P3D Re: eBay bidding vs reserve price

[Ronald Beck <ronald-beck@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hello all,
Unless the rules have changed recently, for eBay, your proxy bid is only
raised whenever someone else bids on an item.  You do not "compete" with
the seller's reserve price.  As someone previously posted, if the
closing bid does not exceed the reserve price, the seller is not
obligated to sell the item to the winning bidder.

I have had this happen to me before.  I was the high bidder for some
Pokemon characters.  However, because my high bid was not more than the
reserve, I did not win the items at that price.  The seller contacted me
and let me know what his reserve price was and I felt that it was within
my budget and close enough to my maximum bid so I agreed to take the
item for his reserve price.  I, however, was under no obligation to do
so, even if my maximum bid amount had been 2x or 3x his reserve price.

I believe the Yahoo auction site is different in this respect in that if
you bid an amount, you not only compete with the others on the site but
also with the reserve price of the item.  I don't recall for sure as I
don't frequent the Yahoo auction site.  However, if memory serves me, I
bid on one item and watched my bid immediately escalate to the maximum
price.  And, since I was the first bidder, I could only assume I was
competing with the reserve price.  An unfair practice in my opinion.

Regards,
Ron