EBaying; howling after an auction

From: Dave McGuire <mcguire_at_neurotica.com>
Date: Mon Oct 18 01:36:27 1999

On Sun, 17 Oct 1999, CLASSICCMP_at_trailing-edge.com wrote:
>2. What really amazes me is when a seller makes a reserve price auction,
>very plainly states the reserve price in the item description, and
>there are literally dozens of bids made *below* the stated reserve
>price. What the ???. Either the bidders think this is entirely a
>"bidding game", where the objective is to outbid the other guy with
>no real intention to buy, or they don't read the description at all, or they
>haven't a clue period.

  Simple. Often a seller is willing to sell something at below his or her
stated reserve price. For example, this happened to me just two days ago.
There was an item whose opening bid was $1000. Someone bid the opening
amount, but the reserve wasn't yet met. The amount sat at $1000. Near the
end of the auction (with the amount still at $1000) I bid $1500. That was
still below the reserve, so the bid amount only increased to $1025. The
auction ended without having met the reserve.

  I opened a dialog with the seller and negotiated the purchase of the item at
$1500. His reserve was $2000.

  So it seems it's a matter of sellers being wishy-washy about their reserves
and not sticking to them.

                      -Dave McGuire
Received on Mon Oct 18 1999 - 01:36:27 BST