Reserve price auctions

[RKGIBSON]

In looking at the auction I would like you to consider one thing. Items with a reserve price should be flagged as such. I beleive if a item has a reserve price that should be disclosed up front. I make my bids based on how much money I have to spend at that time. If I am bidding on a big ticket item, I will not bid on other items due to that. If I know the reserve has not been met I would continue bidding on other things.

Personally, I think the first bid on a item with a reserve should be the amount that meets that reserve. If a item has a $5000.00 reserve and you get 6 bids that amount to $3000.00, or you get no bids at $5000.00 you get the same result. The item does not sell, the auction makes no money and the seller gets the item back. If you get one bid at the reserve amount everyone gets what they want. I think it is the most honest way. I get no pleasure out of bidding on a item then at the end being told it did not met the reserve, especially when I did not know it existed.

The only other way I think it could be done is to flag the auction as a reserve. Proceed as normal. Let bidders enter a ceiling bid that would allow the auction house, at the end of the auction, to raise the bid to the reserve amount, if that amount is not met. If you have more than one person entering reserves it would advance normally.

I think the easy way is the best, make the first bid the amount that will buy the item. At the least we need to know a item has a reserve. Maybe I think different that others. I am interested to hear everyone elses thoughts on this.

Roger

[ChrisCavalier]

Re: Reserve price auctions

In looking at the auction I would like you to consider one thing. Items with a reserve price should be flagged as such.

Hello Roger,

Thank you for your question. Here is an excerpt from the terms and conditions of the auction that are available on the bottom of every page in the “GUU Auctions” tab as well as in the registration area:

Each lot will be set up with a minimum bid amount. In certain instances there may be a reserve set for a given item. However, unlike some auctions where bidders are not aware during the bidding process that reserves exist, if there is a reserve on an item the item will be clearly identified as having a reserve. This is completely consistent with Game Used Universe's goal to fully disclose all information during the auction process and not have situations where bidders are unaware of "hidden" reserves. It should also be noted that our goal is to have all items sell in the auction. Therefore, if we do allow a reserve on an item it can be expected that the reserve is set at an acceptable level relative to current market values.

I will add a couple of points here to make sure everyone fully understands the intention behind the process:

1) We totally understand the point you made in your post, we also hate bidding in auctions where we don’t know if an item has a hidden reserve. That is why we make it clear when there is a reserve on an item in our auction (I explain how in point #2 below). We are trying to be as transparent as possible so potential bidders don’t have to worry if an item is being “pushed up” to try to get the bid to a certain amount. While I am not saying this happens elsewhere, we have heard this concern from some collectors. We run an honest auction and we want everyone to know that is the case.

2) Any item with a reserve that has not been met has the words “Reserve Not Met” listed right under the current bid on the lot detail page. We are also in the process of adding the same verbiage - “Reserve Not Met” - to the Lot search/browsing pages to those Lots that have reserves not met. In addition, all the bid confirmation notifications will let bidders know if the there is a reserve on the item that has not been met when their bid is placed. We are doing everything we can to make sure bidders know when reserves exist.

3) In the spirit of being as transparent as possible, I will say we allowed reserves because we understand this is our first auction and some consignors want to make sure they will receive at least a certain minimum price. We have no doubt our auctions will be the place serious bidders come for legitimate merchandise as our model gets more and more visibility. However, we try to be fair with everyone we deal with which is why we allowed reserves for some consignors. It is not to prevent items from being sold. Obviously, it is not to GUU’s advantage if that were to happen. That is why we said we feel the reserves we allowed are set at levels that are consistent with reasonable values for the items.

Please let me know if that answers your question. Once again, we have designed everything to make it conducive to the needs of everyone involved. As always, we want everyone to understand everything about what we are doing and never have to have questions in their minds when they participate in GUU activities.

Sincerely,
Chris Cavalier

[steeltownjerseys]

Re: Reserve price auctions

Please let me know the point of a reserve. If a seller is only willing to take a certain minimum price for an item, why wouldn't you just start the bidding there??

[RKGIBSON]

Re: Reserve price auctions

Chris,

I do see the reserve notice now.

I would like to see some mechanizm where the high bidder would have the option to pay the reserve if it is not met. Maybe for 24 hours have the option to accept the reserve.

Roger

[ChrisCavalier]

Re: Reserve price auctions

Please let me know the point of a reserve. If a seller is only willing to take a certain minimum price for an item, why wouldn't you just start the bidding there??

Thanks for the question. The point of using a reserve on certain items is to allow for bidders to determine their own level of what they are willing to bid without it being mandated by the auction house. It is no different than when reserves are used on eBay. It is also used in some live auction formats although the bidder on the floor usually does not know they are bidding against a reserve. If you are interested in an item you can enter the amount you are comfortable bidding and you will then be able to see if it matches what the seller is willing to sell it for.

It also allows for bidder information to be gathered if the reserve is not met. For example, Roger's idea of allowing the high bidder the option to accept the reserve within 24 hours after the close is one that may well be incorporated.

Please feel free to let me know if you have any other questions.

Sincerely,
Chris

[CollectGU]

Re: Reserve price auctions

Personally, I think that opening bids in any aucton on items should be the reserves. Why are there so many reserves in this auction? It takes away from the whole auction process. I think that the consignors should have been told that this is an auction format and there is risk involved, and shouldn't have been gven the option....Who chose the reserves? How high are the reserves? How were they determined? Why bother bidding if a consignor demanded and possibly received an unrealistic reserve price? Here is an idea, Why not simply REVEAL THE RESERVE PRICES and let bidders choose if they are interested instead of creating an artificially inflated bidding processs..SHOW THE BIDDERS THE RESERVES SO WE CAN DECIDE IF WE ARE WASTING OUR TIME FOLLOWING SOME OF THE THE AUCTIONS!!!

Regards,
Dave

[ChrisCavalier]

Re: Reserve price auctions

Hello Dave,

You can very simply submit the amount you are willing to bid and you will know immediately if the amount meets the reserve. It is very simple, requires very little time and is no different than established venues such as eBay.

Sincerely,
Chris

[steeltownjerseys]

Re: Reserve price auctions

I appreciate your response, but it seems like "sport bidding". why bother bidding on an item that isn't going to sell. Your rationale makes sense, but in the same vain, why would a potential bidder go through the process of registering and bidding if they know the item they want is not within their reach? I understand Ebay does it, but I think everyone agrees that Ebay has some flaws. I say make it a true auction, where if an item has bids it is going to sell. thanks for your time