Reserve Prices are Such a Waste of Time

[Peter_Suciu]

I really can't understand people using "reserve" prices in auctions - whether it is eBay or GunBroker. I'm watching an item on GunBroker that started at $2500 and it is now up to $6500 and the reserve isn't met. And GunBroker doesn't allow bid retractions - which I'm not ashamed to say I've used on eBay to bid $100,000 and then cancel as a mistake. That allows me to find the reserve, which can also alert the other potential bidders.

Seriously, I get that the item could be expensive, but this just wastes everyone's time in my opinion.

[Lars13]

Fully agree; if you have a minimum that you want to receive for your item, then use that as the starting price

[b.loree]

I really appreciate those sellers that start at a low minimum or none. To me this creates excitement in your auction and should increase bidding???

[chinstrap]

I agree with everybody. I’ve never seen the point of using a reserve. It annoys me and puts me off bidding. Just put the minimum acceptable as the starting price!

Patrick

[stuka f]

....sometimes there is no animo for one reason or a other, then your glad you did put a reserve on your item...
I am of course talking about reasonable reserves!