In a Reserve Price Auction, the seller has set a Reserve Price, which is a price below which the listing will not sell. The Reserve Price is higher than the Opening Value. A reserve price allows the seller to start the auction with an opening value below the reserve price to initiate bidder interest and determine the fair market value of an item. If the seller as set a Reserve Price you will see either a "Reserve Price NOT Met" or "Reserve Price Met" message on the listing page depending on whether the current bid is below, or at or above, the reserve.

Reserve Price NOT Met- The current amount of the highest bid is below the reserve price and the item will not sell at auction close.

Reserve Price Met - The current amount of the highest bid is equal to, or greater than, the reserve price and the item will be sold.

If the highest bid at the 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 the 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.

Why does a seller use a Reserve Price?

In a Reserve Price auction, the seller starts the auction at a value below the lowest price at which s/he is willing to sell (the Reserve Price) to capture the bidder interest. This way, the bidders are not forced to bid at fair market value from the start of the auction. Also, many sellers prefer Reserve Price auctions when they are not sure of the market value of an item, and want to find an audience by enticing multiple bidders' interest.

In an Open Auction, buyers bid until the auction ends. The item is then sold to the highest bidder at the end of the auction period. There is no reserve price in an Open auction. The seller must sell the item to the highest bidder. Bidding can start as low as the Opening Value (minimum price or starting amount) of the auction. Once the auction closes, email notification providing contact information is sent to the buyer and seller automatically so that arrangements for payment and shipment of the item can be determined.

In a Yankee Auction, multiple items of the same SKU are up for sale, so that there may be more than one winning bidder. Each bidder can bid for all the items or only some of them, and publicly indicates the price that he/she is willing to pay for each item. All winning bidders will pay their lowest qualifying (successful) bid. If there are more successful bids than items available, priority goes to the bidders who submitted the higher bid, and then by whoever submitted their bids first.

In order to beat a competing bidder, one must bid a higher price per item than that competitor, regardless of the number of items that are being bid for. Here is an example of how this might work:

• Bidder "A" bids for 2 items at $20 each.
• Bidder "B" bids for 4 items at $21 each.
• Bidder "C" bids for 3 items at $18 each.

• Bidder "B" wins 4 items at $21 each.
• Bidder "A" wins 1 item at $20 each.

Fixed Price Sale listings or "Buy it Now" auctions have a fixed price set by the seller. Buyers simply choose to buy the item at that price. Fixed Price listings will remain active until all items have been sold or the close date and time set by the seller has been reached.

The Auto Bid Extend feature ensures that bidders will always have a chance to challenge bids placed in the final seconds of an auction. When indicated on a listing page, if a bid is placed during the last 5 minutes of an auction, the auction will automatically extend for an additional 5 minutes from the time of the latest bid. The auction will close once all bidding activity has stopped for a period of 5 minutes.

Now it’s even easier to bid on Signature Sports Auctions. When you see an auction labeled for SMS Bidding, just send the SMS Reference ID and your bid amount to the number given, separated by a semicolon(;).

For instance, to bid $0.00 on this auction, text $mobrefID;$auction.nextBid to 1-214-447-0264