Selling on TradeMe in NZ - $1 Reserves??

Hi,
I'd be very happy if anyone can shed some light on this for me -
I have started out selling lingere on a New Zealand website - trademe. How are the bigger sellers selling their items with a $1 reserve? Their item may get to say $11, but with what the item has cost + shipping (from US or China), they are losing money? Are they withdrawing the item before the auction finishes? Or after, & then offering to the watchers at a fixed price which is say $26? There are a few doing this, & I would love to hear from anyone who can help with my confusion?
Thanks.

If they are big sellers they will probably have a lot of buyers and find that listing the item at one dollar is the most effective way to get a good final price.

They could well be playing the averages game, not that important if you lose a few dollars on some items, so long as you make it up on others and then end up with your nose in front at the end of the load.

Starting their items at the low entry price will be excellent marketing fro them as well, as anyone in the market will be looking at what they have to offer.

What you start the auction at isn't important, it's what the final sale price is that's important, so starting at a dollar doesn't mean that they won't get the $26.00 or whatever.

You also have to consider what they are buying them for also, if they are big sellers then you could be talking about container loads at a time, and that will be giving them a big advantage with lower prices.

Thanks for your advice. I thought as much, but starting out it makes things abit trickier not being able to buy in bulk, or container loads.

That's how the big sellers maintain their market share, and the smaller sellers find it hard to get a foot hold, no different to ebay or any other online platform.

It's why niche markets are perfect for small sellers, no serious competition, but finding those types of markets can take a lot of trial and error.