Sam wrote: "I reserve the right to a reserve auction, at my expense, with the right to privacy. I do this to protect myself from bidders such as you. But it never fails, because people like yourself and Jerry will totally ignore an individual’s paid rights, emailing them asking to be “put in the know” as to what the reserve is. That, in my opinion, is very disrespectful. Anyone with a half a brain and 2 cents worth of class would shy away from this type of practice, but not you. Why not you?"

Asking a seller what the reserve price on an online auction is not only not disrespectful, it is rather common. I've seen a number of reserve auctions that actually reveal the reserve price in the auction description. I also see quite a few sellers who use a reserve to attract attention to an auction lot due to a low opening bid price, they use it as a marketing tool.

When asked to reveal the reserve price, you can reveal it, or respectfully decline to do so. There's no reason to read more into the request than there really is, and there is certainly no reason to feel offended by the question or publicly attack a person for asking it, particularly when the dollar amounts in question are in the 4 or 5 figure range.