Recently, a friend asked me about a 1970 Mustang auction he has running on eBay Motors. He’d received several bids and was waiting through the stagnant time between the initial rush and the final rush of bidders. He asked when (and if) he should consider sharing the reserve price, or lowering the reserve.

First, should you share your reserve price with bidders? This is the most commonly asked question on eBay Motors reserve auctions. There are two schools of thought on that. Bidders like when they know the reserve so they don’t waste time when it’s out of their reach. They also find out if it IS within reach and they’ll stay tuned. That is one of the best arguments to give out the reserve price. I’ve even included it at the bottom of a listing to see if it makes a difference. I have not found any real difference, positive or negative…except one…

…the second school of thought is to refuse to give the reserve price to anyone. I have definitely seen situations (primarily with vehicles) where a buyer was given the reserve price and waited to bid till the very end of the auction. Then they bid right at the reserve and win the auction. That’s fair, however as a seller I would rather just ask sincere bidders to bid what they could afford and what they thought the vehicle was worth. When I do that I see much better results. Often the reserve price is met and two bidders raise the price accordingly in a good old-fashioned auction.

So how do you answer the question, “What’s Your Reserve?”
Once the reserve has been met, bidders can see clearly what it will take to own the vehicle and bid accordingly. I prefer now to simply ask people to bid what they can for the item. I tell them it’s to be fair to all bidders (including those who haven’t asked for the reserve amount.)

If you answer the “what’s your reserve” question through My Messages (in your My eBay page), you can post the answer to your listing along with your response. This helps cut down on future questions.