nem wrote:Can someone explain to me how a single bidder can push up the price
from $1,075.00 to $5,499.99?
I'm pretty sure you can't bid against yourself.
It's pretty simple if you understand how bidding works.
Basically, earlier bids of the same amount always take a higher priority.
So let's say you've found the sealed VGA-graded game of your dreams (
like SHAQ FU dafuq), it's being started at 1¢ (still not worth it lol) and somehow magically no one else has bid on it yet. So, because you don't understand how eBay bidding works (RTFM n00b), you bid 1¢.
5 days later (or whatever), the auction is winding down and no one else has bid on it (zOMG YOU'RE GONNA WIN A SEALED SHAQ FU FOR 1¢!!!!!). Then, all of a sudden, with 1 hour to go, you see another bid come in for 5¢. A NEW CHALLENGER!
However, what you don't know (and can't know, otherwise the system doesn't work), is that the other bidder has actually bid $30,000 (or whatever). Because you only bid 1¢ (and you're the only other bidder), the system will only automatically bid as high as needed to win the auction, up to the maximum bid you entered.
So at this point you're thinking to yourself (n00b), "Ha ha, I will wait until 5 seconds left and bid $100 and I will win!" I AM A BADASS PRO SNIPER EXTREME
WRONG IDIOT
What will happen is, you will bid $100, and the system will automatically enter another bid from the other bidder (probably like $105, whatever the automatic increment is at that point) immediately afterwards. The auction just jumped from 2¢ to $105.
In fact you could have bid $30,000 and you still wouldn't have won, because the earlier bid always takes priority.
So, take an eBay lesson from uncle shmuppyLove -- enter the maximum you're willing to pay as early as you can, and you will never <airquotes>lose</airquotes>. I put lose in airquotes because you may not win the item, but you didn't pay more than you were willing to either. And, if you're lucky, sometimes you'll win it for less than the max you were willing to pay.
Always remember that these are auctions, and if there is someone else bidding that is willing to pay more than you, you will never win, unless they are a n00b that doesn't understand how eBay bidding works, but why take the risk?
