porch

I've been watching cars listed on Ebay for a while now, and it appears that the majority of the vehicles never are bid up to the reserve price.

So what happens to the car?

Does the high bidder usually end up in contact with the seller at some point and they strike a deal?

-or-

Does the seller just keep relisting the vehicle and the car finally sells after time? (I doubt this to be the case since I rarely see a car bid up over reserve)

-or-

Does the seller wait for a side offer somewhere between high bid and reserve price?

-or-

????

Any enlightenment is appreciated.

bet

It depends. You will notice some are relisted. Others never are. I have a co-worker that bid on a car on ebay (not a p-car) and won the auction but was below the reserve. They negotiated with the seller after the auction ended and end up purchasing the car for a little more than the bid but less than the reserve.

The answer to your question is all of the above. Anything can happen.