DOLLS: WEEK OF AUGUST 23, 1999
NEWS
EBAY CHANGES RESERVE AUCTION POLICY;
MANY SELLERS UPSET; RESERVE POLICY UPDATED AGAIN IN RESPONSE!
First: eBay announced earlier this week that their policy
regarding reserve auctions would undergo a major change, effective August 30, 1999.
The announcement was as follows:
1.Opening Bid Minimum: The opening bid
of a Reserve Price Auction must be at least 25 percent of the reserve price. For example,
a seller lists a Reserve Price Auction item and sets the reserve price at $100. The
opening bid of this reserve auction must be between $25 and $100. This limit is intended
primarily to reduce the bidder concerns with reserve auctions. It will also reduce or
eliminate intentional excessive reserves.
2. Usage Fee: Reserve auctions do have a lower success rate and higher
eBay costs associated with them. Given this, beginning August 30, sellers will be charged
a $1.00 fee for using the Reserve Price Auction format.
This unleashed a storm of protest in the eBay community boards, mostly sellers who use eBay, and who are not happy with the new policy; many are calling for a boycott of putting up new listings on the service. eBay responded to the protests by revising the policy as follows:
1. Postponement of the 24% Opening Bid Minimum: eBay will postpone implementation of the 25% minimum opening bid, and discuss with the community other options such as Reserve Auction icons or disclosing the reserve at the end of auctions.
2. Reserve Price Auction Format Usage Fee:
The usage fee for Reserve Price Auctions will be $0.50 for auctions
with reserves less than $25. The fee will be $1 for auctions with reserves of $25 or more,
and the usage fee for Reserve Price Auctions will be fully refunded if
the reserve is met.
Buyers have not spoken out in great numbers on the board, either about the original policy or the revision. Also, there isn't a big cry for a boycott among posters on boards here, at About.com, or at AOL, etc. See below for my Reserve Price Auction Editorial.
Read eBay's Official Announcements.
Check out some of the controversy on the eBay Discuss New Features Message Board.
Check out a protester's page at: http://members.tripod.com/murch/enoughindex.html
And, did you know about eBay's new, premium Auction service, Great Collections coming in the future?
Editorial: Your Guide's Opinion on
New Reserve Price Auction Policy:
As both a long-time buyer and seller on eBay (I have been buying and
selling on eBay since their first year of existence, and my feedback rating is 140+) I
have never liked reserve auctions. As a buyer, I dislike having to open up an
auction to see whether or not the auction is a reserve auction, since I rarely bid on
reserve auctions for several reasons. First, I feel that many sellers put
unrealistic reserves on their dolls, and and if sellers wish to sell their dolls at
guaranteed full retail, they should be listing the items for sale on a web page, and not
in an auction. Second, the Reserve Auctions can be a waste of time. There is nothing
worst than getting all caught up in an auction for a week, then the doll doesn't reach
reserve and doesn't sell. Because the reserve is hidden, the buyer never knows what
the reserve even was!
As a seller, I truly believe that good items will sell at an appropriate price without reserves. I think reserves inhibit prices, since many bidders won't bid on them. I also believe that the overwhelming number of reserve auctions that never successfully are completed hurt sellers who prefer not to use reserves, since they fill up the service with auctions that are not really auctions, making the real auctions harder to find.
I fully supported the initial changes to the reserve auctions that eBay announced earlier in the week. I further think that their revisions to this policy weaken them so much to be ineffective. The initial changes announced would have helped in several ways--first, there would have been fewer reserve auctions at unrealistic reserves, thereby removing "test" or retail "auctions" from the service. Second, with a 25% minimum bid policy if you are a bidder, you would have an idea of what the reserve is, and whether or not it is worth your time to place a bid.
I hope eBay reinstates their policy in full after consideration. If they will not, my favorite solution would be to but a Reserve Auction Icon (instead of the useless "new" auction icon, or in addition) by each reserve auction listing on the auction listing pages, so that bidders do not have to open any reserve auctions if they do not wish to do so. That won't substantially cut down on the number of reserve auctions, but it should help.
What do you think? Share your views with the community on our Doll Forum
DON'T MISS THE COOKIE JAR CONTEST ON
THE ABOUT.COM COLLECTIBLES SITE!
Check
out the great contest at the Collectibles site--win this lovely Raggedy Ann and Andy
Cookie Jar! Go to
http://collectibles.about.com/library/weekly/blclark.htm
for information on how to enter!
DO YOU HAVE NEWS FOR DOLLS THIS WEEK?
Do you have a doll event to promote, a new doll to announce, OR do you have a
review of a doll event? Please e-mail me at collectdolls.guide@about.com and
let me know!
DO YOU HAVE DOLLS FOR SALE OR TRADE?
Did you know that you can place FREE classified ads for your dolls for sale or
trade (or, dolls wanted) in the Dolls Forum? Unlike AOL and other services, we DON'T
charge for ads for dolls over $100. Visit the Dolls
Forum to find out how to place your ad; if you are not yet a member, click on
GUEST, but you will need a Forum ID to place your ad.
Previous Weeks in Dolls:
Barbie Slugs it out with Sindy; Toy Design Industry; Arab
Doll Leila
Barbie as a Computer; $1 Million Doll Auction
Dolls of Color e-mail list; TRUs buys Imaginarium; New
eBay look
eBay Book on Internet Collecting; Beanie Barbie
More eBay Outages; Top Dolls of the Summer
Summer Festival in Billings; Doll Summer School at Crafty
College
Austin Powers Doll, Barbie Legs as Amputee Fingers, Jill Barad
LA Times Interview
The Tarzan and Butterfly-Art Barbie Controversies
The Year 2000 DAG Convention is Announced
Theriault Duet Auction
Loss of ODACA Artist Kathryn Williams Klunsman
Review of Anaheim Dollmaking Show
