I guess however the seller chooses to list an item depends on the value of the item being sold, and how much they are willing to pay to list it, since sellers are charged more for higher starting prices.
Here's the page that lists fees for sellers:
http://pages.ebay.com/help/sell/fees.html
Hope this helps!
If I see an auction with a reserve price I just hit the 'back to search results' button. I don't have time to play games. If you know the price you want then just do a BIN. urgh.
That's not really correct for a couple of reasons.I guess however the seller chooses to list an item depends on the value of the item being sold, and how much they are willing to pay to list it, since sellers are charged more for higher starting prices.
Here's the page that lists fees for sellers:
http://pages.ebay.com/help/sell/fees.html
Hope this helps!
it's just one of many tactics. In the search results, if you see a low opening price or low current price, it draws in the views. A seller may figure if they get you to click the auction with a low price visible you'll see how nice it is, and bid regardless of the existing reserve. Also when searching if buyers see an item has 47 bids or whatever (that is often the case with a very low starting bid, high activity) they might think, 'oh this must be a hot item', and look for themselves. Whereas the item with an opening bid of $1000 won't get as many initial interested bidders looking at it at all. Everyone wants a deal. So many low-baller buyers out there. Every single time i have a listing set that is just a minimum opening bid set and no 'best offer' - i always get at least 2 or 3 buyers writing me asking "what's the lowest you would take?" ummm.. It's not a best offer duh lol!.. The min. Is the opening bid. So trying to put the appearance of a low price might work for some sellers, i don't know.
Sellers use this "get them in the door" tactic as an advertisement for their item, and perhaps don't really care if it doesn't immediately sell, if it doesn't reach their reserve price.
To each his or her own, if something doesn't sell i may try another selling method.. Sometimes it works. although i personally never use a reserve, i don't like them as a buyer myself. And there is a listing fee (no final fee if unsold.) but i can see why some sellers might want to use one to protect the price they want to achieve. And as long as ebay offers them it's their prerogative i suppose. hth!
I've never really gotten the reserve price thing myself. I pretty much always hit the back button.
Sometimes if the seller is new, Ebay will not let them set a higher starting price. It is easy to set a reserve if you start a bid at $0.99 because let's say your shoes sale for way less than what you anticipated, you are not obligated to sale. I just can't stand when you report fakes to ebay, they do not take them down.I still don't get it, lol I watched an auction from start to finish, 6 days, the starting bid at 0.99 with a buy it now for 1200.00. The ending bid was 725.00 but yes you guessed it, the reserve wasn't met. But when I read through the listing they actually stated that their reserve price was $1000.00, lol So why not just start the auction at that price, lol. I'm not an ebay seller so I don't know the reason behind this type of auction but I guess that there is one