[Stan]

Hello One And All,

I think 99.99% of eBay is fantastic. However, there is the one thing about it that I don't like: listings that boast "no reserve" while simultaneously having a "minimum bid". I see no effective difference...both are substantive mechanisms for a product's owner to not accept any offers below a certain financial amount.

Thoughts?

 

[BULLITT #1042 (Ray Ackerman)]

<TABLE BORDER=0 ALIGN=CENTER WIDTH=85%><TR><TD><font size=-1>Quote:</font><HR></TD></TR><TR><TD><FONT SIZE=-1><BLOCKQUOTE>
On 2002-02-28 20:26, Stan wrote:
Hello One And All,

I think 99.99% of eBay is fantastic. However, there is the one thing about it that I don't like: listings that boast "no reserve" while simultaneously having a "minimum bid". I see no effective difference...both are substantive mechanisms for a product's owner to not accept any offers below a certain financial amount.

Thoughts?
</BLOCKQUOTE></FONT></TD></TR><TR><TD><HR></TD></TR></TABLE>Your right! A no reserve should start a $1.00.

 

[BULLITTBRO1]

Ahh you are rigth but somepeople dont know what they are doing when they are setting up to sell an item.

 

[DrivingSimulators]

We've sold a lot of gear on eBay. We always start at $1.00 (we always use a reserve).

You could start bidding at say $100, with a reserve of $200, and a "Buy It Now" of $250. Having a higher starting bid just "speeds up" the bidding. We like to start at $1.00 to get the number of bids up (even for gear that is $5000+). Most of the real bidding takes place in the last few hours. The last item we auctioned, the winning bidder put in their bid just seconds before it closed (and won the auction). We received an email from the 2nd bidder and they weren't very happy. Too bad for us they didn't duke it out earlier.

 

[Badkharma]

Auctions that start low with no reserve usually go higher than the ones that start off high to begin with. They also get more bids. I start most of my auctions at $1.00.

 

[5111]

I always start my auctions at $1.00 because in the preview screen it shows a lower price and encourages bidders to click on that one. Of course, I have only sold about 10 different things, I am not exactly an expert.

 

[texasbullitt]

or how about winning a no reserve auction and then the seller backing out...

 

[Badkharma]

Or selling and then the winner backs out...that happened to me 3 weeks ago.

 

[mb4875]

How about sending the money and the seller will not ship the item. The sellers e-mail is shut down after the sale.

 

[Badkharma]

For that one, you can go through ebay...they have his credit card no. anyway because all sellers need to submit one. But yes...I hear you on that one as well!

 

[Nasty Bob]

eBay will only cover $150 if you send the seller money and he disappears without sending your stuff. eBay should set up a 3rd party escrow account to protect the buyers.

 

[TXBullitt]

Ebay does have an escrow syste, but I've never used it. The items I've purchased have always been dealers with know physical addresses. One guy had even gone to the same college as my parents, and his shop was in the college town. My Bullitt media kit came all the way from Berlin, Germany, and it didn;t cost me an arm and leg to get it.