P3D Re: eBay auctions

[Linda Nygren <lnygren@xxxxxxx>]

George A. Themelis wrote:
> 
> Rod Sage <rsage@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> 
> >The reason I thought the reserve was $2500 is that the
> >bidding took a uge leap from $300 to $2500, which means
> >that either the reserve was $2500...
> 
> That's not correct Rod... If the reserve is $2500 and
> someone places a maximum bid of $3000 then the bid will not
> go to $2500.  It will go to the next increment, which might
> be $301.  It will stay below the reserve unless if bidding
> from two parties brings it above it.

That used to be the case, George, but the reserve bidding rules changed
sometime back (seems like about a year ago, but I am not sure) such that
only *one* bidder has to go above the reserve. Essentially you are
bidding against the seller's reserve. I have personally "won auctions"
by going just over the reserve when there was no other bidder even
close, so I am sure that this is the current system. (Unless it changed
again recently, of course). It makes sense that if the bidder is willing
to pay the reserve, they shouldn't need another bidder to complete the
auction. Really the reserve is just a concealed minimum bid. 

So it still takes two people with an overinflated (by previous market
standards) idea of the "value" of an item to get up to these overly high
prices often commented on here; it is just that one of them can be the
seller with a high reserve rather than two buyers. -Linda