what do you think eBAY  

Well it is almost unanimo...
Well it is almost unanimous most everyone has a love hate relationship with ebay, I get real testy with some of the sellers, you try to ask them if they have a buy it now and one wrote i love the fun and excitement of the auction ...right go to six flags if that is the case.
I offered a moran $2500 for a knoll Tugenhut chair, she had a buy it now for 3 grand and some idiot bid 100.00 and it went away,
i was at the show in Palm Springs and away from my desk top, i emailed her and said i will pay you right now she said i will pass the chair went for 2100.00 for a knoll tugenhut i did not throw a bid in so I lost she lost,and someone stole a tugenhut chair for 2100.00 dollars,
As Barry knows as well as i do the howard miller clocks are a different story People find them at Garage sales
have no idea what they are worth, and put a reserve of 500.00 thinking they have found the mother ship.
But I guess that is what makes this world go round

so....
would you list for 14 days if such an option existed?
how about 21?
28?

I have certain rules I abide by....
I never ask a seller to stop the auction. It just pisses them off, so I don't bother. If I want an item badly, i save it to watch file and watch it.
If, however, an auction closed that I bid on without reaching the reserve (which I never ask the amount up front), I have no problem emailing them and attempting an off-eBay sale, regardless if it's kosher with eBay for not.
There ARE too many strange eBay bidders, so i try to approach the seller carefully.
It had generally worked well with me.

I
I rarely put reserves, I personally don't like them much- and avoid auctions with them.
On the odd occasion I have placed one, I have no problem disclosing it to any bidder that asks, can't see why anybody would.. it's a minimum they expect, so why no divuldge it..at least any potential bidder knows where to come in..or not..
eBay make more from a reserve than a high starting price, so I tend to start something high if I'm not sure it will do ok..might be a quiet time of year, or I've paid a lot for something.
I realise also that lower starting prices encourage early bids, but the tendency for last minute bids has increased over the years, as has sniping..which I have no problem with at all.
I use a sniper most of the time

Reserves
Instead of a reserve, I just have a Buy it now(or best offer). Reserves drive me crazy.

These two auctions,...
These two auctions, identical items little more than a week apart, seem to be instructive as to the value of setting reserves.....
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/60s-70s-retro-ROBERT-HERITAGE-ROSEWOOD-DINING-TABL...
and
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ARCHIE-SHINE-RETRO-DINING-TABLE-CHAIRS-ROBERT-HERI...
Go figure!

It
It could be that people were put off bidding on the auction with the reserve ?
I think the quality of the photo might have had a small part to play too 😉

Reserves can be a turn-off
to me. It depends on how badly I want an item. If there isn'tr a reserve, but instead a larger opening price, I think that's a better way to get the dough you're looking for.
It just depends....but as a rule, a reserve is a drag.

Reserves helps sellers
I have noticed that when there is a high starting reserve
sometimes it stops bidders who might otherwise be interested
in the item. By putting a reserve you generate early interest and time investment from people who want the item.
Sometimes a bidding war only happens when the price started
low and several people get a "I got to beat the other guy
mentality". It costs more to list the item and I am sure that is one of the reasons.

If it is true that a low start encourages bidders...
... are my friends a strange bunch? Almost everyone I know is put off by them when there is a reserve.
I also note that either buying or selling, the BIN price becomes a maximum. I'm looking to buy Lea Stein cat brooches. They are listed bin at around £30 and almost never go above this price at auction, even when the same design/colour combination is not available as a BIN.

Depends on item I guess
You make a good point about items that have a established
ready supply. With an item like that the seller shouldn't
expect to get much more than the going price. For items
that are rare and in short supply the reserve is a good idea for sellers.

some thoughts
I've been buying and selling on ebay since 1998 and have had over 7,000 transactions. I sell antiques and collectibles, some of it MCM smalls and easily-shippable furniture.
I usually stick to 7-day listings but have done 10-day when it is better for my schedule. Sometimes I am out of town but need to have stuff listed so I just extend the listing time to have it end after I get back rather than waiting to list it. It's nice to have that option.
Regarding reserves---as a buyer, I almost always assume that the reserve is more than I want to pay. It's a knee-jerk reaction, not always right, but there you have it.
That reaction led me early on to decide to start all my auctions at $5 with no reserve. I've listed things worth many hundreds of dollars this way, even when I've paid way more than $5 for them myself.
I think that seeing an Arne Jacobsen chair or a Stig Lindberg bowl for $5 inflames peoples' interest and gets them thinking that they have a good chance of winning it. They start to think of it as theirs already and get very proprietary. They bid and bid again when outbid, generating wonderful bidding wars. It's fun to watch but it also pretty much ensures that I'll get a good price in the end.
I do get a lot of people asking me what my Buy It Now price would be. Hardly anyone offers me a dollar amount, I suppose because they think I don't know what the thing is worth since I started it at $5. They're hoping I'll say "Sure, how about twenty bucks?!?!" Ha ha.
One person offered me a whopping $200 for something, telling me that she was in med school and couldn't afford it herself but that her family would love to buy it for her as a gift, kind of implying that I should be generous and maybe grateful for her offer and that she deserved to have it. I declined. It sold for $800.
I also sometimes do 5-day listings if it's better for my schedule. I get about the same results as with 7-day. But 3-day listings mostly are a bad idea---you miss the people who only look once or twice a week.

Power sellers can even the score
I can see the logic of the situation and know that the more
items you sell the better the odds are that it all evens out at the end. I guess the scary aspect for smaller scale
sellers is that a less recognized designer piece ends up
selling for $5 because it was missed by the public the first time around.

Starting an item at a low price
is a calculated risk-- will enough bidders see it? Does the item have enough of the "right" keywords to find an audience?
I learned my lesson when I sold something that I expected to get $250-300 for. I started the bidding at $99. It sold for $107. (I had very good photos, and a good description, by the way)
The buyer sold it on Ebay months later, and the final price was around $300.
The difference between the two auctions? He starts EVERYTHING he sells for $4.99.
Low starting prices suck buyers in.

I agree
I agree, yet again, with William 🙂
I start things low- but have been caught out...
I've sold things for far less than their marke value
I have had nearly 2000 transactions on there..so know what I'm doing- but it is difficult to predict
eBay does have quiet weeks.. I don't know why, but it does
I have listed with a reserve once or twice and it didn't work for me:
An example; I listed a nice dining suite last year with a reserve..it reached £26..and therefore not the reserve price (£200)
I relisted it the following week for £250 starting price- (the price I really wanted for it)
And it made £275
I don't know what would have happened had I started it at 9.99 - but glad it made it's worth