SORRY BUT I STILL DON'T GET IT!

No logic that I can see!!! PM the seller and ask!!

Val

 

That is the way e-bay auctions work
The seller can just place the item, on the auction for no cost, or can pay a small fee, to have a minimum price accepted, or a larger fee for a buy it now price

The auction starts at zero, and bids go up at set amounts (usually a pound)
Now instead of watching and bidding all day/week, you bid the greatest amount you are willing to go to

Others bidding may have a set amount a lot lower than yours, so it automatically, bids a pound for them, then up it with your pound and so on until the lower bidder has met his max bid, the auction then adds one more pound of your bid Thus you win the item
So your max is 20, some others are 10 and 15, the system auto bids until the 10 person is beat then commences on the 15, once that is beat then it bids 16 of yours, Not other bidders you take the item for 16 if the auction has ended

It is the sellers fault for not setting a minimum figure, as it would have cost money to put the item in auction

Jack McH

 

Knee-jerk thinking (I refrain from the E-bay circus) :
Could it have anything to do with the sellers fees to Ebay?

The higher the price bid, the higher the fees to Ebay. So, as long as you have equalled the reserve price, even if it is over and above, the seller won't want to encounter higher fees than is absolutely necessary. Plus, seller gets a good rating for an exceptionally good 'service'. (Oh wow! I didn't have to pay the full bid and I still get the goodies: what a swell chappie he is: top ratings!).

I may be wrong: just a knee jerk theory

 

Did it have a "buy it now" price?

 

Economics: pure and simple.
Although I may have that wrong merely because I'm still a tad squiffy

 

Well, what is the alternative? You send the seller your higher offer? Erm, ok then. They won't thank you for it when they have to pay a higher percentage of the selling price to Ebay

They offered an item: they expected a certain price before they would complete the bid; they weighed up the expected price, the fees, postage/packaging that *they* would be happy to accept. Too much over an that would put them into the realms of higher trading fees with Ebay. YOU have the maximum offer of all offers, however, that would still equate (proportionately) to more than the seller desires in paying Ebay fees, so, as the highest bidder, you *won* the item. But, the seller doesn't wish to pay Ebay that level of fees, so, far easier to concede the "reserve" price thus saving potential Ebay fees, getting rid of an item at a price they (maybe?) didn't expect/want, plus earning a higher rating for being "good eggs".

Either that or (CYNIC ALERT!): it's a stolen item, and they are delighted to get shot of it and any numpty will do just so long as they have met the minimum requirements (aka reserve price) and, for appearances sake, show themselves to be the highest bidder. When, actually, the highest bid could have been anything above the reserve price, just so long as they got rid of hot property.

 

Just looked into this, if you bid higher than the reserve, your bid is set to the reserve price & only increases to your bid price if someone else bids higher.(If that makes sense)

 

Remind me never to sell anything on eBay. If I was to set a reserve, it would be the lowest I'd be willing to let the item go for, but I'd hope for much more. So if someone was willing to pay much more but the system I'd paid to advertise on overrode and lowered their offer, I'd be most unhappy.

 

I tried to sell my potting bench on there recently and it went for only £2.20. Told the winning bidder that it had "broke" and was canceling the sale. I found this recently that people don't want to pay a very reasonable price for something and would rather pay next to nothing.

 

Perhaps you're not meant to "get" it. Perhaps you're meant to enjoy the fact you got it for less than you were prepared to pay? If lots of people are paying less than they were prepared to pay then they will bid on other items in the future and see it as a positive shopping experience! Very nice for Ebay too I would have thought?! How cynical of me!