If there is a reserve then the auction should start at the lowest bidding price that means anything, the reserve. If no one will meet the reserve price as a starting bid then it is economics and the seller can lower the reserve or use the item as a doorstop.
There should be no surprises when using an online auction service.
Bidding $75 on an item hoping it will sell for $50 and having the price go from $35 to $75 with $1 intevals is upsetting. I know that you were willing to spend up to $75 but now everything has changed in the middle of the auction.
And this "winning "an auction is B.S. You win the obligation to pay for something that could well be junk, the oppoturnity to pay $10 for someone to put it in a box with newspapers, and $35 for getting it lost in the mail. You do not win anything.
Ebay is great. You can find all kinds of stuff, and most of the people are good to deal with.
Lets start an Ebay horror story thread! Grumpy Dave, I am sure you have been pissed of by more people and through no fault of your own pissed of more than anyone else in AK just because of your volume.
You get the 1st 10,000 lines. Canadians get to add customs stories to theirs, I get 1 paragraph cause I'm handicapped and Thor gets one line cause people just think he is handicapped and sell him stuff half price.