Perhaps Mark should try this in the middle of the night and see if it still happens. :)

You, can use gixen to set up ebay notifications. Although I don't think there is a reason to do that in an ebay auction.

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Aha.... that might explain it. Didn't know that feature existed. Definitely makes more sense now.... thanks!

I have said this before, but I am perplexed by how people bid on auctions in general. I cannot understand why bidders will bid something up day after day and keep raising the price. Is it a testosterone thing to say you have the highest bid?

If I want to win an auction, you’ll never know it until the closing seconds. I’ll fire my max bid at the end and will more than likely win.

Same here. I put in my max, go to bed, and find out if I won in the morning

I have watched items, but I don't know how to set up notifications. Can you provide information about how to do that?

I think that some bidders just reason that everyone has a maximum amount they will pay for an item, and if they want to win they're going to have to outbid them all anyhow, so they might as well just bid now. Especially if they think there's a chance they might not be available for bidding on the night the auction ends. I've certainly done that before. Though it's not my regular approach.

Most people don't have that discipline, and if they can win an auction for one or two levels above what they thought was their max, they'll go for it and rationalize it, especially if tired or inebriated. I see no benefit to pushing up the price early.

Every auction is different.

My guess is it’s mostly a flex when it happens.

You want to top my bid? I crap bigger than you!

Consignors benefit from auctions that encourage and provide extended drinking time.:D

I often do the same.

I would also say that if an auction's rules say you have to have a bid on a given item before extended bidding to be eligible to bid on that item in extended bidding, it might be advantageous to limit the number of competitors by bidding the item up early so some people don't bother putting in a placeholder.

I tend to bid very hard out of the gate. If a card I really want is destined to sail past my max, I want to know that as soon as possible, so I can pivot. I will also respond immediately to outbid notifications and go right over whoever outbid me.

Certainly from a game theory viewpoint, if spending the least is your goal, the optimal strategy is to wait until the last minute to place your bids and hope your competition either times out or drops out. But spending the least isn't the top priority for all bidders. One thing I learned when researching how to solve the eBay shill bidding problem is that legitimate paying bidders implement all sorts of seemingly nonsensical bidding strategies that would look like suspicious activity to most "normal" bidders.

Don't get me wrong, shill bidding is problem in this hobby for sure. But I also think people cast that stone far too quickly when they see a sale or bidding activity that doesn't line up with how they would bid.

This is usually why I've bid heavy in the early stages in the cases where I've done it. It's often because I have a budget of $X and there are multiple cards I want to win, so I want to narrow down my options. I've also done it when there was another copy of the same card going in a different auction and I don't want to miss out on both copies, so I want to get a feel for what sort of competition I'm up against.