eBay bidding - Irregularity?

[raulus]

Originally Posted by smallstocks

I never bid in round prices. For example, I would have bid $150.11.

The only problem is that the bid increment at this level is $2.50, so you would have still lost if your bid came in after the $150.00 bid. You would need to bid at least $152.50 to have won.

I do find myself sometimes fretting over this bid increment rule, where I’ll go to $155, and then I’ll worry that someone else is doing the same thing, so I’ll go a little higher, and then higher still. Next thing you know, I’m up around $185!

[jayshum]

Originally Posted by raulus

The only problem is that the bid increment at this level is $2.50, so you would have still lost if your bid came in after the $150.00 bid. You would need to bid at least $152.50 to have won.

I do find myself sometimes fretting over this bid increment rule, where I’ll go to $155, and then I’ll worry that someone else is doing the same thing, so I’ll go a little higher, and then higher still. Next thing you know, I’m up around $185!

If I'm looking at the bids right, since the OP initially bid $130.00 (9:06:18) the max bid would have shown as $132.50 when he was outbid (9:08:30) so he would have seen a next bid of $135.00 as the minimum required amount (since the max bid of $150.00 by the other bidder wouldn't have been seen). In that case, a bid of $150.11 (at 9:08:51) would have made him the high bidder until the other bidder placed another bid at 9:14:06.

[raulus]

Originally Posted by jayshum

If I'm looking at the bids right, since the OP initially bid $130.00 (9:06:18) the max bid would have shown as $132.50 when he was outbid (9:08:30) so he would have seen a next bid of $135.00 as the minimum required amount (since the max bid of $150.00 by the other bidder wouldn't have been seen). In that case, a bid of $150.11 (at 9:08:51) would have made him the high bidder until the other bidder placed another bid at 9:14:06.

Must be we’re reading it differently.

I’m seeing that both bidders bid $150.00 at the last minute. The losing bidder (1678) bid twice at $150.00, but only after the winning bidder (1436) had already bid $150.00.

If I remember correctly, when there are interim bids, they don’t actually show up in the detail, which may be why it seems like some of the detail gets skipped. Ultimately, the last bid from each bidder are the only ones that matter here.

[jayshum]

Originally Posted by raulus

Must be we’re reading it differently.

I’m seeing that both bidders bid $150.00 at the last minute. The losing bidder (1678) bid twice at $150.00, but only after the winning bidder (1436) had already bid $150.00.

If I remember correctly, when there are interim bids, they don’t actually show up in the detail, which may be why it seems like some of the detail gets skipped. Ultimately, the last bid from each bidder are the only ones that matter here.

If you choose the 'Show automatic bids' option, it's a little clearer what is going on. You can see there is a bid of $132.50 because that's all that was needed to beat the high bid at the time which was $130.00, but the actual high bid made by the winning bidder was really $150.00. When the OP bid again (since he was no longer winning), he would have seen the high bid as $132.50 (since the max bid is not shown) so would have only had to bid $135.00 even though that would also have been beaten by an automatic bid. Since he bid $150.00, the 2 bids were tied so the first one to bid that amount was still the high bidder. Then, the winning bidder made another bid which shows as $150.00 (since he was still high bidder, he didn't need to raise the high bid) but would have really been higher if someone else had bid again.

[raulus]

Originally Posted by jayshum

If you choose the 'Show automatic bids' option, it's a little clearer what is going on. You can see there is a bid of $132.50 because that's all that was needed to beat the high bid at the time which was $130.00, but the actual high bid made by the winning bidder was really $150.00. When the OP bid again (since he was no longer winning), he would have seen the high bid as $132.50 (since the max bid is not shown) so would have only had to bid $135.00 even though that would also have been beaten by an automatic bid. Since he bid $150.00, the 2 bids were tied so the first one to bid that amount was still the high bidder. Then, the winning bidder made another bid which shows as $150.00 (since he was still high bidder, he didn't need to raise the high bid) but would have really been higher if someone else had bid again.

Interesting! Thanks for walking through that detail. Always exciting to better understand the process.

[Gorditadogg]

Nicely explained, Jay. Did you have a career in teaching?

[jayshum]

Originally Posted by Gorditadogg

Nicely explained, Jay. Did you have a career in teaching?

Never was a teacher but I did do a lot of tutoring and also application training when working in IT.