Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1999/11/24
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]I just sold off a bunch of LTM stuff on eBay and misc. other things. My experience tells me that the most effective way to price an item is to set the reserve limit at the price below which it simply isn't worth selling the thing, the first bid at $1.00 and let it go from there. Everything I sold far exceeded my reserve price (incl. an non-functioning SEI .5 spot--that I'd have been pleased to get $50 for--it went for $370!). I see a lot of reserve prices that appear to be 'market' value, in the sense that folk expect to get what a dealer would for the same item. If you look at past auctions, you'll see that very few items with opening bids near or at their sale value receive *any* bids at all: ie: a used M6 at $1300. It's got something to do with the psychology of auctions, I think. Chandos At 08:24 AM 11/24/1999 -0600, you wrote: >When someone sets up an auction, you have two choices to set the minimum >you'll take for what you're selling; either a minimum first bid, or set a >reserve price. It makes no sense to me to set a mysterious reserve that no >one will know until it reaches that point. Why not just set a minimum first >bid. Chandos Michael Brown Assoc. Prof., History and American Studies College of William and Mary http://www.wm.edu/CAS/ASP/faculty/brown