it does give you a little protection if the auction lays an egg...this happens.

When 9/11 happened I had a ton of World Class Railroad Collectibles on. Everyone's attention was diverted. I was new to Ebay and everything had been selling like hotcakes, I had no reserves. I didn't realize that I could have killed the auctions due to our national tragedy and relisted later. I let them run and got stuffed for about $6,000.00. Oh well, the buyers were pretty thrilled.

I do use reserves but I usually put the reserve in 18 point type in the ad so people know what it is. Why you would keep the reserve SECRET is beyond me.

As far as listing at your reserve level...I have done some studies on this and it seems that people are reluctant to bid, say $125.00, but will nibble away at it and hit the reserve.

Another thing is to add a buy it now along with a reserve price. Say Buy it now is $150.00 and reserve is $135.00, when someone bids the reserve the Buy It Now Falls off and inevitably someone will bid higher than what the Buy it now was.

There are some other strategies that can be employed with Buy It Now, Reserve Price. I won't get into that because some consider it unethical but they do work...kind of laying a trap but legit in Ebays eyes.

Mark