Pros
A reserve should be used in the following situations:
1. When there is a glut of that doll in the market (recent Gene dolls, 1980s/1970s Madame Alexanders, etc.)
2. When you are completely unsure about a market--where very few of your type of doll have sold in the past few weeks.
3. Where dolls of your type consistently sell under market.
4. When you have an investment in a doll that you must protect.
5. When you are only committed to selling a particular doll IF you can get over "X" amount (you know--really just testing the market).
6. When you think that a high opening bid will turn off bidders more than a reserve.
Cons
A reserve should NOT be used in the following situations:
1. When the market for your type of doll is HOT (when most excellent or better dolls in a category sell at or above general market prices--right now, examples would be Blythe, excellent or better Terri Lees, etc.)
2. When you follow completed auctions for your doll type, and dolls in auctions without reserves consistently sell at better prices than dolls in auctions with reserves.
3. When you don't have an investment to protect in a doll and you just want to see what you can get!
4. When you are brave and you are tired of your reserve auctions not selling (this is a bit tongue in cheek, but I've done this sometimes. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't).
5. When you can bear the "anything can happen" tumult of a no-reserve auction. Remember, just like with our letter writer from Canada, there is always an underlying risk with a "no reserve" auction--bidders don't show up that week, there is an eBay outage, other sellers undercut you after your auction starts. It IS an auction, and anything CAN (and does!) happen.
