can someone explain this ebay bid history?

CrazyMind2017

http://offer.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewBids&item=260794838870

Traditional auction, no reserve, no BIN, $30 starting price.

Bidder 1 enters the first 11 consecutive bids.

Bidder 2 then enters a bid of $35.00.

Now bidder 1 is the current high bidder at exactly $35.00, but seemingly has 5 bids higher than $35. So even if each successive bid was only increased by $0.01, the current high bid should be at least $35.05.

How is this possible? Is it another ebay glitch related to them screwing around with bid increments a few weeks ago?

AkbarClone

No glitch.

If two persons place an exact same bid ($35 in this case), the first person who placed that bid is the high bidder at that amount.

CrazyMind2017

Right, I get that, but according to the bidding history, the first bidder increased his bid 5 times AFTER entering his $35.00 bid. The second bidder put in the most recent bid, but it's only the 6th highest of the 12 bids.

Therefore, the second bidder's $35.00 bid should bump up the current high bid to $35.00 plus the bid increment, or at least to the first bidder's actual maximum if it's > $35 but < $35 + increment.

SportsCardCollector

<< <i>No glitch.

If two persons place an exact same bid ($35 in this case), the first person who placed that bid is the high bidder at that amount. >>


I think AkbarClone is right. It's like two pieces in a board game landing on the same spot ($35). But the first bidder gets to claim the spot because he was there first. If the second bidder had bid $35.01, then he would have owned the high bid spot by himself ($35.01) and he would have forced the first bidder to his next higher bid or the bid increment (36.01), whichever was less.

Sean1125

I think everyone needs to read what Crazy posted before rattling off.

He's not questioning why he's questioning how the auction has the same bid listed so many times.

CrazyMind2017

Thanks Sean. If $35.00 was really the top bidder's highest maximum bid, it wouldn't show up 5 times at the top of the bidding list. It would show up only once.

BunchOBull

I've never seen it so many times, but is it possible, the high bidder upped his bid a few times, but was never outbid at his original bid?

benderbroeth

i won a card today and i added a new highest bid..i had a earlier bid the highest i went was $55 or something today i raised it to $71.99 i won at $50.50.....i think it would show me with 2 high bids i am not sure.

cards651

I tend to agree with CrazyMind. If Bidder #2 bid $35, the current bid should be $35 plus the required increment (.50 or $1.00?). Bidder #1 should be the current high bidder at $35.50 or $36.00 (just not sure of the increment). Are we missing something? Even if Bidder #1's higher bids only total $35.30 as an example, shouldn't the current bid be $35.30? Cannot understand how the high bid can be the highest bid of Bidder #2.

Dpeck100

It looks to me that he has entered three higher bids. Every time you bid no matter the position it records it. It is not that un common to have a top bidder raise there max and not have the actual price change but the number of bids change.

When I loked at this yesterday it did look strange with 5 new bids and I am guessing with two of them being beaten he is just moving up his bid in small incraments.

AkbarClone

If I placed 10 bids on an auction (ranging from $5 to $45 bucks), and one of my middle bids was $35--and then a new bidder bids $35 (an exact match of one of my bids), the current auction price would be $35 (even though I have higher bids placed), and all the higher bids would show as $35 until another bidder bids. I could also start adding 10 more bids after this, and all of the new bids would show as $35--until another bidder places a bid.

No glitch--just the way it works.

It does not raise to the next increment (or at least the next higher bid) until a new unique bid is placed.

Why doesn't the board's eBay god/master just post and end the discussion?

wallst32

What Akbarclone just said...

Most people are accustomed to just placing a single bid, and the behavior most are expecting is based on a single max bid. But the action is different when multiple bids are placed (doesn't matter if it's the same bidder or not).

CrazyMind2017

I understand exactly what you're saying, but I never thought it worked that way.

So hypothetically, take these two different scenarios:

Auction #1: Bidder A enters the first 9 bids in the auction in the amounts of $30.00, $32.00, $34.00, $35.00, $36.00, $37.00, $38.00, $39.00, $40.00.
Bidder B enters a single bid of $37.00.
Nobody else bids.
The final price is $37.00. Bidder A is the winner.

Auction #2: Bidder C enters the first 9 bids in the auction in the amounts of $30.00, $32.00, $34.00, $35.00, $36.00, $37.00, $38.00, $39.00, $40.00.
Bidder D enters a single bid of $37.01.
Nobody else bids.
The final price is $38.01. Bidder C is the winner.

Is that basically correct? If this is the case, then it would be advantageous to enter several thousand bids, all a penny apart, so you'd never have to pay the bid increment; you'd only have to pay the under bidder's actual maximum.

cards651

Thanks, AkbarClone. It now makes sense. Of course, once you see it, it seems so obvious. Perhaps this has been covered before but it was helpful to me.

CrazyMind - That is a good example and you would seem to be correct on the multiple bid issue. There must be an app out there to enter bids a penny apart. If you could always avoid the incremental price bump ($.50 to $1 per auction?), you have some savings over the course of a year.

digicat

<< <i>Auction #2: Bidder C enters the first 9 bids in the auction in the amounts of $30.00, $32.00, $34.00, $35.00, $36.00, $37.00, $38.00, $39.00, $40.00.
Bidder D enters a single bid of $37.01.
Nobody else bids.
The final price is $38.01. Bidder C is the winner.

Is that basically correct? If this is the case, then it would be advantageous to enter several thousand bids, all a penny apart, so you'd never have to pay the bid increment; you'd only have to pay the under bidder's actual maximum. >>



Entering a bunch of multiple bids doesn't get added up and treated like 1 single bid by Ebay.

In the example you give, Auction #2 would end with a final price of $38, not $38.01. Bidder D's $37.01 bid would outbid the $37 bid, but since there was also a $38 bid on the table, it'd bump up to that.

So, yes, if you were to enter several thousand bids in 1 cent increments, you would avoid paying the bid increment, and only pay the under-bider's actual maximum. Would you really want to take the time to do that though?