Reserve Price Auctions

[Archive]

Posted By: runscott

You're right - the high bid could actually have been 1 cent under the reserve. I had forgotten that.

Actually, having a reserve doesn't say what you had in mind at all - it simply says: "I don't want to sell this card for less than my reserve price". The advantage of having a reserve is that you can start bidding low and still protect your investment. If you start the bidding at your minimum required amount the bidding may never even start. But you are right - I wasn't willing to let the market dictate the price - mainly because SGC-graded HOF'ers haven't been selling high enough for me lately. In any case, the item didn't sell at my minimum requirement, and i'm happy to keep it. I also started several gloves off at too-high minimum bids, which were still below market value (I thought they were, anyway), and as I predicted, bidding never even started. Despite this, my sales were good on that day, and I didn't get hammered on my investments for the items that did not sell.

I use reserves and higher-than-9.99 minimum bids in three situations:
1) if ebay community knowledge of a product is questionable (rare items, for instance).
2) if market is running lower than normal.
3) I have a back-up outlet to sell the items - in this case, I'm taking them to a show where I will have no problem getting my price (I just didn't care to wait).

Dealers and sellers with a lot of exposure can afford to do the "one penny, no minimum, no reserve" thing, but unfortunately I cannot - interpret that as you may.