I am very new to investing in Lego and am ready to start selling a few things.  Does it hurt an item to put a reserve on it, even if this reserve is a low price?  Since I have never done this before and have only ever been a buyer on Ebay, I am a little scared to just put a price tag of .99 cents on something and let it ride (or any low price to get people to start bidding).  Any thoughts on this?

I would say no to a reserve.  Instead of a reserve, just start your auction at what your reserve would be, or set your buy it now listing at a price higher than your reserve, and then allow bidders to send you best offers. I think the only time someone would want to use a reserve is if they are selling a very rare item or maybe a car or something. 

I never liked reserve price because if I remember correct eBay charges an extra fee for the service. Try using "best offer" I have had some items sell for more then I would have listed them with but it now.

Some people like myself ignore auctions with reserves. I dunno just seems tacky. Just use the but it now option. Plus if you put a super low reserve there is not really a point of using it anyway.

Thank you for the great advice!  I appreciate it greatly!

Sorry to revive this old thread, but does anyone know when was reserve removed? Just went back into selling and noticed it gone.

Regardless, thanks for the tips on BIN with Best Offer.

Count me as a buyer who ignores auctions with reserves. 

Did they remove reserve? Interesting - I almost never run auctions, and never never reserve auctions. Buyers in general loathe them, with good reason. "Guess the real starting price" ain't a fun game.

As a seller, reserve seems usefull !

... but as a buyer, it's just a waste of time. So overall... ignore the reserve option.

 

If you want to sell something that quotation is about 100$ and if you are ok to sell it at about 80$ (no less):

 

a ) If it's a rare item (auction can fly high), let's start at 80$.

b ) If the item is common, then put the auction at 80$ and add a buy it now option at 120$ (it will make the auction more appealing, people will think it's ok to bid up to 115$ and it's a good deal because cheaper than the buy it now way).

I hate reserves and refuse to bid on items that have them. They should be eliminated.

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Sorry to revive this old thread, but does anyone know when was reserve removed? Just went back into selling and noticed it gone.

Regardless, thanks for the tips on BIN with Best Offer.

 

Nope, it's still there. I just checked by listing an auction and the option to put a reserve prince is there.

I was going to say, they are definitely still there I believe.

 

Reserves are sort of silly to me - in real word of mouth auctions, they never have something like that.

 

Ebay really only has them because they want people to list things for really cheap.

The moment I see an auction has a reserve I turn away. Don't use them.

I don't use reserves, if I'm going auction style I just set my starting price and let it ride.  If I'm that worried about it, I will just set the starting bid at whatever I would have put the reserve.

I was going to say, they are definitely still there I believe.

 

Reserves are sort of silly to me - in real word of mouth auctions, they never have something like that.

 

Ebay really only has them because they want people to list things for really cheap.

 

Not true - reserves have been part of auctions probably since there were auctions and well before there were online auctions. They're dumb, they're annoying, but they were well established in the auction industry long before eBay was ever thought of, eBay simply adopted them because they were part of the culture to begin with.

Not true - reserves have been part of auctions probably since there were auctions and well before there were online auctions. They're dumb, they're annoying, but they were well established in the auction industry long before eBay was ever thought of, eBay simply adopted them because they were part of the culture to begin with.

that and to make an extra buck

that and to make an extra buck

 

Yes, making money is wrong and bad. Good thing none of us try that kind of nonsense.

I was going to say, they are definitely still there I believe.

 

Reserves are sort of silly to me - in real word of mouth auctions, they never have something like that.

 

Ebay really only has them because they want people to list things for really cheap.

Car auctions and art auctions are two common ones with reserves.

 

For Ebay - sell it for what you want.  If you want to take the chance, use an auction but there is little point in having a reserve price unless you have something rare (and that isn't Lego).

 

I have bid on reserve auctions a couple of times and when I ended up being the high bidder but under the reserve, the seller sold it to me anyhow.

Yes, making money is wrong and bad. Good thing none of us try that kind of nonsense.

 

 I meant it as ebay added these functions to charge extra from the seller....o.o

Reserves are sort of silly to me - in real word of mouth auctions, they never have something like that.

In France it does exist, I saw one on the TV screen (the guy had put a reserve price on his motorcycle). Final price was too low, so he refused to sell it.