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K Pawz GuestJun 17, 2006

Well Cypress's auction ended on eBay, with 8 bids but no one reaching his reserve.....as soon as it ended I had one of my previous clients who was a bidder email me asking if it would be possible to buy him anyways for his reserve price and shipping....just after that I had someone else email me about him but not a bidder on his auction, as well asking the same thing....Has this happened to anyone before, and if so what is the correct way to go about it?????

Another question, I don't like to have a reserve but don't want bears to go for less than they are worth....so if I set a higher start price, and no reserve, does bidding have to start at my start price, or are people able to bid less, and then of course I would have sell for the low price....an example I guess would help...say I had a start price of $50 and no reserve, some one bid $1 and no one else bid, would I have to sell the bear for 1 even though the start price was 50????? sorry for all of the questions I am so new to this selling thing, and want to be able to understand it all......

Thanks everyone

Hugs,
Krista

chris009av Jun 17, 2006

Hi Krista, I can't answer your first question as I have never used the reserve.
But to the second question, I always start my bears off at what I think is the low end of what I would accept for the bear and hope that the bidding gets to a price I am more than happy with.
For example: I put a bear up for say $50.00, the bidding would start then at that price and the next bid would be $50.50 if they only go in 50c increments. If on the other hand the first bidder put in a ceiling of $56 the next bidder would have to bid 50c more ($56.50) to be the highest bidder.

K Pawz GuestJun 17, 2006

thanks Christine, so I guess then that people can't bid lower than the starting bid...is there something that stops them from doing this??

Hugs,
Krista

melissa Jun 17, 2006

Hi Krista

I'm not sure if your first question is to do with which person you should sell the bear to, or whether you should sell off ebay.  If it's to who the  bear should go to then I usually take emails on a first in, first served basis and would sell the bear to the first person wh contacted you.  As for if you should sell off ebay, I had a similar situation....and sold the bear for reserve plus postage.  She had missed the end of the auction due to a server breakdown.  Your auction has legitimately ended on ebay so you aren't breaking there rules.  You have every right to set a price that you think is fair for the bear.

As to your second question - any start price you set is just that  a start price - ebay won't allow anyone to open with a lower bid - when they go to the page to place the bid the start price is already typed in and  they have to bid that price or higher.

I am continually asking myself the reserve versus start price question.  I haven't had a bear on ebay for ages so know I have a lot of groundwork to make up when I do finally get back on there.

Mitch2052 Jun 17, 2006

Dear Krista,
If you want to sell the bear, you can choose to who you would like to offer it. If they have emailed you as soon as the auction ended, perhaps they were watching the auction and should have bid when they had a chance. Maybe having a new customer would be a benefit to you in the long run as they may bid on your future bears.

Cheers Susan

chris009av Jun 17, 2006

Good point Susan.
I did wonder if they did this on purpose, but if that was the case they would risk it going in the bidding.

K Pawz GuestJun 17, 2006

You read my mind Susan, I think that is what frustrates me the most....

Hugs,
Krista