I don't bid on reserve auctions, I think their pointless... If a seller wants "x" amount for the item then just list it with "x" amount for the starting bid!  I'm not a mind reader nor do I care to start practicing. In an on-line venue there is already the fact we can't physical handle the item, the chance we could get ripped off, the possibility of the item won not being as described, poor communication, poor packing, the item being damaged in transit, and a number of other factors we take a chance with every time we bid and win, The last thing I want to do is play Internet physic only to find the seller is WAY out in left field to begin with with his/her pricing.  In short Reserve auctions are stupid IMO, and sellers should wake up to the fact that there missing out on a percentage of potential buyer by using them.  Be confident in the price you wish to get for the item and start the bidding their.  The only thing I can see the reserve auction good for is for those that don't know what there selling and really haven't a clue what it's worth, so they put it up in a reserve auction to see what bids it brings.

I have seen some reserve auctions not sell and be relisted 3 or 4 times and then go to basic auction. go figure

GFY

I just relized the one way thought pattern of most bidders would not understand GFY, it means "Good For You".

Thanks for your opinion happy bidding ;)

Well in that case, here's a GFY from another bidder/buyer who refuses to bid on reserve auctions. If you care to research the forums here you will find that the VAST majority of buyers in this venue hate reserves and most, myself included, refuse to even look at one. As OMJ stated, If your desired sale price is 600.00 and your starting bid is 1.00 it is asinine to list it as a reserve.A basic auction with it a starting bid of 600.00 gets you the same thing PLUS it takes all the guess work that AUCTION BUYERS hate. If you want proof go to the green site and look at 3000 reserves that have zero bids and then check Auction Arms penny auctions with a minimum of ten bids each. Should tell you something if it doesn't then GFY.   Trapper

If GFY in post #3 stands for "good for you" then i'm a monkeys uncle!!!!!!

oh oh, you opened the door for that one Hart.  LOL . Seeing as this is a watse of time thread Check this out 10394755. I have never seen a rifled one nor one in this configuation. Anybody else???   Trap

Hagrid-I kinda opened a can of "worms" didn't I !!!!!

Probably used a action from a Geha shotgun(made from surplus 98 Mausers after WW1) and put a rifled Hastings barrel, or the like,with a custom stock added.That is not a original Geha barrel because they are paper thin at the muzzle.

I'm not a big fan of them, but reserves have their place in the auction world. I don't know the statistics, but I'd imagine a lot of them here are security blankets for consignment items. There's also the psychology of the auction, where you don't want to start too high and scare people off.  A lot of people, like me,  just troll through items, not necessarily looking for anything specific.  As rule, an opening bid should be at least 50% of the reserve.  A few bids, and you are into haggle range if the reserve isn't met.  I've bought that way. When I see really low openers on a reserve, I figure the seller is fishing for value, or doesn't know what he's doing, so I stay away.

As someone who doesn't text and is pretty ignorant of the abbreviation world, I thought GFY was something I think about saying to a lot of the people I work with, as well as union officials and politicians.

Usually I will bid what I think a reserve auction is worth and walk away if I didn't meet the reserve.