What's a Reserve Price?

What's the lowest price the seller will accept? That's the reserve price--a secret amount that exceeds the original minimum bid. Until bids meet or exceed the reserve price, nobody wins the auction, and bidders are not revealed.

Many auctions don't have a reserve price. For those that do, once bidding is under way a notice will appear on the auction detail page saying "Reserve Not Met." If a bid meets the reserve, we'll let the bidder know and make note that the reserve price is met on the auction detail page. At this point the auction becomes a regular auction, and every new bid can win.