A reserve is an amount that bidding must reach before an item will be sold. Items that have a reserve will state "Reserve Not Met" underneath the current bid price until that bid price has been met. Once a reserve price has been exceeded, a notice will state "Reserve Reached!"  

See the following examples:

Reserve has not been met, this item will not sell unless another bid exceeds the reserve price or the reserve is lowered by the affiliate. 

Reserve has been met; this item will sell to the highest bidder.   

*In rare cases an item will be sold "on seller approval," meaning that the highest bid will have to be approved by the seller.  This is different than a Reserve auction, and in this case, there is no notification of the reserve status and this will be disclosed in the auction terms.  

How do I find out how much a reserve is?

The reserve is generally known only to the affiliate running the auction and is not disclosed to bidders.

Can a reserve be lowered? 

Affiliates may lower a reserve at any time before or after an auction closes.  If the reserve is lowered while the auction is in progress, the applicable reserve message will be updated ("Reserve Not Met" or "Reserve Reached!"); the asset will sell to the high bidder if the lowered reserve amount is met. If the reserve is lowered after the auction closes, the highest bidder at auction close will receive a winning bidder invoice.