posted on November 3, 2000 03:54:00 AM
I'm not sure if I'm just imagining things, or if this is something that has been around for a while and I'm just noticing it, but, I've noticed lately that when I bid on an item, the final bid amount seems much higher than it used to be. Example: Starting bid is $3.00; first bidder bids $4.00 (if no one else bids, s/he would get the item for $3.00?). Then if I come along and bid $6.00 on the same item, it used to be that the initial starting bid of $3.00 would go up $.25 or whatever the increment was, and the final bid would be a little over $3.00, but I notice lately that it's what my final bid was (6.00) that I end up paying. I'm not sure if anyone knows what I'm referring to, and if so, could someone let me know if there have been changes made in bidding increments or is this how it's always been? Thanks.
posted on November 3, 2000 04:13:56 AM
If the first bidder in your example put in a proxy of $4 and you came along and bid $6, the high bid would go up to one increment above the first bidder's proxy, not the starting price, so it would be $4.25 (or whatever the increment is).
If you win the item at your proxy of $6, that means the first bidder put in a proxy of somewhere between $5.75 to $5.99. If they had put in a proxy of $6, they would have won since the earlier bid wins in a tie.
