[rescue] Cheap U1/170E w/monitor on eBay

[Loomis, Rip]

*Most* auctions for expensive items in the
brick-and-mortar auction houses have a reserve
price set--it works well to allow a seller to
test the waters without giving away an
expensive item.

In my experience eBay is so unpredictable that
a reserve probably hurts as much as it helps.
It allows you to set a $1.00 initial bid without
worrying that someone will get a $99 discount
on an item worth $100, but it also scares away
a lot of potential bidders.  Some people, though,
will keep bidding on something with a low
starting value just to see what the reserve is,
or because they honestly think that they're going
to get a great deal.  The times that I've sold
things on eBay for much more than it was worth,
though, the key thing didn't seem to be the
starting price (or the reserve/lack of reserve)--
it was just a question of getting at least two
fools to bid against each other.  Sad but true.

Since eBay added the "buy it now" price, it sort
of allows you to figure out the reserve price--
my guess is that the reserve on this system is
$375 as well.  At $325 for a U1/170E/C3D system
plus $50 for a 20D10, that seems like a good
deal to me...

--
Rip Loomis
Brainbench MVP for Internet Security
http://www.brainbench.com (Transcript 1923411)



> -----Original Message-----
> From: Michael S. Schiller [mailto:schiller at agrijag.com]
[[SNIP]]
> Hey, can anyone explain to me what the purpose of a reserve on an ebay
> auctions is? For the life of me I can't figure it out. I mean, if you
> want to get at least 250 out of something why not list it's 
> starting bid
> at 250, rather than at $1.00 with a 250 reserve? When I see auctions
> with a reserve that's not met, I don't look any further!