High Bidders Who Overbid on Ebay?

[frankbmd]

Increasing your max bid on Ebay does not require any minimum increment. If a bidder is the high bidder at $99.99, he can then sequentially place bids of $100, $100.01, $100.02, $100.03, etc. for as long as he wants to. The bid count will go up, but otherwise nothing changes. An underbidder seeing a string of overbids by the high bidder could react in several different ways.

1. He could be intimidated thinking the high bidder was out to win at all costs.

2. He could be vindictive and sequentially increase the bid slowly to force the high bidder to pay more.

3. He could be seriously interested in the item and raise the bid in a playful manner to determine if there was any pattern (ie fixed increment) to the overbidders pattern, so as to determine what a successful snipe bid might be without shooting the moon.

There may be other motives for either bidder, either of whom might be accused of shilling with a pattern such as this, but starting another shilling thread is not my intent.

I have considered the string of penny overbids to intimidate other bidders, but have never done it. All it takes is one underbidder, who doesn't even realize he is being intimidated to foil that strategy. Otherwise it just seems foolish to me to overbid multiple times as the end result will probably be a higher price paid regardless of which party wins.

If the high bidder has overbid just over the previous high bidder and below the incremental bid, which is easily determined, a single overbid to establish a new unknown threshold seems like a fair strategy.

I guess my question is how do members react when they see a string of 3 or more bids by the high bidder at the top of the list. Are you intimidated (#1), vindictive (#2), just a playful pattern seeker (#3), or suspect a shill (#4)?

I suppose (#5) should be added for those who place such overbids. And I would ask your reasoning for such bids, if I am missing something.

Added note: My son's PhD thesis was on "Auction Theory", which we discuss from time to time. I guess he's just a chip off the old block.