I have encountered the ambiguous "Reserve not met" when deal-hunting on eBay. I can only agree with you on one of your points: the "hidden" part of the reserve. Placing a bid to find out the "unknown" reserve on an item was not met, is either an immediate turnoff or breeds curiosity to find out where the reserve ends and the actual bidding begins. So far i am not getting any closer $100. The only thing about the reserve I dislike is the "hidden" aspect--why not just start the auction at the reserve price, thereby cutting out the reserve. Chris all that you and I have just argued is from the buyers point of view.

Reserves have been part of auctions before eBay, the internet, and computers existed. This is to protect the seller. Imagine auctioning off a Rolex watch, and after three days, of back and forth bidding, your auction closes. The winning bidder, bought your Rolex for $367.50. Not Cool! You paid $6,000 your fine time piece and all you have to show for it is a measly $367.50. Granted this is an extreme example but, if you woud have made a reserve, you wouldn't be hunting down a fake Rolex to ship this guy. Car auctions have become popular on TV recently. Often when the bidding comes to a halt on a car, we fid out it was a No Sale, because the reserve was not met. Just because it is a virtual auction, that takes place over several days, doesn't mean that sellers can't protect themselves from getting the short end of the stick. I could go on, but I think I have proved my point. And now you can't rant anymore about people not posting comments to your blog. As far as the $100, Shoot me an email, and I can give you my paypal info.

Jon

I have had the same thing happen to me and it IS a turn-off.

The only things I can think of is:

The seller doesn't really want to sell the item, he just wants to 'test the water'.

Maybe some sellers are willing to sell the item at the 'winning' bidders price if the seller feels it is fair.

Other sellers may use it as a 'security blanket' being as they are under no obligation to sell unless the reserve is met.

I have asked sellers what their reserve price is because if it is more than I'm willing to spend on the item, it's a waste of my time to sit and watch the last seconds tick away and get my blood pressure up, only to find out I didn't win after all.

Shawn

Reserve auctions offer sellers with pricey collectibles and higher-end items with valuable market research.

I can set a minimum bid at $1,000 -- but what if people were actually willing to pay $5,000 ? Savvy collectible buyers and serious car traders *will not start bidding wars* until the last day, even the last hour or so. So its possible your $1,000 may get a bid war, and maybe it'll go up to $2,500 or even $3,000 in the end.

BUT from that reserve auction you'll have a much better idea of what the serious collectable buyers or serious car traders are willing to pay.

(Once they bid in the reserve one, as the seller you can view their history a bit and figure out if they are legit in that reserve bid - e.g. wed out the fakes somewhat)

You can take the higher amount if the reserve gets met OR simply relist with a $3000 or $4000 starting price the next time to maximize your profit. The cost of using reserve price market research is worth the fees -- but only for high-priced/highly collectable items.

As an occasional seller I can understand why people use it sometimes. Reserves can definitely take the bargain aspect out of ebay, but I've seen some nice items sell with low reserves. I've only had a couple of reserve auctions myself and it was simply to protect an investment that was significant. I won't put it in the description but if someone wants to know what the minimum is, I have no problem telling them. Although some sellers won't disclose it. If I don't know what the reserve is, I generally won't bid. Buyers want bargains but the sellers have a right to protect their investment too and the reserve is a decent way to do it.

Also, I think a lot of people shill bid rather use reserves. Shill bidding has always been a part of ebay but the hidden bidder names have made it a shiller's paradise. I hate those more than reserves.

I agree with you about that hidden bidder thing that they just added.

What I really enjoyed was seeing who the underbidders on an item were. I am really big into vintage Packers memorabilia and seeing the underbidder was very cool for me because I know most of the big Packers collectors out there and it's interesting to see who is also in the bidding action.

I understand why eBay added the hidden bidder feature, but I can't stand it.

I miss seeing who the underbidders were, too. I guess it's bad for the seller but if me and a collector friend were interested in the same item, I preferred not to go head to head with them unless it's something I really wanted or didn't think I'd see again for awhile. Who knows who you bidding against now. Could be a friend or could be the seller.

There's a myth out there that eBay can detect if the seller is the same IP address as the bidder. This is their method of picking up on shillbidding. Not a fool-proof method my any means, but at least it's something.

It's not a myth. I actually know someone who got busted because of that.