Ebay Reserve Price Auctions - Beware

In effect ebay is an auction where all the other bidders
drop off and your bidding against the seller via the unknown
reserve that he's entered

At least I now know how to get the highest price
if I sell anything on ebay

I cant see what the problem is either, "market value" is a bit of a strange thing to nail down, what an item is worth to some may be worth far more or even less to others, who decides the market value, the buyer? I think not. Suppose a valuable antique vase came up for auction but there were no vase collectors in the room? the item would sell for a lot less than it was worth, hence the sellers right to put a reserve price on the item.

One other point worth mentioning is even if you meet the reserve price you are not guaranteed to win the auction, that is trus of both auction houses and ebay.

My view has always been that sellers should list an item with a starting bid which is the minimum they're prepared to accept for it. Don't mess about with secret reserve prices, tell us what you're after and if it's reasonable someone will pay it.

If you are going to list at lowest acceptable price you might as well do buy it now with a best offer attached....

Well, I am increasingly finding BIN to be the only way to get a sanely-priced item!

Note to those adding "best offer": It's for haggling. Rejecting offers out of hand and/or only offering to knock pennies off the price is just silly.

No harm letting it run as an auction though. You might get more than the minimum you're prepared to accept.

A high reserve is like a BIN but not as good from the
buyers point of view, because he doesn't know what it is
and it's non-negotiable unless the item doesn't sell

I've just looked through a lot of the Pentax gear and a high start
seems quite popular. That guy from Portugal who's selling off his
collection has some start prices in the thousands Try
doing that with reserves and a £1 starting price

I couldn't find any Pentax sales with reserves?

A few best offers I made only came up to a pathetic £1 off.

The last one I made on a A 50mm f1.7 was accepted at the first offer!


BtW there were 2 K 50 mm f1.2 on eBay on that day, both went for around £200 ( which I think is still overpriced for what it is)

It's quite simple really, if you think the reserve is a lot higher than the value of the item, unless you are absolutely desperate, don't bid. There will be another similar item at a more realistic price eventually. "Best Offers" are a waste of time, I don't recall an offer being accepted, but of course that has only been on items I had an interest in (on my watch list)

Regards

They are actually underpriced, because of the rarity and would cost a small fortune new if made today. Wait until the Canon people pick up on them

Never mind the 50/1.2s, I'm having enough trouble hunting for a K 50/1.4!

I have noticed one, just hoping it hasn't sold by the first Monday in November when I'll be able to afford to buy it...