Ebay strikes again!

[Willowbilly3]

To me a hidden reserve almost always means a seller who wants more than his stuff is worth, or at the very least top dollar. I'm sure it works for some people but when I see a hidden reserve, I just keep on going. I think it's like advertising something and the guy shows up to buy it and you make him guess how much you want for it. Realistically if you start it a 99 cents and let it go, it's bringing what it's worth on that day. I've got bit doing that though. I do know a seller who starts all his auctions at 99 cents and he does real well.
A good example, a couple years ago I had a #11 Griswold skillet to list. I did a little research and found similar ones had brought $135-$150. There was one just like it with a hidden reserve and the bidding had bogged down a $101 with 11 bids. I put mine up for $130 buy it now and it was gone in a couple hours. The one with the reserve ended at $101 and didn't sell.
That is the way I tend to sell stuff now, find out what they have been bringing, back up just a little from that and use buy it now. Stuff sells good and moves fast, usually in the first day. I have my money a lot sooner and can put it back into something and roll it again while I would have been waiting for the auction to end.
If I list a car, I always put that it is for sale locally and the auction might end. Once I had a guy see the listing and contact me to see how much I wanted locally. I told him, he paid me and flew in to drive the car back across the country.

 

[blacksheep]

Not to stir the pot, but at just about any heavy equipment auction I have attened ( and I've attended alot of them), there is a reserve on the auction bidding on just about everything for sale. They plant folks in the crowd and pay them a % to do just that. So, pretty much most auctions have a reserve .

 

[ratdog]

Never had any problems with ebay or any other online sellers or buyers. The whole point of ebay is to find stuff for cheap or to find things that you cant find elsewhere.Whats the alternative? It might not be perfect but there is nothing else out there like it.
And yes,I also bid in the last few seconds,sometimes even use my laptop and computer so I can see the countdown on one and have the confirm button ready on the other.Anyone bidding stuff up on the first or second day and thinking they are winning the item are pretty naive.They are causing me to have to spend more then things are worth and I dont appreciate that at all.

 

[cycledog]

Been on ebay since 1998. Never had any real problems. And yes, I only bid in the last 30 sec of the aution. I have only done a reserve bid twice and then I listed my reserve price in the item description.

 

[Willowbilly3]

I have done that in the past too. It used to be your buy it now disappeared as soon as someone bid and the only way to keep it up was with a reserve, but I would disclose the reserve in the description.
Open auctions are a whole different thing, often stuff does have a reserve, especially big ticket stuff like heavy equipment, art and real estate. But many (most) of them are crooked, a crafty auctioneer can run a single bidder to his limit by pulling bids out of the air. Around here they don't have to because people are idiots at an auction.

 

[blacksheep]

I have done that in the past too. It used to be your buy it now disappeared as soon as someone bid and the only way to keep it up was with a reserve, but I would disclose the reserve in the description.
Open auctions are a whole different thing, often stuff does have a reserve, especially big ticket stuff like heavy equipment, art and real estate. But many (most) of them are crooked, a crafty auctioneer can run a single bidder to his limit by pulling bids out of the air. Around here they don't have to because people are idiots at an auction.

Wow, thanks dude. I used to make the monthly equipment auctions when I was a concrete contractor.

 

[RPM]

I use bid nip on Ebay, place my best highest bid for what I am willing to pay. It bids for me at 3 seconds and if I win great and if not I'll find another. If I didn't win someone else thought it was worth more than I did. Either way I am happy.

You know some poor guy is setting at the puter watching it count down, and my shows up with 3 seconds left, before he can think about it, it is too late.

 

[Willowbilly3]

Wow, thanks dude. I used to make the monthly equipment auctions when I was a concrete contractor.

Around here auctions used to be a place you might get a deal. I still go to maybe a dozen a year and the trend I see is an auction is the most expensive place to buy anything. People will pay more than they do at a retailer. One of the last ones I went to a beat up 59 Impala 4 door on flat tires and not running brought $8500, a Hamm's waterfall beer sign went for $2600. Without exception old Winchesters will bring more on auction that a reputable dealer will get for a better one.
A rusted out Model A pickup bed with no fenders and a mangled tailgate brought $1200. I could go on and on. It's nuts.

 

[Torch]

reserve

Here's the lowdown on why I use a reserve...
And I'm kinda with you on not liking reserves either.
I like setting my top price AND considering bids.
If the bidders ain't getting there they might not like the price or they might not be able to afford it. run the auction again and try some other bidders.
Why sell it right away?
A good salesman gets at least 10 no's for every maybe. the guy making everyone happy is selling himself too short.

Maybe a guy doesn't want to bid more unless you promise to hold it for him a couple paychecks

If you aren't going to offer near what I want...Your not going to get it.

Your bid is only an offer of what you want to pay, it is not an entitlement.
4 things can happen
*I can put the item in for an opening bid of the high end of what I want and wait until someone wants to pay that.
*I can put the Item in for an opening bid for the lowest amount I'd take and possibly end up selling for too cheap and cheating myself.
*I can put it up with no reserve for a low starting bid and then pull the auction if the offers aren't any good
*or I can put it in for a reserve for the high side of what I want and lower it if I find a good bidder who's serious or wants to do some trading to get the price down.

The one thing that ain't gonna happen is some guy isn't going to beat me out of my hard earned stuff.
It's an auction not a poker game
If I was going to give something away...I have friends and family.
If someone WANTS to give something away that's swell but..
If someone doesn't have enough respect for your hard work to pay you back what you put into something then they don't really deserve to have it do they.

Other reasons for using reserve is you can keep the auction open until you know you have a good sale. soon as that auction is over Ebay is going to charge you for it and they don't care if your buyer follows through or is a deadbeat.
And you can shut down an auction that hasn't met reserve without having to cancel anyone's bids if you end up selling locally for what you wanted.

I just sold my 71 firebird I owned for 20 years. I wanted $4k top dollar. I set the reserve at $5k which I did not think the car would sell for under any conditions so if I didn't find a good bidder, I could re list it much more cheaply.
I had a dozen bidders nickel and diming each other for 4 days and the offers got up to $1500. That's not going to buy it.

I had a local man contact me and offer me $3500 cash right now and I took it because it was right here, right now, cash in hand, no bs, no complaining later. That was worth $500 bucks to me. he knew what it was worth, he respected what it was worth and made an offer on the low side of what it was worth without regards for what anyone else was bidding. He wanted it and he got it.
It all comes down to this...

Do you want it more than I do?

The reserve forces them to speak up and answer that question.

 

[Torch]

I have done that in the past too. It used to be your buy it now disappeared as soon as someone bid and the only way to keep it up was with a reserve, but I would disclose the reserve in the description.
Open auctions are a whole different thing, often stuff does have a reserve, especially big ticket stuff like heavy equipment, art and real estate. But many (most) of them are crooked, a crafty auctioneer can run a single bidder to his limit by pulling bids out of the air. Around here they don't have to because people are idiots at an auction.

I like buy it now connected with make an offer but reserve is cheaper to run

 

[Willowbilly3]

Buy it now with make an offer means you will take less so nobody would use the buy it now. It isn't a bad way to go though, you set the general amount you'd like to get. I've bought some stuff that way but only tried to sell that way a couple times and all I got were ridiculously low offers.
torchman, a bid is a binding contract. If the bidder is bound to honor his bid, why should you not have to honor the auction and go through with it. Pulling an auction with bids just don't seem right to me, unless you've advertised that it is for sale locally and the auction may end anytime. Then you tend not to get any interested bidders.
I still think the straight up way to do it is just start your item at the amount you need to be covered on it. People know where your at and don't have to guess. Or better yet just use the buy it now, with or without make an offer option. If you are selling a lot of stuff, starting it low and letting it go will work out. You will give a few things away but also get a lot more than you thought on others.

 

[TiredIronGRB]

When buying I use BIN 99% of the time, when I want something I want it.

 

[FlatbedAndy]

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/1962-FORD-ECONOLINE-/180612038414?pt=US_Cars_Trucks&hash=item2a0d50ff0e[/URL]
Can't figure this one...166 bids 8 bidders one guy is bidding at 1 cent incriments and it is still thousands below the BIN A sweet little Econo truck!

 

[Torch]

torchman, a bid is a binding contract.

I can totally understand why you feel that way... Especially if there was a chance to win something else and you spent the time trying to win the auction on the one but didn't get either?
Or you call a guy on the phone and he agrees to a price and you drive all the way over there and some other guy shows up at the same time or is already there saying he'll give more....
I say once you give your word a deal is a deal but an ebay auction isn't like a deal between 2 people and it ain 't a deal till it's over

I'll leave it to the authorities to decide...they have...
Here's where I make my case...

BLACKS LAW DICTIONARY is the universally accepted English language arbiter of legal definitions and is the higher standard over Websters for all purposes legal and commercial.

CONTRACT- An agreement between 2 or more persons which creates an obligation to do or not do a particular thing.
It's essentials are:
Competent parties
Subject matter (what's for sale)
A legal consideration (what's accepted in trade)
Mutuality of agreement
and mutuality of obligation

BID- An offer by an intending purchaser to pay a designated price for property which is about to be sold at auction. An offer to perform a contract for work, or for supplying materials or goods at a specified price.

OFFER- To bring to or before. To present for acceptance or rejection. To exhibit something that may be taken or received, or not.
A proposal to do a thing or pay an amount. A manifestation of willingness to enter into a bargain, so made as to justify another person in understanding that his assent to that bargain is invited and will conclude it. An act on the part of one person whereby that person gives to another the legal power of creating the obligation called contract.

That being said.
Ebay is just a third party to the contract. They have the full right to offer their own conditions and any parties to that contract have the full right to accept or reject them.

Any variety of conditions may be employed to administer an auction. Participation in an auction on ebay requires having reviewed and accepted ebay's rules and policies.
Therefore both seller and buyer on an ebay auction have agreed to mutual conditions arbitrated by ebay.

These conditions are:
Highest bidder wins at the end of the auction. At the tentative end of the auction all requirements for a contract to exist have been met and then the contract becomes binding.
Both parties are now bound to consummate the agreement...at the tentative end of the auction.
Auction can be ended early and the item removed from consideration with all bids rejected ...
Or auction can be ended early and the highest bidder at the time the auction ended can have his bid accepted, that bidder retains the right to reject the sellers offer and the next lowest bidder's offer becomes eligible for acceptance if the higher bidder rejects the offer.
Auction can also be ended early for a variety of other reasons as per ebay's users agreement.

A bid is an offer and an item up for sale is an offer but there is no contract until both parties to the bargain have willingly accepted the other's offer and all conditional requirements for there to be a contract have been met.

Every party must have made an offer and every party must have accepted every offer or there is no contract. It must be unanimous and complete.

The auction does not create the contract.
The auction is an exercise of a condition required in the contract with Ebay that the seller and the buyer and Ebay have agreed to.
The entire process from your signing up with Ebay to completion of the auction creates the contract. If the process is interrupted, no contract is created.

You could Like Al Capone try to force someone to accept your own definitions of the words and conditions used in a contract, change them after the fact, or try to force someone to accept an offer against their will but fortunately they call this fraud and they lock people up for that.

You cannot lawfully force someone to accept someone's offer... that would be a breach of the peace.

 

[Torch]

Buy it now with make an offer means you will take less

Naw... BUY IT NOW with MAKE AN OFFER means... This is the cash only price I will sell to you for no speculation, guaranteed, right now, no backing out, done deal, handshake, binding contract.... But I will consider other offers and trades if no one buys it now.

This is Probably because BUY IT NOW can be configured to require immediate payment via paypal and that's how I set mine up....and some people don't want to take that risk until they vett you first... but I have had auctions with competition exceed the BUY IT NOW price.

sometimes it works the other way...
I have an 85 f600 up for sale right now on Ebay with a $4k reserve that I called the dealership Berkenkotter Motors in Denver to ask some questions about the truck.
We negotiated a price but he wanted a $1k deposit to pull the auction.
I didn't have my visa card on me at the time so I told him I will put in a bid for the amount of our agreement and go from there and he agreed to that.

I ended up meeting the reserve and winning the auction for $300 less than our negotiated price. I mentioned that I noticed it and I left it up to them to decide and they went with the winning bid over the negotiated price. I thought that was mighty nice of them but I never would have thought of making a big deal about it.