Greets...

I find it irksome that so many online auctions are "hijacked" by dealers who are just selling new stuff at or near regular prices. This to me is NOT an auction, especially with all the "buy it now"s, high minimum/opening bid, and reserves. A real auction to me is something along the lines of:

"Bought this Super Hyped Mystery X product for $200... wasn't what I expected because... opening bid: $50"

or

"Classic Such & Such Illusion, used, still in good condition... new one costs $X00"...

I don't want to waste my time looking for the "good" stuff wading through dozens of ads for current products... perhaps the auction site(s) could break down sales into "dealers" or "commercial sellers" vs. "individuals", or "new" v. "used"...

Joe

I know this is an older thread, but I just found it. I participate in a lot of auctions and must confess that they are a lot of fun, especially the ones that are more competitive. There is some satisfaction that comes with winning an item that you've been looking for for awhile, and get for less than you thought you would have to pay for it. I do agree with your question regarding reserves and have always wondered why there is a minimum bid that is often way below the reserve. Why not just have the minimum bid be the reserve. Really odd. Can anyone explain the logic or strategy to me on this? Maybe I'm just naive.

I cannot explain that and have wondered about it myself.

On another thought, I find it crazy that they offer an item at a low price, say a dvd for starting at $1.99 but the shipping is $29.95 !!!

I've been doing a decent amount of eBay'ing and yeah, all of these tactics are annoying. Being an early adopter, I learned some of these lessons the hard way, but hopefully there are various resources out there to warn people about not necessarily deceptive or "wrong" tactics, but just the common pitfalls. I know I warn friends regularly about it.

The thing that really gets me is the people with multiple accounts upping bids for their own items, or having friends do it.

I suggest you make sure you know what you would consider "a deal" as if you were in a flea market, and if the price goes over that, bail. Most people get emotional about the auctions (I know I have too) and make it a competition, and finally when you win the item, you say "what did I just do?" which defeats the purpose all along! (and this is just what the sellers and eBay are counting on - that's why it's an auction rather than just an online garage sale).

I personally never use Reserve prices. I use a starting bid and a buy-it-now (at times). I think reserve is stupid, quite frankly....

I've gotten some really good deals on eBay, but you have to be careful and read all the fine print. Sellers that charge absorbant prices for shipping and reserve items I avoid.

Ebay is taking action against people who have exorbitant shipping and handling prices.

I bought a product on ebay and found it was used after... some magicians are getting rid of their stalling..

I very high percentage of magic items (used) sold on Ebay or any auction are items not wanted or needed by previous magicians... Some terrible items, some others just different performing styles from those of the sellers... It is better to look for know items that you have seen before... just to avoid any surprise... but of course... if you get burned... you can always return it to the Ebay community... at least that is the general process.

The purpose of low opening bids but higher reserves is to generate those early bids from folks who hope for a bargain. This is why the reserves are kept secret...to keep you upping your bid. Also, the fees are calculated partly on the opening bid amount. My fee for an expensive whizbang, opening at $200 and selling for $50 would be higher than an auction opening for $5.00 and selling for $50.

This could be dated info, as I notice that they now ding you to death for everything. They might have leveled the field.

...make that $45, selling for $50...makes more sense.