I have bought sold a lot of stuff on ebay, using all their tools.
Reserve is certainly the most ridiculous thing they have.
If you aren't selling for less than $100, why start at $1? Do you enjoy wasting your time, and other people's? And ebay charges you to put a reserve on your item!
Every seller and buyer has his own techniques. I have settled on selling almost exclusively as "Buy-it-Now" starting at the highest price I can dream of getting, and dropping incrementally until I sell. That is usually about 10% per week.
I also prefer to buy as "Buy-it-Now" if at all possible, because I am impatient and don't like to play games. I also like a sure thing.
Otherwise, I always snipe. If I am not in a hurry, I put a "lowball" snipe on every item that meets my needs, and eventually I snag one.