To those who have sold stuff on ebay, do you use a reserve? I would be interested in hearing your opinions.
For those who don't know what a reserve price is, it's a minimum price you set as a seller. If the winning bid does not meet or exceed the reserve price, you are protected and the item is not sold to the highest bidder. Under this circumstance, ebay will collect a reserve fee. If the auction ends above the reserve price, then good for you. Ebay does not collect a reserve fee.
For example, I have a widget I would like to put up for auction. I set a reserve price of $10. That means if the auction ends with $8 being the highest bid, then the item is not sold. I owe ebay an extra fee. If the auction ended w/ $12 as the highest bid, the auction is ended and I do not owe ebay an extra reserve fee.
Hi Michael,
I never use the reserve price option. In my opinion if you are not willing to let go something at the set min price why bother to use the ridiculous low price just to attract buyers to look. You should have an idea how much you hope to get and then set your selling price a bit lower than that to start. In this case you should not be too surprised at the outcome. I sometimes do not even bid on anything with the reserve price. Just my 0.02.
If the item you are selling is expensive and you are not using a reserve then I would set the starting price close to what you want to get for it. I know myself when bidding I usually do it in the last minute ("manual sniping").ISometimes really desrieable items will atract a bunch of folks like me so be careful - if something should happen catastrophic in the last minute (sniper is like me and forgets! or e-bay ahas a hiccup) you could end up with virtually no bids and be forced to sell it at a low price.
A reserve is an excellent way to go if you have a rare item and there is little track record on previous sales prices. It will give you an indication of what people might be willing to pay.
I've had over 300 ebay transactions, and in my experience I find it best to use a reserve price on higher-priced items.....say, over $200. I also use "buy it now"
pricing, but when doing so I think it best to set your reserve price fairly close to your BIN price, and start your auction with a low starting bid.
If you just use a BIN with no reserve, then as soon as someone bids the minimum, the BIN option disappears. I hate when I see an item I'd be interested in shortly after its listed, and I'm thinking about the Buy it Now, and then someone jumps in and bids $1 on it, eliminating the BIN, and forcing the auction to run its course.
In my experience, an auction gets the most interest in the first 8 hours (newly listed) and the last 8 hours (ending soonest). Like it or not, setting a low opening bid DOES draw interest...because some people like to be the high bidder early on, so that ebay will "track" it for them, and send reminder emails, etc. as the auctions end draws near (Yes, i know you can select "watch this item" without bidding, but not everyone uses this.)
So for a bigger ticket item, in order to protect yourself, a reserve price isnt a bad idea. You can always disclose your reserve price in your listing.
All my auctions start at .99 with no reserve. I look at what the items has gone for recently and from that I can determine if I'm going to get what I want out of it. My listings cost .20 for up to 7 days and .50 if I do a 10 day.
While I have been a little disappointed with a couple of auctions overall I'm pleased with the results. Most auctions I get more then what I would have settled for. Some auctions I sit here and can't believe that some people bid so high for items. I once sold 2 50 1.8 mkII lenses in the same auction for around $115 each. There were 2 guys bidding it up and as soon as the aution ended I sent the runner up a second chance offer and he took it.
Canon equipment will almost always be bid up to any reasonable reserve or BIN so why bother spending the extra money on the listing cost?
A reserve drives away more bidders than a low starting bid attracts.
I start my auctions with the lowest I will take for the item and put a "Buy it Now" price of what I really would LIKE to get for it. At least 90% sell for the "Buy it Now" price and most of the rest start with the starting bid and go higher than the "Buy it Now" would have brought.
I also never bid on reserve auctions unless the reserve has been met.
As I have a 50mm f/1.8 on eBay now, i can tell you what I did. I used a reserve price and started the bidding at 10.00. I know you can look at previous sales and guess what you'll get for the product in this case lens but I used the reserve because sometimes you don't get what you thought. I have purchased a few items there and got better prices that I thought. I want the protection that if my minimum is not met then I won't have to part with it. I put it up yesterday at around 11am and it went to reserve price at 2am next morning. At least I know I will get my minimum amount.
I personally believe that some people pay more at auction because of the thrill of bidding. I have seen many items sell for more on eBay than if they would have gone into their local store to buy it. That is why I start my bidding lower and if I care what I get put a reserve price. It all works out to the same thing unless your reserve is so high that it doesn't get sold. I expected to get $60 for the lens and that was my reserve. At least I know I got it and in 4 days, we'll see if I get any higher than that.
The only time I use the reserve is if I want the BIN to stay out there a few days. If I am selling something for $500 then I would set the reserve at $100 but start the bidding at .99. I would mention this in the listing, e.g., "reserve price way below market to keep the BIN price out there a few days." At $100 it only costs $1.00.
rycelover wrote:
To those who have sold stuff on ebay, do you use a reserve? I would be interested in hearing your opinions.
Big waste of time!
Keep it simple. NO reserve. Put opening bid approx. half way of original cost and work from there. Even if reserve is met you pay more fees. For what?? Who says you wouldn't have gotten the same bid without reserve? Just a fee grabber for flea-Bay...
