While some of this may apply in other areas I am here concerned with vintage photographic images under collectibles. Often sellers, usually fairly new to the game, list vintage photographs and photo albums with either a reserve or a high opening bid. Frankly, both discourage the serious collectors. Particularly if the seller appears to be new prospective bidders, often rightly, assume a reserve will be high. In this area of collecting there is a strong demand. And the more specialized, such as Civil War images, the greater the demand. Any seller can be fairly certain of a good return by starting such items at a low opeing bid. And it is also wise on the part of the seller to describe such images to the best of their own knowledge and to make no assumptions - such as maybe it is a certain form of photographic image if you are not certain. Rest assured the knowledgeable bidders will inform you of any errors and often will give you much needed information about your listing which can further improve your prospects. One example: Too often sellers use such terms as Civil War era to cover items that may be, in fact, twenty or thirty years after the war and hardly connected to that conflict. The Civil War lasted from 1861 to 1865. CDVs of that era were of a thinner board and usually with one or two borders around the albumen photograph which is laid on a CDV card. tintypes are much more difficult to date if there is no other indication of age. Cabinet cards cannot be of Civil War date as they did not come into existence until 1866. And all photographs prior to about 1893 were professionally shot. The first personal cameras only came out in the 1890s which created a new and different field of photographic collecting.