Quote:
Originally Posted by electroking
Because many bidders are not interested in an auction unless there
is a chance of getting the item for a price below the fair market value.
An early Motorola color TV recently sold for nearly $10K on Ebay
(there is a thread on these forums), and the initial bid was set at
$9.99. If the seller had asked for a starting price of $1000 or so,
the item might not have sold or the high bid might have been lower.
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Sure, I get that, but I've seen plenty where few bid because there is an unknown reserve. Like that Natalie Kalmus last week. Once there's an initial bid and the reserve isn't met, often no one else bothers to bid because it becomes clear that they aren't going to get it cheap.
There was also an instance where I really wanted an item and the bidding just didn't reach his reserve. I had to contact the seller and have him re-list with a 'buy-it-now' option for the reserve amount to finally get it.