Maybe I'm oversimplifying things, but it seems to me that if you bid less than you would be willing to pay and lose the item because you were either outbid or didn't reach the reserve, hidden or otherwise, then you don't have anyone to blame but yourself. If you bid as high as you are willing to go and still don't reach the bar, that's one thing, but if you're lowballing yourself, you must not want it as bad as you thought.[/QUOTE]
That sounds good in theory, but then why do so many people stay up all night to fight it out for the final bid? There's some psychology there that I've never understood, other than distrust of the ceiling bid process, but it's widespread nonetheless. If I didn't trust an auction house, I'm not bidding in their auction, otherwise I'm always happy to plug in my maximum and let it ride. Same is true of sniping on eBay. Of course, it's discouraging to be the underbidder, but you have to draw the line somewhere and let the chips fall where they may.
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