Trademe Auctions

I was looking at auctions this morning and there was an item there with no Buy Now and quite a low starting bid.

There was already a Q & A item below and it asks:
Q What is the reserve?

I'd like to comment about this...it bothers me how people will ask "What is the reserve?" Surely it does not matter what the reserve is because if you want this item then you are only prepared to pay a certain amount!? If after making a bid, it hasn't reached the reserve then simply ignore the auction, right?

If the reserve is higher that what you bid (i.e. reserve not met), asking for what the reserve is will not make it lower.

"Buy now": Another common question is "Will you put $#### buy now?" While this is not as annoying, a person selling with no buy now is most likely trying to maximise the auction outcome. The buy now option is there during the setup of the auction and if the seller really wanted a buy now he/she would have added it.

Finally this is the most annoying of all...people who sell items at the same price (or higher) as retail stores. e.g. I've been watching the Marvel Ultimate Alliance auctions and there is this guy (username holland1 or something) who listed it as $90 buy now and his reserve is around the same. Maybe a few $$ cheaper than retail but with postage and packaging the item becomes more expensive than retail shops! I mean this item is available down the road at The Warehouse for $89 and if you are not happy with it you can return and change for another game. I mean I can understand if the item is not sold anywhere else. I've been watching his auction for several weeks now and at the end he offers me the item only to be declined. In these type of auctions people usually ask questions "Do you know this is sold for $## at **********" (eg of the more polite ones). the seller usually ignores these type of questions or they say "go buy it there then". Well ok we will heheheh..