odd bid,lost / bid,won eBay experience

[Empty77]

So what do you make of this odd bidding experience I’ve had with one of the big eBay sellers:?

A few months ago I was bidding on a mostly unremarkable late-60s Topps team card (and not a world series winner, just a regular ol’ team card), though high end and relatively low pop; over the past decade always sold in the $200-300 range, though with the most recent sale of $440 in 2016. I estimated it could perhaps go for $five something this time at most, and because I wanted it and didn’t want to mess around, I put out a bid of $seven something in the waning seconds, and even if it did take that full amount it wouldn’t have bothered me. But that’s not what happened…

I was instantly outbid by the minimum of $10 or whatever, with no time left to respond since I was so surprised. Oh well, I thought, a little odd someone wanted that relatively non-descript item more than me today…

Then, exactly 3 months later, and I mean exactly on the 91st day after the sale, meaning just beyond the reach of eBay’s “completed” sale search, the exact same card lists again via the same prominent seller.

Because it seemed weird I was a little hesitant, but ultimately handled it the same way and won it this time, for $five something (not to brag too much, but I am quite good at forecasting). But it doesn’t answer the question of what’s going on that first time. Was that not a real sale?? How could it be? What knucklehead would “overbid” on an item like that if they weren’t serious about wanting it and instead turn it immediately back over to relist? Do they think it’s 2016 all over again, or is that some sort of funny business I don’t quite understand, fishing somehow for max sale values?