Cannot See/Edit Reserve Price

KenDude · March 31st, 2010, 10:10 AM

Chuck,

Remember a couple of weeks ago when I updated to 4.01 so we could edit the reserve price on an auction? Well it was working fine and dandy a couple of weeks ago, but now seems to be no longer working! We have an auction that was supposed to close yesterday which had 1 bid which I think was NOT higher than the reserve. Somehow overnight the auction got extended for another day (how remains a mystery to me at this point), so the would be winner was asking if he won or not. I don't remember what the reserve price is because the listing is from one of my members so I go into edit the ad and I cannot see or edit the reserve price.

Here is a link to the ad: Message - Classifieds

You should have admin privs on my site.

I am attaching a screen shot of when I edit that ad what it looks like and you'll see the reserve is not showing, there is no way to edit it.

Can you help?

Chuck S · March 31st, 2010, 11:38 AM

If your truly using 4.01 then you should easily be able to edit a reserve price as thats one of the features that was added in 4.01

As far as an ad getting extended the coding is very specific in the expire scripts. If your current price is less than your reserve then we extend the ad another auction period. If it is more then of course the winner and ad poster are sent emails.

KenDude · March 31st, 2010, 11:49 AM

Chuck,

Ok this answers the question about relisting that if the reserve is not met, so we at least know that the reserve wasn't met in this case but we still have the problem of not being able to see/edit the reserve. As I said this was working immediately after I upgraded to 4.01 a couple of weeks ago, but now is not working. Could something have changed with the auto-relisting of the ad (such as ad type) that prevents the reserve price from showing or being edited? You should have admin access at my site if you want to kick the tires for yourself and look at the ad, admin panel, etc.

KenDude · March 31st, 2010, 11:55 AM

Chuck,

Here is something interesting, we have 3 auctions going on right now, here is another item:

New Hampshire Motor Speedway SCDA DE April 19 - Classifieds

If I edit that ad, I CAN see the reserve price and edit it.

So why on some auctions can I see it, and on others I cannot??? They are in different categories, does that make a difference?

I will try moving the one I cannot see into the category with the 2 I can see and see if that makes a difference.

KenDude · March 31st, 2010, 12:00 PM

Ok I have now moved the ad to the same category where I can see the other two, you can see the ad here now:

Watkins Glen International 2 Day SCDA DE! April 26-27 - Classifieds

I still cannot see the reserve price or edit it. I also note that upon relisting the asking price changed from $50 to the current high bid of $210, which is fine I suppose, but that tells me that some items were changed from the original ad and perhaps it is one of these changes upon relisting that is messing up the ability to see/edit the reserve price.

The other two ads that we can current see expire later today and tomorrow and those have no bids so if they relist their opening price should be whatever it is currently. I have a feeling that if there is an existing bid that it is throwing something off with regard to the reserve price and being able to see/edit it after the relisting occurs.

Chuck S · March 31st, 2010, 12:04 PM

Ken you can only see a reserve price on an AUCTION and there are no bids on the auction.

There is no cheating

KenDude · March 31st, 2010, 12:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chuck S

Ken you can only see a reserve price on an AUCTION and there are no bids on the auction.

There is no cheating

Chuck, the ad IS an auction ad, unless something in the automated script changed it not to be, but if I go to the ad it has a place for bids, so I assume it is still an auction. As for "cheating" I would expect that the ad owner and the administrator should be able to see/edit the reserve price, but I see what you are saying that if the auction has a bid then you shouldn't be able to change the reserve, although I would argue that you should be able to SEE it, can you make it possible for the owner/administrator to at least see what the reserve is? In this case the ad lister has forgotten so he doesn't know how close the bidder is to actually winning the item. Make sense?

Chuck S · March 31st, 2010, 12:18 PM

what I am saying is it is intentional that if there are bids on the auction then none of the auction stuff is editable. Thats how the application has always been coded.

KenDude · March 31st, 2010, 01:19 PM

Chuck I understand NOT EDITABLE, but shouldn't the admin/lister at least be able to VIEW what the reserve is? Not change it, but just VIEW it?

Chuck S · March 31st, 2010, 01:33 PM

Ken feel free to modify the editproduct template to suit you. I am merely saying in the many years this application has been out it has always been set that once the actual auction has bids you can not change the actual data hense it is not shown.

KenDude · March 31st, 2010, 03:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chuck S

Ken feel free to modify the editproduct template to suit you. I am merely saying in the many years this application has been out it has always been set that once the actual auction has bids you can not change the actual data hense it is not shown.

Chuck,
How about something simpler then? This reserve thing is new for version 4 so it isn't like the rules have been around forever for this feature and the way it works now. On Ebay and other auction sites if a reserve has not been met, it tells potential bidders and the person who bid that the current high bid has not met the reserve. In the photopost classifieds it doesn't say so when a bidder bids they have no idea if they've bid high enough to go above the reserve or not until the auction closes and then they have to wait and see if it auto-relists or not.

Could we at least have something on the form that says "Reserve not met" if the high bid is not >= the reserve, and if it is >= the reserve then something that says "Reserve Met" ?

I'll happily add that into a template if you can show me where and what to add! Thanks in advance!

Chuck S · March 31st, 2010, 06:21 PM

well its not like that. ALL the auction things have been restricted since the implementation of the program if there is a bid.

Like I said your free to alter your template as you choose.

See you editproduct if clause the entire section if it is an auction is restricted if there is a bid.

Code:

Content visible to verified customers only.

KenDude · April 1st, 2010, 09:40 AM

Chuck,
Understood about modifying the template. I did get a complaint about the way the auctions work though. Here is the scenario.

Auction item listed with a reserve of $400, opening price of $200, buy it now price of $495.

Bidder comes along and bids his max bid at $494

System accepts his bid but lists him at $210 ($10 more than the opening price).

Auction proceeds, no other bids occur. Auction closes with no winner. Auction relists with opening bid of $210 by the sole bidder.

This bidder contacted us and asked why had he not "won" the item for whatever the reserve was, wasn't his bid of $494 max bid more than the reserve?

The answer is YES his bid was more than the reserve, but the system on auctions seems to be using the old method of simply outbidding the opening price or the current high bid if there is another bidder.

It would seem under the new auction system in 4.0+ where there is an actual reserve now that if a bidder enters a max bid that is more than the reserve that their bid immediately becomes the reserve if there are no other bidders with a higher bid than the reserve. (In this case there were no other bidders at all).

That way when the auction closes it will be won by the bidder whose max exceeded the reserve but who will be allowed to purchase at the reserve instead of having the auction relisted.

Obviously if his max bid had been say $350 in this case (wouldn't have exceeded the reserve) then I think starting his bid out at $210 is appropriate because his max was never greater than the reserve.

In programming parlance something like:

If max bid >= to reserve then initial bid = reserve
else initial bid = opening amount plus minimum increment

Does that make sense to you Chuck?

Chuck S · April 1st, 2010, 12:17 PM

Ken feel free to place suggestions on things you wish in the suggestions forum for future versions. On the support forums here I am mainly just answering support questions how things work and correct a bug if there is one.

I understand you keep trying to explain how you wish things to operate and I am not saying I disagree with your ideas in general at all. However this is not how things work as the reserve simply prevents expiration of an auction if a price is not met. It is not an overhaul of a payment system.