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How does automatic bidding work on an item with a reserve price?
Say an item’s starting bid is $5000, and it has a reserve price. A buyer decides he’ll place an automatic bid for $5500, the most he’s willing to pay. He’s the first bidder. The reserve amount of $5300 was unknown to the buyer, but his automatic bid of $5500 met the reserve price. What bid price will appear for the item?
2 comments
woodland_gnome
·1 year agoIf the (refreshed) Listing Page continues to say "Reserve not met" after you place your bid, it means your bid (including any hidden maximum) is lower than the reserve price and therefore cannot win that auction, so it is safe to move on (unlike simply being outbid, when a cancellation of the higher bid before the auction ends can make you the winner at the end and obligated to pay, so it is not safe to move on until the auction ends without you as the winner). Even if the seller lowers the reserve, eBay will lower your hidden maximum bid if needed (to $1 below the new reserve) so you can't win unless you rebid an amount that meets the reserve at the time it is placed.
If you bid an amount that does equal or exceed the reserve, the "Reserve not met" will disappear from the Listing Page and the Bid History Page (unfortunately the indication that there is a met Reserve got lost in a reformat of the Bid History Page) and the new "current bid" will be the exact amount of the reserve (or less than an increment above it if a prior bidder had a maximum bid just under the reserve). If your new bid is not at least as high as the reserve, "Reserve not met" stays up and the "current bid" is recalculated under the general rule: generally 1 bid increment over the underbidder's maximum bid.
rock.star
·1 year agoIt will appear as a high bid of $5300.