EBAY question (showing my ignorance)

[Richard]

I have an item listed on EBAY. I"ve received several requests asking what my reserve is.

Why?

If "I'M" in their shoes, I pick my bid price & forget it, I either get it or I don't.

Other than just being nosy, why would it matter to them? if my price is set artifically LOW, they might bid above it and "pay too much"??

If it's set too high (which is more likely in my case), they might not bid on it, "just to show me"???

I'm totally lost.

I have an email I'm pending on answering, depending on the response given here.

They also asked me about shipping costs to Tiawan...hmm... any thoughts about sending anything OUT of the country? (import/export issues??) I'll NOT do anything until cleared cash is in my hand, so those from Nigeria (?) can try all they want /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

(I live in a Rural area /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif )

Richard

 

[fenneran]

Richard,
Probably just trying to see if they should bother. Many people bid on items hoping to get them real cheap and turn around and re-sell them agin for the "right" price. If your reserve is at or above its true value, its not worth them watching the auction. If you think your reserve is fair (which I assume), then I would have no problem is revealing it to an interested buyer. I have done that in the past. If your reserve is at the "premium" price, then maybe not. Auctions are a funny thing. I listed a book one time and I wanted to get $20 for it. So I set the initial bid at $15 and got zero bids. I re-listed the book starting at $1.00 and put a $20 reserve on it. It got bid up to $30. Go figure.
-Frank

 

[Richard]

interesting.

Item is a camera lens that I once saw go for over 3,000 & my reserve is 2,300 , I'll let them know.

Thanks

Richard

 

[SageBrush]

I give out my reserve price, some even put it in the listing. It lets the bidder know if its in their intrest to bid at all.

Shipping out of country is not a big deal. Insure it, track it, make sure that the item is legal to import. Most of the time you'll need two copies of all the forms inside the box. USPS has online info. UPS is the most trouble free on items of high value, they have insurance on international packages. UPS is also quicker to most countries (because of customs). Global Priority from the P.O. is a great option for small items. I think the P.O. has one that you can insure now and track. Also, UPS and others may charge a customs handling fee. USPS does not.

Make sure international payments clear 100% before shipping. I tend to request money orders in US finds only and wait for them to clear. Very trouble free.

I ship around the world. No problems. Just got a package from Japan, took three days! /forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif

 

[tc35dforme]

Hey Richard...I'm not a huge EBAYer, but have about 10-12 purchases under my belt.

Many people look on Ebay for bargains ( as I do ! ). When they see a reserve sale, they figure there will be no bargain ( because the seller knows the value and can wait for it ). Your 'fishers' may be just trying to decide if its worth their time to bid. If you set the reserve too high, you will really limit the bidders. I see the reserve as protection on high value items with limited market appeal. You want to be sure you don't have to sell a $ 500 item for $ 25, just because there wasn't much interest. Try setting your starting bid high enough and eliminate the reserve.

The way I see it, If you want to bid, bid...if you don't, don't. I always look at an item, decide on my highest bid, and go with that. The Ebay system will make sure that I pay the lowest possible price for the item up to my max.

As for shipping cost..that's no mystery....anyone of the shipping companies have calcuulators on their web sites to estimate cost.

I don't know about overseas shipping. Maybe you need to talk to someone at UPS / FEDex / or someone like that.

 

[tc35dforme]

Boy you guys type too fast....when I started there were no responses !!! /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif /forums/images/graemlins/smirk.gif

 

[Inspector507]

I had a tractor on Ebay for awhile. I got a lot of e-mails asking what my reserve was. I usually responded truthfully. But I also kept getting e-mails asking if I'd accept $2000 on a $3000 reserve....??
Gotta love 'em

 

[Gatorboy]

Personally, I don't like reserve price auctions -- I never sell anything with a reserve and don't normally even bid on those type of auctions. You might as well do a Buy It Now at the price you want.

I find by starting an item (unless you have some unique type of thing) at a very low price, you get alot of bidders -- and ultimately end up with a bidders war -- which is what you want. What happens is that people see the large number of bids on an item and think, "Wow, this must be a great deal." There is alot of mind games to be played using eBay.

Someone asking your reserve usually is fairly interested in your item. Say you have a reserve of $500 and this guy is in the dark to your reserve price, but truely wants it. He puts an initial bid in of $475 and it has not hit the reserve, but he is high bidder and the current bid is at say $150. He sits all week as high bidder (but not at reserve) and wins the auction with no one else bidding to increase the bid price. You certainly are not going to sell it to him at $150, but you may have if you knew he bid $450 -- and he may have bid $500 if he knew your reserve price.

Does this make any sense?

Bottom line, I would email him your reserve.

 

[Gatorboy]

<font color="blue"> The way I see it, If you want to bid, bid...if you don't, don't. I always look at an item, decide on my highest bid, and go with that. The Ebay system will make sure that I pay the lowest possible price for the item up to my max.
</font>

This is exactly what eBay WANTS you to do.

If you like to pay more than you have to on an item, place your largest bid early and drive the price UP through the proxy bidding. However, if you want to save money, take up sniping.

Example:

Scenario #1
Imagine a typical 7-day auction: It's Jane and Clyde all the way to the end! Jane opens the bidding on Day 1 for $50 while her Proxy (MAX) is $110. Clyde finds the same auction the next day and decides that $100 is all he wants to pay for the item. Clyde keeps bidding up the price by $10 until he gets to $100 and through the proxy bidding, Jane is still high bidder now with $102.50 (Bid increment of $2.50). No one else bids for the rest of the auction and Jane wins the item for $102.50.

Scenario #2 - Sniper
Clyde found the auction just like in the first example and so did Sniper Jane. Because Jane is now a Sniper, she does not open the bidding. Now Clyde opens the bidding with $50, and he sits on the auction as high bidder all week, Sniper Jane went on with her life. Sniper Jane is no fool and, she waits for the end of the auction. With 10 seconds remaining, Sniper Jane enters her maximum bid of $110. She wins the auction for the $52.50 (the minimum bid increment imposed by Ebay's system) over the $50 because by waiting until the end of the auction to bid, she offered Clyde no opportunity to come back and bid again. Sniper Janes gets the same product but SAVES $50!

 

[Richard]

Have mailed him my reserve price, told him did'nt know about shipping, we'd cross that bridge if / when necessary. NOW I might email him back & tell him I'll use UPS and he can check with UPS locally to get a "flavor" of what they say. With of course, all details pending the actual transaction.

This thread DID fill up fast, I walked out & returned and whammo.

Are you all at work like I am or just taking breathers from smelling diesel? /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

The camera lens is a special edition made roughly 20 years ago. They (Carl Zeiss of Germany) made 1,000 of them. 500 destined for the US market and 500 for the world market. They ran another 1,000 of them off 10 years ago. So, as far as I know, there are no more than 2,000 (so says Zeiss) of these running around for 20 years. Add in some drops, and maybe they are down to 1,995 /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif.

So, it's not an impossible thing to find, but I've stumbled into the understanding that it's pretty hard to find one too.

That's why it's for sale, I saw one sell on ebay couple years ago for roughly $3,250 as I recall... and I just CAN'T see myself being comfortable toting a breakable piece of glass around my neck that 'might' fetch that kinda cheese. Heck, I only paid $860 or so for it. (20 years ago money).

My thinking is, I"ve had a fine piece of glass for 20 years, I'll let someone else enjoy it if they WANT it /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Richard