Ebay reserve vs min bid

al410 · January 28, 2007 3:31AM

I am mostly a buyer on ebay, although I sell some also, I will not ever again bid on an item with a reserve, waste of time. Why wouldnt someone just have there min take price be the opening bid, does anyone else find this frustrating?
AL

ricko · January 28, 2007 3:48AM

It is ludicrous.... makes no sense at all... If a seller has a minimum, just start there - no harm, no foul. Hiding the minimum does no good. I have frequently seen bids pushed until reserve was found... then dropped/backed out ... silly excersise in futility. Cheers, RickO

RichieURich · January 28, 2007 3:48AM

See earlier thread incl. mathematical justification:

Link to earlier thread

JoeLewis · January 28, 2007 3:53AM

I also see no logic behind having a reserve. It doesn't save the seller any money, and many buyers just skip over auctions with a reserve. I'm not sure why eBay started this, and why they have kept this useless feature.

FredWeinberg · January 28, 2007 3:57AM

In some cases, I think the reserve is set
artificially high, so that at the end of the
auction, the seller "knows" the "market" -
and it only costs a small amount to find out.

This is usually done by sellers who have:

a) little or none as far as coin knowledge. It's
a way to get cheap market information on
their coin.

b) an idea of what their coin is worth; now
they'll list it/sell it for 25% more, or something
like that.

Hidden reserves are frustrating, so say the least.

I applaud Heritage for saving all of us time on
consigned High Reserve Coins.

RichieURich · January 28, 2007 4:10AM

I agree with Fred. Heritage has saved its bidders a lot of time and frustration by posting what the reserve amounts are. Thanks, Heritage!

walkerman · January 28, 2007 4:30AM

A seller would be insane to list a quality high priced coin with no reserve and rely on several buyers to snipe the price high enough to insure he did not get totally whacked. If he gets no action on his reserved auctions he will eventually figure out a shill scheme with one or more partners. The shill will not necessarily keep bidding the price up but rather just enter a price just below what the seller wants early on. I don't use reserves any more because of the ridiculous high fee. I also don't use shills.
I just list in my ebay store where the bin price is 8% higher than the same coins listed on my website to cover ebay and paypal fees. The listing fee is small and if the buyer insists on using ebay and paypal they will have to cover the fees as the prices on my website are usually marked up 10% over my cost and I just can't live on 2% profit. Dave W

The priceless ingredient in any coin transaction is the integrity of the dealer.
David J Weygant Rare Coins website: www.djwcoin.com

ziggy29 · January 28, 2007 4:32AM

<< <i>A seller would be insane to list a quality high priced coin with no reserve and rely on several buyers to snipe the price high enough to insure he did not get totally whacked. >>

Perhaps. But in that case, just start the auction at the absolute minimum price you're willing to accept -- just enough to avoid losing money, perhaps something like cost plus 5-8%. Problem solved.

walkerman · January 28, 2007 5:00AM

That doesn't work any better than reserve auctions. Most buyers that avoid reserve auctions also avoid min price auctions. It seems they aren't as much fun as playing sniper of the week so that one may have bragging rights on the forum.
So much oxygen is sucked up by the dealers selling their "schlock" coins in the third world holders. All their auctions start at 99c and have three times as many bidders as legitimate sellers of properly graded quality coins. Then of course the winners can post their "trophies" on the forum asking everyone to guess the grade. I reckon they are looking for someone to validate their wonderful snipe.
I will always compare this to Russian Roulette. When you win, you lose.
The listing fees for min price auctions are much, much higher than the ebay store fees for bin coins. Dave W

The priceless ingredient in any coin transaction is the integrity of the dealer.
David J Weygant Rare Coins website: www.djwcoin.com

mrpotatoheadd · January 28, 2007 5:00AM

Nobody complains about hidden proxy bids, so I don't really understand why having a hidden reserve matters one way or the other. There's essentially no difference between a reserve auction with starting bid of $10 with a hidden reserve of $100 and a non-reserve auction with a current bid of $10 and a hidden proxy of $100- either way, you have to bid over $100 in order to have a chance to win the auction. It's just as much a "guessing game" trying to figure out the reserve as it is finding the hidden proxy.

seemyauction · January 28, 2007 1:01PM

I rarely bid on ebay but if I'm looking for something the first thing I look at is reserve or no reserve. If I see "reserve not met" I close the auction and go on to the next.....

AL

PerryHall · January 28, 2007 4:41PM

<< <i>I rarely bid on ebay but if I'm looking for something the first thing I look at is reserve or no reserve. If I see "reserve not met" I close the auction and go on to the next..... >>

seemyauction---Do you ever have reserves on any of your auctions?

Goldeagle1981 · January 29, 2007 6:06AM

It is amazing that ebay coin listings with no reserve and very low minimum bids actually fecth much higher price than the one with a reserve or with a higher minimum bid. Case in point, I saw many 20th Anniversary Silver Eagle Set (PCGS MS69/Pf69/Pf69) with no reserve and very low minimum bid realized prices from $ 299 to $400. I also saw the same set with a Buy-It-Now price of $329 with no taker and another one with a minimum bid of $ 299 only received one bid and sold for $ 299. The point of this story is that when there is competition and if the bidder think it is a bargain they will bid on an item and during a fierce bidding war, more often than not the bidder will end up paying more than they really intend to. Therefore, a wise dealer always put a very low starting bid with no reserve on their listings. I have yet to see anybody can really steal any good coins on ebay. I think most collectors and bidders are very knowledgeable.

MacCrimmon · January 29, 2007 6:11AM

more often than not the bidder will end up paying more than they really intend to. Therefore, a wise dealer always put a very low starting bid with no reserve on their listings. I have yet to see anybody can really steal any good coins on ebay. I think most collectors and bidders are very knowledgeable.

al410 · January 29, 2007 6:23AM

I agree, and as a buyer I understand about proxy bids and Min bids, but a undisclosed reserve runs most people off. I was watching a coin saturday that I was willing to pay fair mkt value for however the seller never e-mailed me back with reserve so I just bought another coin.
AL
P.S. I am not badmouthing any sellers, just giving a buyers perspective.

Ebay reserve vs min bid

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