My Pet Peeve about some Ebay sellers......

It is SUCH a major pet peeve of mine when someone puts a item for sale out there on Ebay, yet in red letters, it says, "reserve not yet met". For pete stinkin' sake, why doesn't the person just start the bidding at his/her lowest price they are willing to accept????

*Griping . . . . . . done.

The higher the opening the higher the fees charged by ebay.

Because some people won't bid on an item that starts too high. Some people won't bid on reserved items period! My peeves are:

crappy pics,
no pics,
super hype descriptions that are full of bull***t...and people who fall for it,
items that are put to auction at $0.01 but have a $5 shipping fee, using the low bid price to sell and making their profit on the shipping.

I like to check out bulk/wholesale items and it burns me up to no end sometimes. Example, I once got a lot of keychain folding knives, all told came to about $0.40+ with shipping. Then I'll see others that sell the same item at $1 a peice and claim "this item normally sells at $4 each".
It's a shame that so many fall for the hype.

The ones who WON'T ship O/S or who do but won't quote shipping costs until AFTER auction finishes.

I agree that those who make money on shipping are in the wrong business. I prefer the sellers that charge you their cost.
You can argue that it costs them time to go to shipper and wrap for shipping, but that should come out of their profit on what they are selling.

Kind of like what Webley said:

I hate the ones that charge 3, 4, 5 and even 10 times as much for shipping as it would actually cost. There are a bunch of "Powersellers" that sell stuff I would buy, except they charge a flat $15.00 for shipping, and for a five dollar item that would cost less than $1.50 to ship,,,, To he77 with them.

I also hate the ones that have a shipping charge that appears to cover Priority mail and insurance, then it just comes in a padded envelope, uninsured and has 59 cents of stamps on it.

How about the folks who say "No Reserve" and the bidding starts at $20? Isn't this sorts, kinda, like a "reserve"?
Kirk

Only sorta Kirk. I go to auctions about once a month. The auctioneer starts the bidding with a price and it goes from there. That is called the starting bid. If no one bids, then he lowers the starting bid. In some cases, if no one bids on the lower price, than he calls out "Someone give me a price".
Of course, on Ebay, if no one takes the starting bid the item is not sold.

sunspot,
I have e-mailed eBay about this before and got a "non-answer". I thought a reserve is the lowest price a person would take for something he is selling. If this is so, why not start the bidding at a buck and then have a "hidden" reserve price of $20. If you're going to start the bidding at $20, don't say in big letters "NO RESERVE", because my thinking is there IS a reserve and it's $20. It may just be semantics, but it really bugs me.
Kirk

Here are mine:

- Don't insult my intelligence by overcharging for shipping and "handling". If a reasonable SWAG is made that covers shipping to all of CONUS, and the actual difference would be a dollar or two, then fine. Most times, though, all the idiot's doing is stuffing it into a friggen box and putting an address on it. It's not like the only post office or shipping place is 50 miles away.

- State the shipping costs up front. Don't tell me you'll tell me after the auction closes, because if it's $20, I won't want the POS. Then what? Decline and suffer the dreaded "negative feedback"? I'll email a seller before even putting in a bid to check on shipping. If it's too high or they don't even reply, screw `em.

- Don't start a dumbass auction with a $50 opening bid, a $52 reserve, and a "BUY IT NOW!!!!!!!!!!" at $55. How pathetic. If you're trying to sell some piece of crap, just admit you're trying to sell it and let's not pretend it's an "auction".

- Let's be a little more, er, "accurate" in our descriptions. Good pictures help to wade through the horse-puckey. I've passed on every poorly photographed item I've had any interest in.

Grrr, don't get me started...

Kirk, this is somewhat semantics and a difference in live vs online auctions. In a reserve auction, the reserve is hidden. The bidding starts at a low price ($0.01-1.00) and at the end of the bidding it is stated what the reserve was on the item. If it was not met, the reserve is revealed. Ebay tells one up front when and if the reserve has been met. Hint: On ebay, the reserve is generly 75% of stated value in text when given.
On a no reserve auction, it goes back to what I said about "Starting Bid" price. As this is online, there is no way to lower the starting bid if no one starts the bidding. The seller just winds up with a no takers.
On an absolute auction, every thing will sell no matter what the price. This is mostly done on land, houses and machinery auctions. Ebay does not do this kind of auction.
I believe an absolute type auction is what you are thinking of but I am may be wrong.
It boils down to that ebay auctions are a kind of reserve but not a hidden type. Being online has to make for some rule changes from live and in person auctions.
I hope this helps.

Disclaimer: I have no connection in any way to ebay and I am not a seller or dealer.

DonL You posted while I was writing my reply to Kirk. I agree with you 100%. Many items are "for sale" and not an auction.

Being online has to make for some rule changes from live and in person auctions.
I hope this helps.

True, but there are always going to be those who try to get around the rules to make a profit. Yes there are those who are selling not auctioning, but there are those out there who are willing to buy than bid (heck, I've done it). One thing I've seen is that depending on a person's location, they are willing to part with a far different amount of cash for an item as others, probably due to availablility or distance they must travel to get to a retailer, and lots of folks would rather trust buying through ebay than a mail order bussiness. But those "shipping" profiteers really get by gall!

webley445, you are also on spot. I too have "bought" on ebay due to location.
The buy it for $0.99 and six bucks shipping for some one ounce item galls me too no end.