up & down weeks. Take last week for example, anyone who listed a coin prior to the war starting had a very real chance of taking a bath on their auctions. It was a slow week on eBay.
Also there have been many times that I have listed a coin, only received a handful of bids the first time around, then relisted it a few days later, and it met its reserve if the first 24hrs. eBay can be a gamble, I don't gamble........so I use reserves. For those of you that think its a waste of time, you might be missing out on the better material that is offered on eBay.
I'm done with this thread.
Dave
By the way, it's the lure of getting a bargain that brings the buyers to the site. Take this away, and ebay is DEAD.
Here is a seller that would be risking all without the safety net of a reserve price to cover his costs on his big investment.
Ebay Kooks
The fun, exiting auctions are those that start at $1. with No Reserve. It is how I feature ALL (but maybe two or three in the last year when the coins were not mine) auctions and I haven't been burned by some "give-a-way" price yet.
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