Another e-bay question- reserves

[rmiller]

I am trying to understand something about hidden reserves and max bids. Let me know if I am missing something here:

Let's say a glove starts out with a hidden reserve of $100 dollars, with a starting bid of $5 dollars. I bid first that I am willing to pay as much $110 dollars, but it only shows as $5 dollars, correct??

Someone told me today even though I bid that I was willing to pay $110, if other people do not bid, pushing my bid up to the $100 reserve, no one will win it because the reserve is not met, even though I put in an initial bid more than the reserve. Am I making sense?

I am very much an e-bay novice, but this sounded funny to me. Is this correct?

[Centerfield]

If a lot starts at $5 with a $100 reserve and you are the first bidder with $110, it should immediately trigger the reserve price and show your bid at $100 (unless something has recently changed with eBay rules).

On the other hand, if a lot starts at $5 with a $100 reserve and you are the first bidder with $90, it will only show a $5 bid with the reserve not being met.

Hope that helps...

[GloveCrazy]

I think you have to place a second bid against yourself -- higher than the reserve -- to take your bid to the reserve. Rob

[rmiller]

I think you have to place a second bid against yourself -- higher than the reserve -- to take your bid to the reserve. Rob

I guess I just misunderstood my friend who said that even if an initial bid is over the reserve, it still must be pushed up by other bidders to show that the reserve has been met.

My friend (who collects antique cap guns) claims this has happened to him on a number of occasions. And he said the reason he knows is because he has placed an initial bid that did not meet the reserve, and the auction ended up not meeting the reserve. He said he contacted the seller after the auction ended, and asked out of curiosity what the reserve was. Well, my cap gun collecting friend claims to have put in an opening bid higher than the reserve, but since other bidders did not push his bid up, the auction ended as reserve not met. This just does not make sense to me.

Perhaps my friend is missing something.

[GloveCrazy]

I know your friend is correct and I believe I am correct as well. Your initial bid will not go up unless someone else bids. You can be that "someone else" but only if your second bid just happens to be over the reserve. This is helpful when the seller has told you what the reserve is.

[Centerfield]

That must be new with eBay because I have won reserve auctions in the past with one bid, being the only bidder.