It's not all semantics Archie. You can have an auction with a minimum bid and no reserve. Gaming Archaeology does it all the time. Same with eBay. The club auction did until this year.

Minimum bid: The lowest amount the auctioneer will accept to start the bidding.

Reserve: The lowest amount the consignor will accept to sell the lot.

It's not uncommon to have a relatively low minimum bid to get the bidding going and bidders interested. The Reserve keeps the lot from going for less than the owner thinks it's worth. In this case, all the protection is in the minimum bid Rene has selected.

Let's not give him too much of a hard time here <g>.

DonL