Reservation Price – 3 Things every Professional Should Know

For this article, it’s time to learn what reservation price means. We are going to define the term, learn more about what it can do for your procurement process, and know when to take advantage of it.

After reading this article, you should already have an idea of what reservation price is all about.

What Exactlyis Reservation Price?

Reservation price, to put it simply, is the least price that you can get that will make you accept a negotiated agreement. 

Of course, there are also two sides to this. For the buyer, the reservation price would be the maximum or bottom line that they would pay while for the seller, it’s the minimum amount of money that they can accept before accepting the deal. 

Sounds familiar? That’s because you’ve already encountered a reservation price in one of our earlier articles about the breakpoint in negotiations. The reservation price is also called the walk-away point of a negotiation. 

If you don’t get the reservation price even after countless hours of negotiation, then it’s either you make a concession or you walk away.

In biddings, the auction’s starting prices usually start lower than the reserve price to gain the interest of the buyers. However, you must take note that the reservation price is different from the opening bid. 

The purpose of the reservation price is to protect the seller’s interest where his or her item will not be bound to be sold at a lower price than his or her reserved price. Thus, if the seller gets the last bidding, which is usually less than the maintained reservation price, he or she is not required to execute it. 

Reservation Price Vs Opening Bid

The reservation price and opening bid are usually used interchangeably. However, they are both different from each other. 

The reservation price is the minimum price a seller can willingly accept. On the other hand, the opening bid is the amount suggested to start the bidding. Bidders are not required to accept the opening bid. If no one bids, then the auctioneer will lower the starting bidding price. 

If an opening bid is too high, then many buyers may start to be disinterested even if the auctioneer will lower the price. Thus, professional auctioneers start with a lower starting bid to gain the interest of the buyers. 

Once the auctioneers get the interest of the bidders, then the buyers will likely become more invested and the price will continue to increase until it is sold. 

Is BATNAthe same as Reservation Price?

BATNA, also known as “Best Alternative to No Alternative”, may sound like the same as reservation price, but the former is actually very different from the latter. A reservation price, as mentioned, is the last acceptable price that you are willing to accept for a negotiated deal. The BATNA, however, is your backup plan of action in case negotiations have failed. 

BATNA also answers negotiations with specific scenarios instead of prices. So, for example, if you’re discussing a deal where your aim is getting a bid of $1 million, you can perhaps specify your reservation price to $300,000 or more. As with your BATNA, if in case negotiations are prolonged and a decision is still unclear, your BATNA can be to suggest for a recess and get back for re-negotiations.

Determiningthe Reservation Price

So now we have a good idea on what the reservation price, how exactly do we determine the reservation price for every negotiation? Well first off, the reservation price should be something that is agreed upon by you and your negotiations team. If you’re working for a procurement company or team, the reservation price is commonly decided by the leader of the team, which is always the procurement manager or procurement director.

But if you’re negotiating on your own or if you’re in an informal setting, your reservation price depends entirely on you. It is almost always the last price you’ll agree to be comfortable for you. You also need to determine whether the reservation price is acceptable for the other party too. Set it too high and you’ll instantly get a walkout. Set the reservation price too low though and the other party will take advantage of it.