Pls relate yr experiences re: Reserve Price

[truedelphi]

Have you ever listed an item of value without using the Reserve Price?
Can you list something of value, avoid Reserve Minimum and back out if all
the bids are disappointing?
Any and all experiences appreciated.
Thanks!

[demgrrrll]

1. Good question. If I have a good bit of money in something or if I know

that something is absolutely worth a certain reserve I will reserve the amount I feel is right. Some lower cost items I put on at a low price and see where they go. I don't know if anyone has any statistics on sales and reserves, I do know that if something does not meet reserve it can be harder to sell the second time out. Then again some things do not reach reserve and then sell for more than you expected the next go around. Clear as Mud! Maybe someone else has a more definitive answere.

[Whoa_Nelly]

2. Per eBay rules

Note: Sellers are not permitted to cancel bids and end listings early in order to avoid selling an item that did not meet the desired sale price. This is considered to be reserve fee circumvention. Although there are legitimate reasons for ending a listing early, abuse of this option will be investigated.

http://pages.ebay.com/help/sell/end_early.html

[Vinca]

3. Uh oh - I didn't know that rule. I pulled something last week

because I had lots and lots of watchers, but the auction ended the next day and I didn't have 1 bid at $9.99. Maybe it's okay since I had no bidders at the time. I swear ebay's rules favor buyers over sellers. Before the "watch" feature, you'd get early bids and the more bids you had the more interest you got in the item and the higher the selling price. Reserves seem to turn off buyers unless something is really, really rare. I don't know how to list stuff anymore.

[truedelphi]

5. That's where I am confused also.

When we were just putting low priced items up on eBay, it was easy enough.

But I have to evaluate two sides of what seems to be a well-sharpened knife when it comes to items that have real value (One thosand dollars on up.)

Should i spend fifty dollars or more securing the right to allow for my art piece to receive a price it deserves, but knowing that a reserve price means I might not get any bids?

And then the final kicker - if there are no bids - I am out the fifty bucks.

It's apparent it is set up so that eBay doesn't lose.

[grasswire]

6. what about just setting your opening bid...

...at the price you would like to receive? Would the cost of that equal the cost of opening lower with a reserve? I have no idea if lower opening bids do really encourage bidding.

I agree that policies work against the seller, usually.

[Horse with no Name]

9. A high opening bid costs more

which I think sucks. I have also read that it turns off buyers. But with the low prices on Ebay these days, sellers are going to have to find some ingenious ways to get fair prices for their wares.

[zabet]

7. I have listed with a reserve

when I HAD to have a certain amount of money to turn
a profit or it was a 'big ticket' item. I set a reserve
on a boat and a car I sold on ebay, and on a couple of pieces
of glassware.
If you have a lot of watchers on an auction and no bids, it
is not necessarily a bad thing. If I am interested in an
item I put it on my watch list and enter the data into an
automated third party bidding system that does not bid my
bid on the auction until the last 6 seconds. I do this because
I have had other glass collectors 'search by bidder' to see
what I was bidding on - I search a little differently and often
find lots of good pieces dirt cheap because they are listed wrong.
I have seen more and more serious buyers using this method. An
auction that has no bids and a lot of page views looks like a bad
deal to the inexperienced buyer.
On most of my auctions I usually start the bidding close to what
I have invested in the item.

[sufrommich]

14. How the heck do you "search by bidder"?

I think someone has been doing that to me. I bought something at an extremly low price compared to it's worth and I notice that almost daily I have someone search my store using key words to describe the item(which I didn't buy to re sell).I've wondered how they knew I bought it in the first place.

[Horse with no Name]

8. I agree

I don't like the "watch" feature.
It kind of changed the way people Ebay. In the old days, you either HAD to bid or risk not being able to find the item the next time you went a looking.

[truedelphi]

4. I rememebrerd all that just as I posted my OP

But -- thank you anyway.

[blondie58]

10. you can always email the highest bidder (on a reserve bid)

a second chance offer to purchase it at their highest price. I have had several people do that to me, sometimes I accepted it, other times I didn't.

[AZBlue]

11. If I'm not going to use Reserve, I simply start the bidding at the lowest price I'd accept for it.

[paulk]

12. I've stopped using reserve for bigger ticket items

especially if I know something is worth a certain amount, I'll start the auction at the lowest amount I'm willing to take for it.

It seems less people are buying these days and there aren't as many "feeding frenzy" auctions, in my experience, anymore. If you set a high opening price you know you're going to get someone who is truly interested in buying. Sometimes the item doesn't sell, and then you have to re-evaluate it's value.

[sufrommich]

13. I always start auctions at the least amount

I'll take for it. I realize it's at a higher ebay cost,but I've seen (and bought)high ticket items that go for ridiculous prices. I'm not willing to do that. If I can't sell an item at a price I think it merits,I put it in my ebay store at a fixed price and wait for a buyer who is looking specifically for that item.