Sniping on reserve auctions

The only way to meet the reserve is to bid at least the reserve. If you do that your bid immediately jumps to the reserve price. Even if the next highest bid is still $1 for example.

A lot of people actually get mad at us for that, even though it has nothing to do with us, it's just how eBay works. If you place a bid that beats the reserve it jumps way up to the reserve price.

Thanks Sara. My current understanding is that, since AS does not know what the reserve price is, you have to get there manually [creep, creep. creep... until the 'reserve met' sign goes on]. Otherwise, AS will just try to beat all other competing bids, BUT not necessarily get you aboove the reserve. This happened to me a few times when I placed AS limits which I though would be above the reserve but wound up winning at a bid which was below [whew... a little long winded ...].H

Borris - I don't think you and Sara agree here. Take as an example a widget for sale on Ebay with a reserve price of, say 80, although we do not know the amount before. Say there is only one bid of 10. If you set a snip up for 90, when AS places it Ebay will record your bid as 80 so that you win the item. It does not put your bid in at 11 or whatever the next increment is.
From what you have said, you have ended up being the highest bidder with 60, say, but you did not win the auction because your max bid was below the reserve.

If your bid had been higher than the reserve you would have won because the bid would have jumped straight to the reserve. You did not because the seller had set the reserve above your max bid.

I've lost auctions that haven't met that mysterious reserve figure, though my snipe proxy was actually higher than the reserve. AS only placed my bid(s) high enough to top the best bid of the previously highest bidder. The amount in the bid increment did not beat the reserve price, so therefore there was no win. Mish, this has been different for you?

I always make it a habit to write the seller and request the reserve amount. I've had it revealed to me more often than not. I rarely use reserves as a seller and have never had anyone ask for it, though I would have no problem revealing it.†

Lisa, I think you're attributing a capability to AS that it doesn't have. AS will place a bid in the *full amount* you specify, at the time you program it to enter the bid. It is not designed to place, or capable of placing, a bid in your behalf that is only a fraction of your total bid, e.g., just enough to beat the previous high bidder by one bid increment. However, if your bid was high enough to top the previous high bidder, but not high enough to meet the reserve, then eBay would show your bid status as being just one bid increment over the max of the previous high bidder, with the remainder of your bid (if any) hidden the way all maximums are hidden. I think this is what you're seeing.

Think I'll test it out again. Not long ago, I bid an amount that beat the next highest bidder but still did not meet the reserve. The seller emailed me a day later offering me the item for the reserve, which was less than my proxy bid had been... unless, now that I consider this, maybe the seller was lying about the original reserve amount. Grrrrrrrr. I guess that could be possible. It bugged me enough that I turned the offer down, but I thought it was because I'd lost on the AS side.U

Lisa, not too long ago I found a seller who was putting impossible-to-meet reserves on his goods, then offering the item to the high bidder (who didn't meet reserve) for a price considerably higher than the highest amount bid. That way he got his price and avoided the eBay fees. He is no longer on eBay. But if the seller tells you the reserve was lower than the amount you bid via AS, you'd be wise to believe AS and not the seller. Ninety-nine percent of the sellers are completely honest, but that one sounds like part of the remaining one percent to me.