3 min article

Setting a reserve price

A reserve price is the lowest price you're willing to sell an item for. By using a reserve price you can set a low starting price for your auction – and boost interest in your item – but without the risk of having to sell your item for less than you think it's worth.

When you set a reserve price, bidders will see that you have a reserve price in place, and whether it has been met, but not the reserve price itself. If the highest bid at the end of the auction is below the reserve price, you don't have to sell the item.

Reserve price is an optional upgrade for auction-style listings, so you do pay a fee if you choose to add it to your listing.

How to add a reserve price to a new listing

When you're creating an auction-style listing, you'll see the option to add your reserve price in the Pricing section,

Tip
Your reserve price is secret unless you want to share it with bidders. Some sellers include it in their product descriptions or tell buyers they can contact them if they want to know what it is.

How to add a reserve price to an existing listing

If an existing listing hasn't received any bids and there are at least 12 hours left in the listing, you can add a reserve price. Here's how:

  1. Find your listing in My eBay Selling - opens in new window or tab or Seller Hub - opens in new window or tab.
  2. Select Revise from More actions.
  3. In the Pricing section, enter your reserve price.
  4. Select Continue.

How to change a reserve price

If your reserve price isn't met, then your listing will end without a sale. To help make sure that doesn't happen, you can lower or remove a reserve price.

You can lower or remove the reserve price when:

  • No bidder has met the reserve price
  • There are at least 12 hours are left on the listing

To lower or remove the reserve price:

  1. Find your listing in My eBay Selling - opens in new window or tab or Seller Hub - opens in new window or tab.
  2. Select Revise from More actions.
  3. In the Pricing section, lower or remove your reserve price.
  4. Select Continue.

If you lower the reserve price below the high bidder's maximum bid, we'll lower the high bidder's maximum bid to £1.00 below the new reserve price. When you remove your reserve price, we lower the reserve price to £1.00 above the current high bid. After you lower or remove a reserve price, we'll contact bidders to let them know about the change, and ask them to bid again to reconfirm their interest.

When you lower or remove a reserve price, you won't receive a credit for the reserve fee.

A reserve price is the lowest price you're willing to sell an item for. Bidders can't see the reserve price, but they'll see whether or not it has been met.

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