Should MA implement an auction reserve?

[Phobia]

Simple poll, yes, no, or undecided.

Adding info from a later post:

I got this information directly from the eBay website, it should explain things more clearly.

A reserve price is a tool sellers can use to stimulate bidding on their auction-style item while reserving the right not to sell below a price they have in mind.

Many sellers have found that too high a starting price discourages interest in their item, while an attractively low starting price makes them vulnerable to selling at an unsatisfactorily low price. A reserve price helps with this.

A reserve price is the lowest price at which you are willing to sell your item. If a bidder does not meet that price, you're not obligated to sell your item. You set your reserve price, as well as a starting price, when you list your item.

The reserve price is not disclosed to bidders, but they will be told that your auction has a reserve price and whether or not the reserve has been met.

Leave the reserve price field blank if you don't want to use a reserve price.

If you will notice, the seller is not required to set a reserve price, it is an option they can choose, much like the Buyout option that we currently have.

Also, if a reserve price is not met, that means that nobody viewing the item was willing to pay that amount, whatever it may be, for the item. In general, this helps sellers get a better grasp on what their item is worth, and what to set their next reserve price at.

I hope this bit of info will help clear up any uncertainties involving this Poll.

*EDIT* I figure I'll throw in some information on "Proxy" bidding as well.

1. When you place a bid, you enter the maximum amount you'd be willing to pay for the item. Your maximum amount is kept confidential from other bidders and the seller.
2. The eBay system compares your bid to those of the other bidders.
3. The system places bids on your behalf, using only as much of your bid as is necessary to maintain your high bid position (or to meet the reserve price). The system will bid up to your maximum amount.
4. If another bidder has a higher maximum, you'll be outbid. BUT, if no other bidder has a higher maximum, you win the item. And you could pay significantly less than your maximum price!
This means you don't have to keep coming back to re-bid every time another bid is placed.

To simplify that statement, Proxy bidding is like an automatic bidding system. It can save buyers alot of money by preventing them from over-bidding. You set the maximum price that you're willing to pay for the item (much like a reserve price), and when you are out-bid by another person, the system will automatically place the minimum required amount to reclaim you as the highest bidder. If someone bids higher than your maximum price, you will be outbid.

Ok, last thing, I swear! This gives an explanation of "Shill" bidding. I just love information

Shill bidding is the deliberate use of secondary registrations, aliases, family members, friends, or associates to artificially drive up the bid price of an item. (This is also known as "bid padding.")

 

[The Mighty]

I think they should, but I think its okay. Just don't put things in auction at a price lower than you want to risk it selling for.

 

[Phobia]

I think it would be a better safety feature than "Are you sure you want to sell this item?" I know several people who simply were not paying attention, and set prices the wrong way, and it was already too late once they had realized it. All a reserve price does is protect the seller from losing money on the deal.

I think it's something MA should look into, as this game already has alot of security behind it.

*EDIT* Also, a reserve price would keep alot of people from feeling the need to make another avatar or asking a friend to bid on the item.

 

[Etopia]

what you mean by reserve price?

 

[Phobia]

Reserve Price, as in a price that is set by the seller, and hidden to the buyer. It is a price that bidding MUST reach before the item can sell. If the item does not hit the reserve price, it is not sold on auction and is returned to the seller.

 

[SIBUK]

I vote yes, BUT it should clearly state on the auction when an item has a reserve on it. Also I think they should add that proxy bidding like on e-bay (It is proxy bidding? I forget) where you say ok, I want to bid up to a max of 1000 peds, and then each time you get outbid on the items, the system automaticall bids again for you upto a max of 1k peds

In fact, I think they should have a whole seperate auction that is e-bay style whereby the auction ends the second the time runs out rather than adding 5 mins on to the time with each bid. Then let people choose which auction to use

 

[Avery]

No. Opening bid = reserve; if people don't want to use it, then too bad

I always use opening bad as reserve and I've never been disappointed.

 

[Phobia]

I agree with everything you said SIBUK.

Avery, there's no cons to having a reserve price, it simply gives the seller a safer way to sell their item. Setting the opening bid to 1 PED on an item is almost garaunteed to start a "Bidding War", which usually raises the price that the item is sold for.

 

[Gruye]

I too think proxy bidding would be an awesome idea... also, i wanna be able to bidsnipe! (like i do on ebay lol), where in the last minute of auction, you place your bid and outbid someone and if they arent fast enough, you win the auction.... atm it just adds 5min onto every bid at the end of the auc... so you cant bidsnipe

 

[Outlander]

I agree with avery on this, if you wish to start a bidding war then you risk the item selling for a price you were not expecting.

 

[The Beast]

I vote yes, BUT it should clearly state on the auction when an item has a reserve on it. Also I think they should add that proxy bidding like on e-bay (It is proxy bidding? I forget) where you say ok, I want to bid up to a max of 1000 peds, and then each time you get outbid on the items, the system automaticall bids again for you upto a max of 1k peds

In fact, I think they should have a whole seperate auction that is e-bay style whereby the auction ends the second the time runs out rather than adding 5 mins on to the time with each bid. Then let people choose which auction to use

Yup, this is the way forward. Also allows people to Proxy so when they are not at home they can still pop thier max bid on and not lose out where they may have won. Its of benefit to both buyer and seller.

 

[Madmanxtra]

NO - prices are mostly overpriced on auction anyway so if you need to squeeze every penny out of an item just set the min price to what you want saves time and saves the trouble for ma. (since it will be trouble ) ive never liked a trader that says one price but want another fair clean fast deal thats how i work :O

 

[Phobia]

I agree that prices are way over-inflated. However, this system would really be no different than what we have now, just that people would not have to break the EULA to sell things.

Items are to sell in PE right now, people do not have the courage to set the price of their item too high, and often times they end up losing quite a bit. A reserve would serve two purposes:
1) Reduce the amount of people breaking the EULA by buying things with secondary avatars
2) Allow people to sell their items at auction, without the worry that the item will sell for 20 PED when it's worth 200 PED on the market.

 

[Etopia]

i really dont like the reserve.
seller can hidde the reserve... so evryone start at 1 ped... but risk =0.when auction end you dont know if you win or if you was in reserve.people can set a start price if they dont whant to take risk.
but you reserve it just something to create bid war until reach a crazy amount , because buyer is bored to all be in reserve.
it up to seller to be aware of price and same for buyer .
if you whant start at 1 then take risk ...

also near evryone in game got en second avatar or an friends that can bid on item, when it become to mutch risky...
reserve wont avoid specalator , just alow then to use som new hidden method to rease the price.

 

[Phobia]

Actually, part of the rule system for having a reserve price is letting the buyer know that there IS a reserve price!

Almost forgot to add, the auction can state whether the reserve has or has not been met

 

[Etopia]

i am really curious to know what is good in that system , without seller feel secure as if he had put a start.

god know how human are imaginative to create the worst.

and i allready see people creating auction with let say adj V1 start bid 1 ped , secure 20k , just to see people steuck their ped in a auction that they wont win bacause noone will reatch the secure..

i am pretty shure there billion other crap stuff to do with it...
i agree to get the crap if the god worth it.so explain me what is the good part , because i see any

 

[Phobia]

Further Explanation

I got this information directly from the eBay website, it should explain things more clearly.

A reserve price is a tool sellers can use to stimulate bidding on their auction-style item while reserving the right not to sell below a price they have in mind.

Many sellers have found that too high a starting price discourages interest in their item, while an attractively low starting price makes them vulnerable to selling at an unsatisfactorily low price. A reserve price helps with this.

A reserve price is the lowest price at which you are willing to sell your item. If a bidder does not meet that price, you're not obligated to sell your item. You set your reserve price, as well as a starting price, when you list your item.

The reserve price is not disclosed to bidders, but they will be told that your auction has a reserve price and whether or not the reserve has been met.

Leave the reserve price field blank if you don't want to use a reserve price.

If you will notice, the seller is not required to set a reserve price, it is an option they can choose, much like the Buyout option that we currently have.

Also, if a reserve price is not met, that means that nobody viewing the item was willing to pay that amount, whatever it may be, for the item. In general, this helps sellers get a better grasp on what their item is worth, and what to set their next reserve price at.

I hope this bit of info will help clear up any uncertainties involving this Poll.

*EDIT* I figure I'll throw in some information on "Proxy" bidding as well.

1. When you place a bid, you enter the maximum amount you'd be willing to pay for the item. Your maximum amount is kept confidential from other bidders and the seller.
2. The eBay system compares your bid to those of the other bidders.
3. The system places bids on your behalf, using only as much of your bid as is necessary to maintain your high bid position (or to meet the reserve price). The system will bid up to your maximum amount.
4. If another bidder has a higher maximum, you'll be outbid. BUT, if no other bidder has a higher maximum, you win the item. And you could pay significantly less than your maximum price!
This means you don't have to keep coming back to re-bid every time another bid is placed.

To simplify that statement, Proxy bidding is like an automatic bidding system. It can save buyers alot of money by preventing them from over-bidding. You set the maximum price that you're willing to pay for the item (much like a reserve price), and when you are out-bid by another person, the system will automatically place the minimum required amount to reclaim you as the highest bidder. If someone bids higher than your maximum price, you will be outbid.

Ok, last thing, I swear! This gives an explanation of "Shill" bidding. I just love information

Shill bidding is the deliberate use of secondary registrations, aliases, family members, friends, or associates to artificially drive up the bid price of an item. (This is also known as "bid padding.")

 

[Devil Doll]

Phobia, the con to a reserve in my opinion is that I would have to wade through a crapload of items that may have a reserve higher than I am willing to pay. Also, my bids and ped would be tied up in these auctions for no reason.

I say no way jose...

DD

 

[Etopia]

thanks for all that info

but i really whant to get opinion from people who use it on ebay or what ever.
because i still dont see good things in that "improved aution"
but DD think like me , i will bother read tons auction bid evrywhere , and steuck my ped.
i prefer try my chance if seller put 1 ped start , or find item that meet the price i whant.

 

[Svetlana]

Phobia, the con to a reserve in my opinion is that I would have to wade through a crapload of items that may have a reserve higher than I am willing to pay. Also, my bids and ped would be tied up in these auctions for no reason.

I say no way jose...

DD

i must agree with my husband... I've been doing that too much lately
I think in an ebay type it's fine, but on PE it would indeed tie up ped. I prefer to just have ppl be careful about setting a starting bid and go from there

 

[Dirk]

Reserve prices are unnecessary.

Ebay has better search facilities than the PE auction, let's imagine you are looking for a cheap car,so you search for the car and tell it to show you auctions between $0 and $500.

The results are lots of auctions for $1 with reserve prices in the thousands, useless to you. PE has enough spam without adding more.

I dont use reserves on ebay, I wont use them in PE.

 

[Phobia]

Very true, Dirk. Point taken.

 

[Crys]

proxy/automatic bidding, yes

reserve prices, no.

proxy bidding handled by the system wouldnt chew much resources and make alot of ppl happy. how many of you have missed an item ending on auction because you were at work or whatever?

reserve price points would just make more trouble tho, so no thanks =D

 

[Samantha Carter]

I think thats the point of a starting bid price. I mean whats the point of listing lets say a Mod Fap for 1000 if you reserve is gonna be 90k.

The only thing I do not like about the auction is that the ending of the auction is not set in stone. If a bid war starts it keeps relisting the item with 5 minutes out. Which is great for the seller but its not good for the buyer. On Ebay there is a stategy that is developed to pricily target the end price hoping that yours is higer than the other persons. The current EU method does not follow this same methodology and i don't like it. People get into stupid bid wars and drive up prices ridiculous (out of spite most the time) Which enivitably throws the market price out of whack becuase most people us PeAuction for comparitive pricing. Thats my only quam with the system. Other than that i think its fine.

 

[Molly]

I personally think that adding the five minutes on when you bid at the end is a good idea. Without proxy bidding, the last couple of minutes of an auction would be a bit mental. If someone's willing to pay a couple of PED more than you, they should obviously win the auction. It basically turns into a manual equivalent of proxy bidding with people incrementing the bid up to their maximum.

However, I'd prefer it if they implemented proper proxy bidding, then they could remove the five minute extender if people wanted, because it wouldn't be necessary.

 

[Nicole]

I voted yes, can’t lie I use Ebay a lot!



If this can be implemented even in some ways it will be an great assets to EU!

thanks for all that info

but i really whant to get opinion from people who use it on ebay or what ever.
because i still dont see good things in that "improved aution"
but DD think like me , i will bother read tons auction bid evrywhere , and steuck my ped.
i prefer try my chance if seller put 1 ped start , or find item that meet the price i whant.

I use E bay a lot and lets say I put something like an MM up for auction and I started the bid at like 30,000 but I really want to sell for at least 60,000 hoping to maybe get 70,000 to 80,000!

With the reserve price I can see maybe that only 5 ppl placed bids on my item and maybe the market is not there anymore or its an slow period


The top bid lets say is 59k I can decided now if I want to sell for that price or not , and the item is not under any oblation to be sold for that price since it was under my reserve price.

As an seller I can decided not to sell at that time or I can decided that ok 59k I will sell the item for!

I think the reserve price is an benefit to the seller !

the system tell (shows) the buyer if the reserve price has been meet, once it's meet then the seller has to sell for that price!

 

[Teranoz]

Wel, I am not going to put a bid on items with a reserved label on it.
Also the option of showing if the reserve has been reached is not good to have either, because if I really want an item I would have to overbid myself to be sure I meet the reserve limit, so with that in mind : what would be the use of having that option ?

Suppose I want to have an item.
I check the auction and see avatar #1 sell it for tt + 50 with reserve and avatar #2 sells the same item for tt + 60 I would bid on the #2 item, or my PEDs would be locked until the auction ends and not get it anyway (maybe the reserve is even higher than that tt + 60 I did bid on)

 

[aia]

Avery, there's no cons to having a reserve price, it simply gives the seller a safer way to sell their item. Setting the opening bid to 1 PED on an item is almost garaunteed to start a "Bidding War", which usually raises the price that the item is sold for.

I think a hidden resevre price is a kind of disrepect of the buyer. Lots of buyers might start putting time into bidding for items that they are never going to get anyway (because of the reserve). If you want at least 1000 ped for a rifle, put start bid at 1000 ped and nobody will get fooled.

As for people *selling* items by mistake it's usually because the buyout has been set too low (for instance a zero to little). This can be fixed so that the default buyout price of items is 999 999 ped instead of the start bid.

As for bidding war, I don't think it will help. Bidding wars doesn't usually occur *because* the opening bid is 1 ped, but because there are at least 2 very motivated buyers. Those buyers then start bidding against eachother raising by 1 ped but then the price level is usually a bit above the start bid. If you want to get rid of bid wars (as well as to have to go up in the middle of the night to watch for an item at auction) the best way would be proxy bidding.

One way to implement proxy bidding is that if you place a proxy bid on an item, you may remove your bid but if you do you can't place another bid on that specific item.

One thing that MA can do to help the market could be to publish a list of *all* completed sales at auction, including items sold at bouyout (before item expires).

 

[kira-red]

ethics and reserves.

I voted "no".

reserve prices on auctions waste the everyone's time. it's the same as saying I have X to sell and the opening bid is $1. the market bids $4 and the seller says "sorry that's not good enough, I wanted $8 - no sale" - effectively wasting the time of all those who participated. it would have been so much easier to just start the bidding at $8. if no one bids, the seller know their price is too high.

sellers should list their opening bid as what they really want for what they are selling and accept it without try to decieve potential buyers. this si the entire concept behind an opening bid.

reserve prices are intrinsically deceitful and in reality beneift no-one except the auction house. why? because you pay a fee and no sale is still a collected fee for the house.

I trade coins on e-bay. within my coin group, no-one even pays any attention to auctions marked with a reserve. they are ignored. why? for the reasons stated above.

 

[Nicole]

Wel, I am not going to put a bid on items with a reserved label on it.
Also the option of showing if the reserve has been reached is not good to have either, because if I really want an item I would have to overbid myself to be sure I meet the reserve limit, so with that in mind : what would be the use of having that option ?

Suppose I want to have an item.
I check the auction and see avatar #1 sell it for tt + 50 with reserve and avatar #2 sells the same item for tt + 60 I would bid on the #2 item, or my PEDs would be locked until the auction ends and not get it anyway (maybe the reserve is even higher than that tt + 60 I did bid on)

This is an ver valid point, see Ebay does not lock down money , PE / EU’s current system does!

If any thing Ebay works of an contractual basis but does not tie up real money .


And bought the seller and the buyer is not locked into the deal if the reserve price has not been met.