Watcher asking me what the reserve price is on an item

[duchesse]

Why would she want to know that? I haven't sold much on ebay and haven't come across this yet.

You get all sorts of stupid piss taking questions on ebay. I never answer any of them.

They're worse than trolls.

So they know if its worth bidding on or not.

it doesn't have to be sinister or a troll - they probably just want to know how much they need to bid. Your reserve doesn't have to be a secret.

I get fed up of stupid requests on eBay.
I mark my furniture up as collection only, and the amount of time people ask if you can deliver is hilarious.
Yeah, cos the £5 table you just purchased I'm gonna use my petrol up to deliver it to you
Maybe ignoring is a good idea.

I've had this asked and always answer. If they bid the reserve what's the problem? They may be watching more than one of the same thing?

Thanks all ! The item in question is an 80 year old very unusual sofa, so highly unlikely they'd find a similar one anywhere else. I put a reserve price on it because it's a family heirloom and I didn't want it going for peanuts. I guess this person is asking so she knows whether its worth her while bidding or not. I just don't have any real idea of what the sofa is worth (and I guess its worth what someone is prepared to pay for it) so I gave an arbitrary reserve price so that someone didn't get it for 99p, which would have been horrendous frankly.

I've asked for reserve prices before as I wanted to know if the seller and I were thinking along the same lines. If they had set their reserve price at £500 but I was only intending on spending £50, I would prefer to know, then I can Unwatch the item and move on without wasting any more of my/their time.

I think you're being unhelpful and unnecessarily cryptic!

thanks lets- I've answered now but not ticked the box to make the answer public.

People do seem quite interested in it- it's got 23 watchers and 189 page views with a few days still to go.

just make sure if they collect you only accept cash - and don't let them organise their own courier either.

Good points fergoose. I did put cash only on collection or paypal, and that I would arrange a courier if they contacted me in advance.

Sounds exciting When does it finish? Hope you'll come back and tell us how it goes? nosey

Do you want a link to it? so you can all hunt me down and kill me?

Finishes Friday. One person has bid so far.

I'd be wary of linking if I were you. Just I've known nasty people on here bidding for stuff with false accounts. Not saying it'd happen but it has.

Link to it when it's finished though please.

Ooh, exciting just over 1 mn left. I don't think it's going to sell though.

It didn't. I've relisted it with a lower reserve price.

try ending during the evening instead - most folk are out during the day so don't/can't bid.

Ending on Sundays is supposed to be best? sorry it didn't sell.