Bidder A is nervous; "A" figured on his first bid that $1 is what he should bid. A couple of minutes later, "A" wants to be sure he wins, so he increases his bid to $5. Then "A" has a brain vision saying a $5 is not going to win it in the last seconds; so "A" increases with a new bid of $5.75. AH, "A" has seen the light - someone else might be $5.75; "A" decides a bid of $5.76 will win it.
Meanwhile, there has been NO OTHER bidders, just "A". "A" is not bidding against self; "A" is just positioning, ending with, his humble opinion, the winning bid og $5.76. The eBay bid is still showing $1.00 to everyone; "A"'s max bid, shown only to userid "A" is $5.76.
NOW, Bidder "B" arrivals. "B" decides his first and max cheap bid will be $1.75 and enters it. eBay registers and shows another date stamp and $1.75 bid and autobids "A" to $2.00. There is two new bids: "B"'s and a older "A" bid.
Still, ten minutes later, Bidder "C" decides to enter this auction by using a "snipe" bid. "C" decides to program to enter an eBay bid 3 seconds before the eBay's bidding ends. "C"'s bid, 3 seconds before, is his max bid of $55.89.
No other bids are placed. A & B are reflecting; C is on a hot date. At 3 seconds before the end of bidding the snipe programs does its thing and enters "C"s bid of $55.89. A & B are hitting the refresh button every second, see the new bid come in $.25 higher than "A" max bid of $5.76 which is shown first, then "C" bid of $6.01.
Before, A and B can even say "WHAT THE..." the auction ends and C is proclaimed "WINNER". At $6.01 ... no one sees on the auction pages that "C" would have been willing to pay as much as $55.89. A and B learned they couldn't type fast to enter their true max bid of $100.
If A and B had each entered $100 to try and WIN the auction after "C"'s bid, with "B" fingers and DSL reaching the eBay computer at WINNER-2 seconds vs "A" on dialup who is recorded at WINNER-1, "B" is WINNER, because his was the first tying bid.
Hopefully, all have learned a helpful lesson ... eBay is addicting like a pingball machine, is a rush, a thrill to win and MAINTENANCE FEES ARE FOREVER! :hysterical:
Look for info on another post about T/S addiction, the Twelve Step prorgam, and why some TUGGERS do not sign on to eBAY.
