Expert: Marvinator - 1/22/2005

Question
so its impossible for one bidder to go from let's say $1 to $150 without an input of another bidder right? the proxy system won't allow the bidder to go that high, only the next increment.

In the bidding history if we use the same scenario and bid starts at $1.  Bidder A puts $10 infront.  Now bidder A is high bidder with bid being $1. Bidder B comes in and puts $5. He ofcourse is going to get outbid by proxy system of bidder A. Now Bidder A wins at bid of $5.25. Now question, is the bidder B going to be shown in the bidding history?

Thank  you so much


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Followup To
Question -
Hello Marvinator,

I have sold 6 items on ebay.  I'm not a rookie but still have some questions unanswered.  I was a little confused with the maximum bid that ebay offers.  Is it possible to singlehandadly raise the price of the product from let's say $10 to $200 going around the next minium bid which would probably be $10.50 or something?  Also before I bid on a product I'm interested in I try to size up competition by looking them up.  How come one name can appear in the bid history many times in the row like  jack192....$100, jack192.......$120  jack192......$175..and so on? Doesn't somebody have to beat your bid in order for you to place another one?
I hope I explained my questions good.  Thanks

simadana27
Answer -
What is confusing you is the Ebay proxy system. This is the system which actually bids FOR you in auction situations.

This is how it works.  Let's say there is an item with an opening bid of $1.00.  Along comes bidder A. He feels that he can pay as much as $10.00 for the item.  So, rather than bid $1.00, he actually puts in a bid of $10.00.  The winning bid now shows as $1.00, and Bidder A as the current high bidder.  

Along comes bidder B. He also wants the item and puts in a bid of 7.50.  The winning bid now shows at 7.75 with the High Bidder as Bidder A.  That's right, Bidder A.  The proxy system has permission from Bidder A to bid as high as $10.00 so it went ahead and placed a second bid of $7.75 against Bidder B to win the bid.  (This is why the bid history will show several bids by one person. A new bid is placed by the Proxy system each time it makes a bid for someone.)

To finalize this thought (and our made up auction), let's say along comes Bidder C.  He places a bid for $20.00.  The high bidder is now shown to be Bidder C, with a high bid of 10.25.  The proxy system used just enough of Bidder B's $20 proxy to outbid the current high bidder.  

Now, one more thought.  Bidder C is concerned that he not lose this item, and so he wants to raise his proxy.  He actually bids AGAIN, inputting a proxy bid level of $30.  The system is set up so that one bidder cannot bid against themselves, so the current high bid still stands at $10.25, with Bidder C as the Current High Bidder.  If the auction were to end, Bidder C would win and only pay $10.25.

I hope this helps.  

Answer
As I stated, a bidder cannot bid against themselves.  In some instances, it may LOOK like a bidder is bidding against themselves when they put in a second bid and the bid jumps more than the bid increment.  This is most likely due to a reserve on the auction.

Let's say a bidder looks at an auction with a $1.00 opening bid and a reserve and bids $10.  His bid is now the highest at $1 BUT, there is no WINNING bid because the Reserve has not been met.  In an effort to raise his proxy, the bidder bids again at $20 and suddenly the winning bid now shows $15!  It may indeed appear as if the bidder has bid against them selves, but in truth he was bidding against the reserve (which in this case, was set at $15.) Since his proxy bid was at or above the reserve, the bid jumped immediately to the reserve.

In answer to your other question:  Yes, anyone who inputs a bid in an auction will show up in the bid history.  

I hope this has helped.