Need a little help from seasoned ebayers... - Beyond Tiki

T tikichic Member Joined: May 16, 2003 Posts: 256	T tikichic Posted posted on Sat, Oct 25, 2003 10:09 AM This is an nteresting topic whoever I don't agree about starting the auction without a reserve or even stating what the reserve is to a "ask a seller a question". I've been an eBayer member since 1997 and a seller for 3 years. I've tried auctions both ways, with and without a reserve, but I can tell you that if I have a high ticket item I always put a reserve. Why? Because people LOVE to bid. It doesn't matter if they've hit the reserve, they love to see their name up on the top. The high bidder gets outbid, they bid again and again until they become the high bidder and eventually meet the reserve. 98% of the time on auctions it works. On the flip side if you have something worth $8k and you open it at that, you scare potential bidders away. Yeah, it seems fair that if you know what you want for it and open it at that, but it doesn't always work that way. People LOVE to get in bidding frenzys and we've all seen the "snipers" at the end. As far as giving my reserves to people who email me, nope I won't do it! I personally don't think it's fair to the other bidders if someone just emails me and asks for the reserve. Doing this method also causes the bidder to go in at the last moment and only put in the dollar amount of the reserve. Well, what's the point in that? If 2 people go in at the same time with the same dollar amount of the reserve the first bidder will win. Bidders will also email you and ask what the reserve of your item is just to find out the value of your/their item with no intentions of bidding. Trust me, I've had plenty of buyers email me and ask for reserves and I politely tell them I don't disclose this and I've received nasty emails back. Some mad that they can't "help" me by me not disclosing my reserves and potential other bidders. Please, if you want to bid, bid. I don't need "help" pulling up the bidder numbers! These are just my selling observations however I highly recommend putting your name on your pictures, especially if it's a high ticket item. If the pictures are good, people will "lift" them. It may seem like a compliment but it's real frustrating when you take the time and effort and someone else just takes them. It's against ebay's policy for others to take others pictures and or text so just protect yourself by putting your name across the picture. Good luck! It really is fun to sell on ebay. You just have to get a system down. If you can only ship twice a week, than state that in your fine print of the auction. There's no problem with that and the info is stated up front. [ Edited by: tikichic on 2003-10-25 10:12 ]

This is an nteresting topic whoever I don't agree about starting the auction without a reserve or even stating what the reserve is to a "ask a seller a question". I've been an eBayer member since 1997 and a seller for 3 years. I've tried auctions both ways, with and without a reserve, but I can tell you that if I have a high ticket item I always put a reserve.

Why? Because people LOVE to bid. It doesn't matter if they've hit the reserve, they love to see their name up on the top. The high bidder gets outbid, they bid again and again until they become the high bidder and eventually meet the reserve. 98% of the time on auctions it works.

On the flip side if you have something worth $8k and you open it at that, you scare potential bidders away. Yeah, it seems fair that if you know what you want for it and open it at that, but it doesn't always work that way. People LOVE to get in bidding frenzys and we've all seen the "snipers" at the end.

As far as giving my reserves to people who email me, nope I won't do it! I personally don't think it's fair to the other bidders if someone just emails me and asks for the reserve. Doing this method also causes the bidder to go in at the last moment and only put in the dollar amount of the reserve. Well, what's the point in that? If 2 people go in at the same time with the same dollar amount of the reserve the first bidder will win. Bidders will also email you and ask what the reserve of your item is just to find out the value of your/their item with no intentions of bidding.

Trust me, I've had plenty of buyers email me and ask for reserves and I politely tell them I don't disclose this and I've received nasty emails back. Some mad that they can't "help" me by me not disclosing my reserves and potential other bidders. Please, if you want to bid, bid. I don't need "help" pulling up the bidder numbers!

These are just my selling observations however I highly recommend putting your name on your pictures, especially if it's a high ticket item. If the pictures are good, people will "lift" them. It may seem like a compliment but it's real frustrating when you take the time and effort and someone else just takes them. It's against ebay's policy for others to take others pictures and or text so just protect yourself by putting your name across the picture.

Good luck! It really is fun to sell on ebay. You just have to get a system down. If you can only ship twice a week, than state that in your fine print of the auction. There's no problem with that and the info is stated up front.

[ Edited by: tikichic on 2003-10-25 10:12 ]

Post #56886 by tikichic on Sat, Oct 25, 2003 10:09 AM