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Help with Ebay reserve prices
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Posted by: George

OK, I'm confused. Here is an example:

Starting price is 35 with a reserve not yet met (fair enough)
I bid 40.
Result is a current bid of 35 (me) but reserve still not met.

So is the reserve more than 40 (in which case why didn't it jump to a current price of 40)?

Is it less than 40 (in which case why didn't it jump to the reserve)?

Hmmmm

George

Posted by: cwaring

Taking your scenario...

Assume I now bid on the item. I bid more than 35 but less than *your* highest bid of 40. Every time I place a bid (assuming say a 50p increment) I am told that I have been outbid. This is because you have said that you are prepared to pay UP TO 40.

However, if instead I immediately bid 41 or more then *I* become the higest bidder.

I think the idea is that you start by putting your absolute maximum bid in and, unless someone else bids higher than you, you will win the auction but not nesessarily have to pay your maximum bid. If you see what I mean :)

The reserve price doesn't come into it.

It's all explained here.

Posted by: George

quote:
Originally posted by cwaring
Taking your scenario...

Assume I now bid on the item. I bid more than 35 but less than *your* highest bid of 40. Every time I place a bid (assuming say a 50p increment) I am told that I have been outbid. This is because you have said that you are prepared to pay UP TO 40.

However, if instead I immediately bid 41 or more then *I* become the higest bidder.

I think the idea is that you start by putting your absolute maximum bid in and, unless someone else bids higher than you, you will win the auction but not nesessarily have to pay your maximum bid. If you see what I mean :)

The reserve price doesn't come into it.

It's all explained here.

I understand the priniciple of proxy bidding, I just didn't understand why it didn't go to my maximum to try and reach the reserve price, the critical bit is on the page you quoted:

"In Reserve Price Auctions, if your maximum bid is the first to be greater than the seller's reserve price, the eBay system will automatically jump the price up to meet the reserve, and bidding will continue from there"

So, the reserve must be more than 40. Seems odd, I'd have expected it to jump straight to 40 and still say reserve not met... But it is working as designed I suppose - I just wouldn't have designed it that way!

Posted by: cyril

Yes, I think it's silly too.

Posted by: cwaring

quote:
Originally posted by George
"In Reserve Price Auctions, if your maximum bid is the first to be greater than the seller's reserve price, the eBay system will automatically jump the price up to meet the reserve, and bidding will continue from there"

Ahh. See, I didn't know that :D

Posted by: pauljs

My guess is that the reserve price doesn't affect the bidding process. Only lets you know when it's reached after you have gone past it.