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If you've listed a car on any of the online auction platforms, you've probably heard the pitch. “Go no reserve.” More eyes, more watchers, more bids. And to be fair, I get why they say it. A no-reserve car is a guaranteed sale for the platform.

So here at TDV we thought, why not use Sam's data and see if it's actually true? And who better to start with than the king of online auctions, Bring a Trailer. We looked at every BaT auction from the last 12 months: 49,287 of them, sold and unsold.

The top line. 19,035 were no reserve and 30,252 had a reserve. The typical no-reserve auction drew 540 watchers, 26 bids and 5,143 views. The typical reserve auction drew 715 watchers, 28 bids and 6,217 views. Reserve wins on attention, and it isn't close: 32% more watchers.

No reserve wins on one thing, and it's a big one. Every no-reserve car sold. One in three reserve cars didn't.

But you know me. Top-line numbers often tell one story, and once you dig a little deeper, the real one comes out. Here's the catch: the typical no-reserve car sold for $13,500. The typical reserve car sold for $37,500. Cheaper cars go no reserve, and cheaper cars draw smaller crowds. So the fair test is the same car both ways.

Same make, model and year. We matched no-reserve cars against the same make, model and year listed with a reserve, sold and unsold. Reserve cars that didn't sell count at their high bid, the most the market offered. That gave us 1,040 matched model-years covering 20,122 auctions.

Now the platforms have a point. The no-reserve car drew 8% more watchers and 4% more bids. But and it’s a big BUT, the bigger crowd paid less. The same car sold for 22% less with no reserve.

It depends on the badge. BMW, Lexus and Ford ran 26% to 32% lower with no reserve. Porsche was 11% lower. Ferrari and Jaguar were level, so for those cars no reserve cost the seller nothing.

And the risk of a reserve depends on the badge too. Overall, 1 in 3 reserve cars went unsold, but that hides a big spread. Reserve Lexus cars sold 87% of the time and Hondas 82%. Jaguar, Land Rover and Alfa Romeo sold just 62% to 63%. So a Lexus seller gives up little by holding a reserve, while a Jaguar seller is close to a coin flip on whether the car goes home.

The honest caveat. Sellers choose no reserve for reasons. Rougher, higher-mileage and estate cars go no reserve more often, so part of the gap is the cars, not the format. What the data does show is that a bigger crowd doesn't automatically mean a bigger number.

So what should a seller do? Head to GoAskSam.com. The data will tell you whether reserve or no reserve has worked better for your car, and even which day to end it.

As we know, No reserve buys you certainty. A reserve, on BaT at least, has tended to buy you a higher price, if the car sells. Which matters more depends on you and on the car. A Ferrari? Go no reserve and lose little. A BMW? Think hard. A Jaguar? The reserve protects your price but there's a real chance it doesn't sell.

What do you do?

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