OT: E-bay confusion

That, then, is effectively the reserve price.

This is generally true, but there are some categories of product where a bid from a well known dealer or expert in a field[1] will create demand where previously it might not have existed. So they need to manage multiple proxy accounts or snipe to avoid that.

I didn't go anywhere with it, as I had more important distractions come along. And checking today, it appears to have not been sold, and the auction has ended. So nobody thought, like me, that it was worth £120.

And folks who rarely, if ever, use it, so are not familiar with how it works, especially things that are not obvious.

So now is a great time to message them with an offer...

No, there is an offer at below the starting price. The auction would have had a 'Make Offer' button below the 'Bid' button. Someone has made an offer, ebay told you, as you have it in your watched items list, so you you could make an offer, or bid on it. The seller could reject, accept, or make a counter offer to the prospective buyer.

The 'Contact Seller' link has disappeared. And there are no 'Seller's Other items'. I think it's off the radar at the moment. Oh well, that's life.

I found the link, on an old copy of the webpage, and I have made an offer. It will almost certainly be rejected, but what the hell.

And the answer came back that it has sold for £105, which is more then my offer. Fair enough.

The seller may well relist it with a lower reserve.