Belt Auction

Ebay bidding help - I don't understand automatic bids? ?

I just don't understand the bidding process. the bidding details page say that only actual bids are shown and not the automatic ones. i don't get the automatic bids! look at this picture of the bids on this item: http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd293/snowyeyes_2007/ebay2.jpg Why do people keep bidding repeatedly?? Aren't the automatic bids supposed to bid for them? I'm so confused. Please help me understand. And why are those people raising the freakin price that high??? Thanks that helped A LOT! I am still trying to process it, lol, but I will contact you with any questions if I need to..but yeah, you did a great job explaining!

Public Comments

1. Automatic bids are also a type of proxy bid. I'll do my best to explain. When someone decides they want to bid on an item (without a reserve to keep things simpler), they can choose to simply enter the minimum bid or they can enter the maximum they are willing to bid on it (provided it's larger than the min. bid) but the system will only show the current amount at the lowest successful bid. When someone else comes along to bid, they will increase the first bidder's bid amount all the way up to their maximum amount on their behalf (a proxy bid) until that new bidder has exceeded that amount. Some people never do and just give up. So- to clarify with an example: There is a book on Ebay with an current minimum bid of 10.00. You come along and decide the MOST you would pay for this book is $25.00 so you enter this in the bid box, just as any bid. No one else has yet bid on it, so you are the current high bidder at 10.00. Another person comes along and thinks- Hmmm, I too like this book and wish to buy it. They bid $15.00. Ebay automatically ups your bid to meet or exceed their bid and you remain the high bidder. This person tries again with $20.00. Again, ebay will up your bid to $20.00 and you remain the high bidder. If the person tries again at 25.00- the exact same amount you enter, YOU will remain high bidder by virtue of being first (the first to enter that bid amount). However, the moment they bid $25.50 or higher, they become the high bidder and will win if no one exceeds THEIR maximum bid price. So in essence, Ebay's system continues to up your bid on your behalf up to the amount you told it you would pay. If a person attempts in small incriments- it'll show up on the bid history as multiple bids by the same person because they continued to have the winning bid that many times. So in my last example, the bid history would show you having a bid at $10.00, $15.00, $20.00, and $25.00 because that's what ebay bid for you as someone else was attempting to bid on it. If you're still confused I can try to explain it more by email. Hope this helped.