Originally Posted by
soonerbills
Don't get me wrong, I am not found of selling on eBay but in this instance I don't see anything funny. I've had this discussion with myself many times and I agree with wrok101, start it at your minimum or .99. That reserve/buy it now is just more money for eBay.
The problem is that after bidding the "buyer" overshot the reserve and then the reserve became the starting point for the auction.It was a ploy only to see the reserve which is wrong. It has been my experience that bidders might and do bid way beyond the reserve price if the auction continued as normal. But when the reserve is met and shown and then the bid is retracted thus resetting the auction, those bidders/watchers may well drop out as active bidders. An unfair action against me the seller I believe.
As far a reserves and auctions I understand the point in no reserve on a very desirable ite as you can be somewhat reassured on getting the items worth. On the other hand a item that is mundane and plentiful needs a reesrve to make sure it does not go too cheap. i don't like much giving my stuff away. And I have no problem paying Ebay a little more to make sure I don't. But it's a opinion not a fact and lots of folks are successful both ways.
I think both points that are made here have some validity. One question I have is why didn't you just end the listing once it came back and relist with the reserve not being seen. Only the people who saw what went on in those 20 minutes or so would have been knowledgable of the reserve amount.
On another note, there are many, many times where I am interested in an item that has a reserve and I ask the seller if he/she wouldn't mind revealing the reserve. About half will tell me what it is and half won't. It is a nice piece of information to have as you are watching the bidding proceed.