Why has someone outbid themselves on ebay, is it allowed? i don’t use ebay too much so i’m assuming that this is the seller’s mate bumping the price up…

Can someone shed a bit of light on this?

http://offer.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewBids&_trksid=p4340.l2565&item=160606855042

Whatchoo reckon?

Not used Ebay for ages – I assume it’s down to someone adding bids iteratively to see where reserve price is, and the current high bid is the reserve rather than the starting price?

^ What he said.

Buyer has been trying to find the reserve

Could have been just biding till reached the reserve?

Edit – Too slow 😳

Yeah then they pull their bid, so you’re left with everyone knowing the reserve price of the item, I’d be asking Ebay for my fees back for it if it happened to me!

So it was to find the reserve! cheers peeps, after all i am a numpty.

🙂

i know there are as many techniques and theories as users, but Ive never got the point of reserve price. If you’ll only sell it at a certain price then put that as your minimum bid. Otherwise someone has to go thru what your bidder has just to find out what the reserve is.

I get it for a live auction environment, where the intention is to build enthusiasm and momentum so people have got used to bidding, and the price gets carried over the reserve, but not for something remote and longer term like ebay. I cant be bothered putting in multiple bids when something is listed at 99p but the seller actually wants 200 quid for it and tend to avoid them and I cant be alone.

M-C, its about saving a few pence on fees is it not?? Costs the seller a few pennies more to list the starting price higher than 99p. The higher the starting price the more the insetion fees are.

I assumed that was part of it, but is there not a fee for having a reserve? Isnt it only the original listing fee that is affected, not the final valuation/selling fee? In other words you would save more money by for instance hosting all but one picture on photobucket/flickr/skydrive rather than a low initial bid (assuming your selling something of reasonable value)?

I’m fairly new to ebay so am genuinely curious, though I remember one ebay thread with the post “if your auction runs to the end youre doing it wrong”, in other words you encourage communication and sell it “off” ebay! I’ve done this with a high value frame and bike and so saved a fortune (in both cases was able to meet the buyer and get cash so also avoided PP fees and the hassle of potential disputes).

Not sure on that tbh, I do know the Flea-bay is a bl00dy rip off for the seller with all the fees though and like you try to encourage expensive items to end before it runs its course. lol

Someone did that to me at the weekend on an item I was selling ie. bid up to find the reserve, then cancelled their bids. All he had to do was email and ask……… barsteward 👿

Plus1 @ Munqe-chick
Moved house last year and used ebay for cheap advertising to sell a load of furniture.
Worded the ad to make it obvious that I would accept sensible cash offers.
Think about ten items may have not quite made it to the end of the auction!

smoggy, IME all sorts of techniques are used by sellers to avoid fees or improve the sale price, not in every case tho, but quite alot. You just have to decide what price you are prepared to pay and walk away if it exceeds that.

tbh I don’t see the big deal in hiding the reserve price.

If I put a reserve on I would just say in the item description. It is there to make sure you get at least that amount. It’s not going to deceive people into bidding more unless they get caught up in a last minute sniping battle and get carried away.

If the buyer doesn’t pull his bid, then given the bid history, as the seller I’d be putting in a shill bid for £499 😈

I start all my auctions at 99p for the reason above. I also never ever use reserves – let the numpties bid the item up to somewhere close to its true value and the serious bidders get involved in the last three minutes…

I also never sell off ebay – although this tactic has seen me have to refund in full for the last two items I’ve sold (cameras worth about £300 total, Grrr!). There was nothing at all wrong with them – I suspect buyers’ remorse and a bit of damage inflicted followed by the old ‘damaged-in-the-post-guv’ thing.

But over 750 transactions, I’ve only had perhaps a dozen problems as a seller, so can’t complain really…

I’m another one who doesn’t understand the hidden reserve thing. Would be gutted if someone had one on and I missed out by a few quid cos I didn’t know what it was.

Suppose it means that people may bid bigger to ensure they clear the reserve but that must be a pretty rare case.

I used a reserve once and the fees were exorbitant, much cheaper to just have a higher starting bid – which is what I do now. You may only get one bid, but it’s one your happy with, and it lets people know the sort of price you’re looking for.

If it’s cheaper stuff (ie not whole bikes/frames) I start at 99p and leave it, end up getting some good bids.