Re: How redicoulous can Ebay Get?

[a2mg@aol.comNomail (TEXAS II - AppleWorks)]

> t does seem wuite odd that the second place
bidder on both auctions is the same guy and his bid is one dollar less on
each.  

Jason, to understand why the bid is $1 less, you have to understand how ebay
works. Here's what probably happened:

A bidder sees an item he wants. The opening bid is $9.99. To make sure the
bidder gets it, he puts in a high maximum bid, say, $100. The actual bid falls
to $9.99, but behind that bid is a -possible-  maximum of $100.

So the bid is now $9.99, with a maximum of $100.

This way, if any other bidders come along and bid, say, $15, they are
immediately outbid by proxy. The original bidder's bid is bumped to an
increment higher than the new bidder, say, $15.50. 

At the $75 level, that increment is $1. So when a second bidder came along and
bid $74, the original bidder, who had a maximum of $100,  is bumped to $75. 

So the $1 increment is ebay's software pushing the original bid up to beat the
new bidder. Had this second bidder  not  bid at all, the item would have sold
for $9.99.

A few bidders put in a very high max at the beginning and then forget about it.
In this case, he got caught. The same thing happened to one of my other
bidders. In my case, we both realized what happened, and I let him off the
hook.

Who these high-bid dive-bombers are, and how they know there is a high hidden
max bid, I don't know. Or, maybe they are just somebody who really wants the
item also, and they put in a high max bid just to make sure they beat the first
bidder.

First bidder: "Oooh, I really want that, but I'll be in church when the auction
closes." I'll bid $100 to insure that I am not outbid." The ACTUAL bid falls to
$9.99.

Second bidder: "Oooh, I really want that, but I don't know how high the
original bidder's max bid is. I'll bid $75 to make sure I beat him." Instead of
the bid falling to a new level, say $15 or $20, the ACTUAL bid jumps to $76,
because the original bidder's max was higher than the second bidder's max.

That's is what probably happened - now, whether the second bidder was a bona
fide bid or not, I don't know.

That's what happens. Putting is a high max bid at the outset is a dangerous
thing. 

Beverly Cadieux 
http://members.aol.com/A2MG