eBay Q : When to use No Reserve?

I was reading on here and found somebody say that one needs to "Know when (and when not) to use reserve prices" when selling on eBay.

Well, I put some coins on eBay yesterday and all of them are NR. One in particular should be around $2-$3K and currently has a highest bid of $20.50. I know it's only been one day, but this still worries me. I have not used eBay in a long time so I am not sure about how well it is acting as an efficient market in the area of coinage.

All that said, I would assume that NR would be bad for coins that are exceptionally rare and/or hard to find via search. Am I right in this regard? When would you suggest not using NR?

 

Log in or Sign up to hide this ad.

Day #1 performance means nothing. Take a deep breath and relax.

Personally, I use a NR when I know I have a popular coin that will draw lots of interest. If it's something that attracts only a narrow crowd I use a reserve or set an opening price.

Nerve wracking, isn't it? Be patient. Sniping is prevalent and can really turn things around.
Lance.

 

Haha, after you posted that I checked my seller page and it popped up to $91. Progress!

Thanks for your calming words. It definitely is nerve-wracking -- I think I just have to get used to eBay again.

 

P.S. Curiously, what is a common # of watchers at the end of your auctions? Like, on average for coins you deem "draw lots of interest."

 

When I sold some silver about a month ago just before the drop, I would get between 4 and 7 watchers by the end of the auction.

 

Man, I learned to put the start bid up where you are comfortable Selling at. Listing it with a very low start and NR means that it can sell very cheaply and well below market ! My best purchases were items that "slipped through the cracks" as well as my worst sales.

I wish you luck, and since you already have bids, you will have to chew your nails until it's over.

 

Gary has the right idea! always start the item at a comfortable level 50%-75% of what you would
Like to get for it is a good place to start, NR you take a big risk! it,s better not selling it then
Taking a chance and losing allot of money!

 

Geez. Just set your minimum bid and don't play games with a reserve. There are many people who ignore coins with "hidden reserves." This can cost them some serious bidders.

Good luck.

guy

 

I was reading an article in Coin World a while ago about a rare New Jersey copper that sold on Ebay for $105,655.55. but what I found interesting was it sat at $55,000 for a few days and didn't explode in price until the last six seconds of the auction. So I wouldn't worry about it until the auction closes.


I know in the rules it says you're out of luck if you post a link to coin world because you have to pay for it but I found the article by searching on google for "rare new jersey copper" and it came up no problem. I don't have a subscription or log in to coin world. so I hope it's not a dead link for everyone
http://www.coinworld.com/articles/rare-new-jersey-copper-variety-surfaces/

 

Speaking from a buyer's perspective, I absolutely never bid on an item that has a reserve on it. I have no patience for guessing games. As others have already posted, if you want to make sure you get at least a certain price, either make that the opening bid or the buy it now price. When I bid on something and see those dreaded words in blue (Reserve Not Met) appear, my fingers magically hit the back button.

Another thing I have noticed is sellers who offer free shipping tend to get a few more total sales dollars over those who list shipping separately, assuming the buy it now price or the opening bid is not ridiculous.

 

Yeah, I have nothing to compare against but it seems that free shipping / NR / very low starting bid (I usually just do $0.01) causes a lot of action.

 

Haha, but by then it's too late!

 

I've sold a number of coins on eBay. I would say the answer to your question of when to set a reserve is: "it depends." Most of the coins I sold were silver, and I was selling them for their melt value. In that instance, I was selling into a big bull market. I knew my items would sell. I set no reserve because I was fairly certain that they would set for melt value at least.
By selling a popular item, setting no reserve, and running my auctions at seven days, I was able to attract the most bidders. Sure enough, every single coin I listed sold, mostly for around melt, but in some cases, quite a bit more.
The vast majority of the bidding on eBay happens in the last few hours, or even the last few minutes before the auction closes. The coins l listed would often sit with bids of only 1/3-1/2 of melt value up to the last day. Then within an hour of auction close, they would be run up to melt value, usually plus or minus a small percentage.

If you've got a popular product, in my opinion you should stay away from setting a reserve or minimum bid, you'll scare away bidders.
Like Lance stated above, if it's a niche coin with a narrow market, and I had a lot of $ invested in it, I might consider a reserve. But I haven't tried to sell something like that yet.

Let the market tell you what you should sell. You won't have to set a reserve.

 

I have sold on ebay for three years now and never use reserve, In my oppinion if you are gong to use reserve just have it as buy it now.

 

I agree with others. One, with sniping so prevalent you will never know until the end. I have not bought anything on Ebay without a snipe in years. Second, if I see "reserve not met" I ignore the auction. Too many people with unrealistic reserves for me to waste my time. Third, if you put a starting price that I feel is too strong I will ignore as well. Why start at where I might be willing to end up?

Basically, I only bid on low start, no reserve auctions, and a ton of people are like me. Try to get the word out about your auctions, post some links, and hopefully you will have success. Remember that even if half go under what you would have liked, every once in a while one goes completely crazy, evening things out for you.

Good luck.

Chris

 

Lots of interest might be 20+ watchers and a dozen or more bidders. Sometimes it's crazy-high. Sometimes scary low until the last minute. Lots of folks use sniping software and prices spike in the final minute.

I try almost never place a bid until the end of the auction, and always use sniping software to set up the snipe days in advance. My rationale is, I don't want to draw further interest by bidding early. Everyone's curious about that coin that has 25 bidders. This also lets me adjust the price too...I'm not stuck with a dumb bid if I realize it before the snipe is done.

But you will get a lot of different opinions. Some guys say they just set their highest bid early and walk away, e.g. Sounds way to adult to me.
Lance.

 

I think if you have time to snipe, that's the way to go. Does sniping software allow you to monitor items without officially "watching" them on eBay?

P.S. The coin now has 11 watchers, which I think is pretty decent. I think if it wasn't cleaned it would easily have 20+.

Hey Chris -- any recommendations about where to advertise? Besides here, of course.

 

Sort of. I guess it depends on the program. But "watching" is more or less transparent to everyone but the seller so it doesn't really matter. (Wait...is there a way for non-sellers to see how many are watching? I'm not sure. I know ebay sometimes presents that information about certain popular auctions as a way of increasing business. But can you do something to see the number of watchers for any specific coin?)
Lance.

 

I know there used to be a tool that allowed you to see this back in the day. Not sure if it still works.

Regardless, I was just curious because some of my items are getting a decent number of bids but have zilch watchers. Not sure how to interpret that.

Edit: Hells yeah it still works

==> eBay Most Popular Tool

 

+1 and reservse hurt sales. It P's me off but even though you have bidders, you can end your listing and relist the way you want. But, don't wait too long, you can't end it if it's within a certain time from the end.