eBay protocol question- sort of Model A related....

Chris in WNC

Chris in WNC

Well-known member
I have a Model A item on eBay right now with a reserve and I'm being pestered by persons wishing to know what my reserve is.

in 10 years on eBay, I have never disclosed a reserve price.
seems to me like bordering on bad manners to even ask.

what say you? :confused:
 
You are correct. Simply tell them to bid what they are willing to bid and they will find out if it is enough to meet your reserve.
 
If people ask what the reserve is, I'll tell them privately. I don't post it to the listing. I don't care if they know, it doesn't change the minimum price I'd sell it for, and if they hit the reserve and it sells for that or more, does it matter at that point?
 
Personally I would post the reserve and consider it as "cutting to the chase". To high, no bids. Over the reserve, high bid wins.
 
It's absolutely wrong for anyone to ask the reserve price, and none of the
auction houses do it either. When someone asks the reserve price, they are
really asking you to dilvulge information that is not available to the other
bidders in order to give THEM the advantage. In short-----it's rude and
unethical. JMHO

Jack
 
Milton said:
Personally I would post the reserve and consider it as "cutting to the chase". To high, no bids. Over the reserve, high bid wins.
Click to expand...
I f you are going to do this, make your "reserve" your opening bid and then don't post a reserve. Then it's your reserve or more or no sale. Plus, I believe it is less expensive on Ebay if it doesn't sell than if it doesn't hit your reserve price.
 
Jack '29 Sport Coupe said:
in order to give THEM the advantage. In short-----it's rude and
unethical. JMHO

Jack
Click to expand...

How does that give anyone an advantage? The reserve is what it is whether you know it or not, the minimum price doesn't change. How you sell things locally, say on craigslist? You state the price that you want for the item, maybe slightly higher for negotiating room. Does someone have an advantage there?
 
there is nothing wrong at all with asking, I have been with ebay since the first day it launched, Asking a reserve to know if you can afford something is totally normal and fine, i am asked all the time and disclose immediately, what are you hiding , the price that you will sell it for, so what is the secret..Protocol on ebay does NOT exist at all, when christies, southebys disclose and you try to compare to ebay, the worlds largest garage sale tell me the problem with telling someone what you will sell for???
 
Jack '29 Sport Coupe said:
When someone asks the reserve price, they are
really asking you to dilvulge information that is not available to the other
bidders in order to give THEM the advantage. In short-----it's rude and
unethical. JMHO

Jack
Click to expand...


HAHHAH Rude, advantage.. you are talking EBAY...EBAY EBAY, where people sell JUNK, and goods and used items, why in the world is it un-ethical to ask that question and how in the world is it an advantage, if you cant afford the reserve your done. so where is the problem Jack.
In the original days of ebay it was freely listed, then it was non disclosed when ebay tried to be big shots...Sorry but think about what you are talking about and trying to compare to the big houses is ridiculous to begin with.......ask away folks!!
 
In 10+ years on eBay I've never let anyone know what the reserve is on an item, bad manners to ask IMO.
 
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Anything goes on ebay. Don't have a thick skin about it. Tell if you want. I don't see an advantage one way or the other.

What is the listing number? Fun to look anyway!
 
For several years in the 70's, I sold my collector cars annually at the Barrett Jackson January auction in Scottsdale, Arizona. I was never offended when someone asked what my reserve price was, nor did I ever tell them, since that was my right to keep it a secret. I was flattered that they would even ask what my reserve was. By having a reserve price, I think I got a lot more bidding action at first to start out the auction bidding. Some of the low bidders often bid higher than they had first wanted to go. When the bidding stalls out before the reserve price is reached, there have been high bidders who had stepped up to the plate and negotiated the price because he really wanted the car. That price was a negotiated price between the high bidder, the auctioneer and me. Usually when the high bid has been reached, the bidding stalls there, even after the reserve price has been removed.
 
I would definitely tell the asker the reserve.

What harm does it do?

By not telling him, you may be alienating a potential buyer.

I bought my 28 off ebay 3 months ago.

I asked the reserve and he said it was 20K, but as the bidding was going slow , he dropped it to 13.9 K.

No way was i going to even think about bidding at 20 K, but 13.9 was reasonable.

I ended up buying it at 15.1.

So, I think, what is so secret or rude about asking the reserve?

You need all the genuine bidders you can muster.

By alienating some, they may put in a dummy highest bid just to get back at you.

I have found, once an item is relisted (mostly advertised as a deadbeat bidder), the item never reaches anywhere near what it did.... the second time around.

To contact the second highest bidder is usually a waste of time.
 
I agree with Mark & Pooch. Often times Sellers do not know the true value of something so their reserve is unrealistic which just wastes time & energy for everyone. I also think that the "novelty" of eBay has worn off for most people and as such eBay is treated more as a tool now, --and no longer as a game for us. Many people (such as I) use eBay in our business to buy items to run the business more efficiently and this is why many auctions now have a Buy-It-Now price added as it allows us to do business without wasting precious time.

How about the potential Buyer that only has a 15 minute break in the morning and/or afternoon to search out what he needs for his car. His time is very limited and he does not have the time to waste playing games. For example, if I am looking for a set of original cowl lights for a customer's car and a nice unrestored set appears on eBay with an undisclosed reserve. Imagine when I start writing questions to the Seller and studying the pictures in detail only to determine that after I made a fair bid of $175.00 on the item and waited for 7 days to find out the results that the seller had a $500.00 reserve because "the man up the street said that is what they are worth". If I had known the amount he was seeking, I would have discreetly moved on without the waste of mine and his time.

.
 
a resolution, with your help...........

[FONT=&quot]THANK YOU to everyone who responded, both on and off the board!

I'm not a newbie on eBay, I've been buying & selling there since the early days; but occasionally this old dog can learn a new trick.

based on the feedback and the reasons given on Fordbarn by several persons whose opinions I respect, I'm probably going to start disclosing reserves.

I'm stubborn, I still think it's rude to ask :D. but it is eBay, one of the last bastions of (almost) unfettered Capitalism, so what's a little rudeness? I'm always telling people not to be thin skinned, so I'd better cowboy up and take my own advice! :rolleyes:

Merry Christmas to you all!
-C in J
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I personally never use a reserve price on ebay. I simply start the listing at the minimum price that I am willing to accept and that has served me well.

Here is an example of why, as a seller, I would not reveal a reserve price. Let's say you have a car for sale that you are willing to accept $15,000 for. Let's say there are two potential bidders who want the car and they do not know what your reserve is. If they feel that the car is worth about $18,000, they will probably bid it up to the reserve prior to the end of the auction in an attempt to find out what the reserve is and then bid to nearly $18,000 near the end in an attempt to be the successful bidder. If, however they have both been told that your reserve is $15,000, they are both more likely wait to near the end of the auction and enter a single bid over the known reserve price but not nearly as high as they would be likely to bid in the first scenario.

The known reserve guarantees that you will not sell your item for less than you are willing to sell it for, but the unknown reserve price will usually bring the seller more money.
 
Well, at least this discussion has gone a lot more rationally than some I've been in. :)

While I can respect some of the reasoned responses of the "no harm in revealing...." folks, and let's face it, it's your choice on your goods. On the other hand it defeats the whole purpose of an auction. On it's surface an auction appears to be just another method of selling something. At it's core it's a really a psychology game intended to invoke excitement, anticipation, and, most importantly, competition.....hopefully between at least two bidders. The idea being to kill rational thinking in favor of "I'm not going to let that SOB top me..." competitiveness. Revealing the reserve kills that potential by allowing a bidder (assuming he's really a serious buyer) to become rational and bow out. That being said, ebay doesn't have the same carnival atmosphere of a live auction, the auctioneer patter, the noise of the crowd....all those atmospherics that help stimulate "crazy" bidding. Thins like sniping programs, and subdued economy, other online venues, and the like have taken some of that "spirit" out of the ebay environment. Still, not disclosing the reserve might just provoke an additonal bid or two, giving the reserve away will surely kill any potential of that.

It's like any form of negotiating, some have the stomach (or however you prefer to express that) and some don't want "the bother". Our North American culture has trained the negotiating out of most normal commerce unlike much of the rest of the world where it's normal to dicker.
 
I see nothing wrong with asking the reserve price. If the person sends it to you and it is much higher that you want to bid or think the item is worth, you don't have to waste your time bidding. I don't see in any way it is "rude" or "unethical" like some posters has stated. Some sellers will tell you the reserve and some won't. If they don't I usually don't bid on the item. Like someone said, it costs extra money to have a reserve on an item. If you are really worried about getting a certain price for an item, a better approach to me would be to start the auction at what was going to be the reserve price. The only problem is that sometimes a high starting price wont get many bids, which may not get a higher price for the seller.
 
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Quick story. I put a motorcycle seat on ebay with no reserve. But I put the starting price at 100.00. That's what I wanted for the seat. Two guys got into a bidding war over it. It ended up at 195.00. They could have bought one out of a catalog or even at a Harley shop for less than that. Go figure
 
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