What exactly do you mean by reserve price and buy it now? Are they on eBay as well?
Just clarifying for Tim above...
Tim, its an alternate way of selling items, especially on non-car related forums. A seller can list heaps of items and set a reserve price for each one. They also provide a time limit up to two weeks and whether "Pickup beats Post" or "Post beats Pickup".
'Reserve' means that a buyer is willing to pay the lowest reserve price that the seller is asking for. Therefore buyer will state "Reserve + Postage" so to speak in the for sale thread.
But someone can come along afterwards and say "Reserve + Pickup" which trumps the "Reserve + Post".
Next trump is a higher "Offer above Reserve + Post", then "Offer above Reserve + Pickup". Follwed by "Instant + Post"
The best and final trump is "Instant + Pickup"... unless the seller had specified that Postage > Pickup.
It works out best for the seller as they get the best price for the item they are selling and buyers pay the price they are willing to pay for it.
Also it doesnt tie up the seller's time going through the time and hassle of posting something interstate if there is someone who is prepared to pay the same price and pick the item up from their doorstep.
The final advantage of the auction-style sale method is that when the winning buyer backs out of buying the item, the seller can choose to re-list or sell it to the person with the second best bid.
Note: Buyers can retract their bid before the end of the sale timeframe if they change their mind without being committed to the sale. This happens anyway in normal for sale situatons but so the seller doesnt have to relist and waste time, they can offer it straight to the 2nd best bidder.
Im surprised we havent seen this method on 4GTuner before as it is a very clever and fairer method of buying and selling things these days in forums. Its there to ultimately benefit the seller which in reality is understandable, but it can really piss off the buyer sometimes if they think they've snagged a bargain really cheap. It also gives other people who read the post at a later time, time to make an offer on the item before the time limit is up. As a buyer it can be frustrating as hell sometimes!
:fuuuuu: . It does however give the greater community a fairer chance and timeframe to buy something plus a truer indication of the price people are willing to pay for the item for future reference.
I guess the honus in selling something the conventional way, like in our forum and many others, is for the seller to do their own homework on the value and availability etc of their item before posting it up for sale.
Lets say in our existing conventional method, somebody posts up an Evo gearbox for $500 in the middle of the night and you say that you'll take it. Transaction is now closed and done and dusted. You as the buyer just scored a bargain!! However everybody else who reads the post after you later that day might have been prepared to pay $1000 or more for the gearbox but they have no grounds to stand on because the sale has already been made. The existing method means that the seller loses out on the 'true value' of the item that people were prepared to pay for it. The existing method also does not give other sellers or buyers in future a true indication of what an Evo gearbox is worth. So under the current system the next seller might use $500 as a reference because that's what the last gearbox sold for.
The main drawback under the existing system is that those who troll the forum 24-7 have the highest chance of snapping up bargains before everybody else. Under the 'auction-style' system those trollers have less chance to snap up a bargain in the for sale section unless they agree to the "Instant" price + pickup or post whichever the seller has specfied.
The 'auction style' sales method exists to advantage the seller and those in the market to buy in a fairer system overall for everybody. It might sound a bit confusing but its piss easy to understand and doesnt take people long to get used to it.
Lets look at the above Gearbox example under an Auction Style sale:
Ilusz: For sale EVO III gearbox, blah blah blah. Reserve $700. Buy now $1000. Pickup beats post. Auction ends Sunday 29th April 10pm.
Patrick: Reserve + Post
Baz: $700 + Pickup
EVO-00X: $750 + Post
ENGINR: $750 + Pickup
BrisVR4: $800 + Pickup
EVO-00X: $850 + post
ENGINR: $850 + pickup
3zercrowd: Instant + postage
Time ran out.
Illusz win/ 3zercrowd win.
