If you are browsing the site for items, look to see if there is a image beside the item's title. This image lets you know in advance if the reserve price has been met.

Reserve Prices and Proxy Bidding

With Reserve Price Auctions, until the hidden reserve price is met on a given auction, all bids submitted below this amount will be placed without proxy bidding. What this means is that if you are the current high bidder and the Reserve Price has not yet been met, your maximum bid amount will be viewable to other bidders. And, while each new bid amount below the reserve sets a new lowest possible bid amount, the stated bid increment will still be added to each new bid placed below the reserve price.

Once the Reserve Price has been met or exceeded, however, your maximum secret bid amount (if you are a current high bidder) will not be shown to other bidders in the “Highest Bid” field during the auction. Additionally, the reserve price will be indicated automatically on the auction page as the new lowest successful price that the auction will sell at. All additional maximum bid amounts submitted above the reserve price will use proxy bidding.

Reserve Prices After the Auction

If the highest bid at auction close does not meet the seller's Reserve Price, the seller is not required to sell the item unless the seller chooses to do so. In this case, the seller will have a period of 48 hours after auction close in which to contact the highest bidder whose offer was below the reserve price. Bidders who are contacted under these circumstances, however, are under no obligation to purchase the item.

InterActive Classified

This selling alternative is not an auction. InterActive Classifieds are fixed priced ads that sellers post for up to 30 days. Each bid is considered as an Offer to buy the item. For this type of listing, the seller must sell the item if the asking price is met. A classified may be closed by the seller at any time if the asking price has not been met. E-mail is sent to the seller for every offer or bid. The seller may choose to lower the asking price of the listing in response to lower offers.

An InterActive Classified will expire at the end of its duration unless the item sells beforehand at or above the asking price, or the seller chooses to accept an offer below the asking price. Both the highest bidder and the seller are automatically notified by e-mail in the event of a sale or an expiry.

Fixed Price Sale

Fixed Price Sale listings have a fixed price set by the seller and buyers simply choose to buy the item at that price. Fixed Price listings will remain active until the item is sold. If multiple quantities are posted, the listing will remain active until either all of the remaining items have been sold, or the listing duration has reached days. The available quantity will be updated on the listing page each time an additional item is sold.