Question on Bid Increments

[capitul8]

Hi! Using a sniping service for the first time, as there's an auction of a super rare collector's item I'd like to win, from a niche interest; last time one was auctioned, there were only a handful of people trying for it and it's looking the same now (only one bidder so far).

I've been doing my research and reading through various threads trying to sort out the rules of eBay's process to ensure I don't mess something up at the last minute.

There are two bids from the same bidder: an initial bid of 100 GBP, and a second bid from the same person of the same amount, which I assume is them setting a max bid. So if I wanted to bid now, the lowest amount ebay would accept is 102 GBP (the current bid of 100+ the increment of 2), and presumably I'd be immediately outbid by the user's max/proxy bid, and the new \"winning\" bid would go up to 104.

I'm planning use Gixen with max bid of 423 GBP, which is roughly my max with a few extra pounds added on.

Just for the sake of the question, assume the other user's max bid is 160 GBP.

My snipe would send the max bid of 423. Since this is above the other user's max bid (160, which I'm just making up for the question), I would have the new \"winning\" bid of 165 - their max (160) + a 5 GBP increment. Thus, the asking price for any new bidders would be 170 or above (my winning 165, plus the 5 increment). If no one else bids, I win and pay 165.

This part makes sense to me.

Question 1) If, at 2 seconds left, someone sent in a snipe of 420 GBP, what would happen, since my max is 423? Would I win with 423, or would I lose on bid increments? If the current asking price is 170, and someone bids 420 - does the new asking price become 430 (420+10 bid increment) and then my 423 bid is rendered moot because it doesn't reach the \"new\" asking price? Or does my 423 still win?

Logically, I recognize that if I bid 423 and someone bids 420 at the last second, I should win, but the concept of bid increments is throwing me off and making me doubt logic. Does ebay just not accept the 420 bid if it's not higher than my 423 max?

Question 2) If, at 2 seconds left, I have the current winning bid of 170 and a max bid of 423, and someone sends in a max bid of 425, that is not subject to bid increments, correct? So they don't have to beat my max bid by an incremental amount (which would be 10 in this case) they can beat my max by anything, since the increments are based on the current winning bid.

Hopefully those questions made sense...every time I think I've got it nailed down, something else doesn't quite fit in with what I've figured out and I have to break it down for myself again.

[capitul8]

Following up my own post because I've figured it out - it took more digging to realize that the incremental part only applies to the visible \"current bid\" on the auction, not the hidden max bids.

So any bid must at least be one increment higher than the visible ?current bid.? As long as it satisfies that condition, it can be submitted and accepted, but it may be immediately outbid by someone else?s max bid.

So if the visible number is 100, current max is 160, and submit a max bid snipe of 423, the new \"current bid\" becomes 5 over the current max of 160, for a current bid of 165.

If someone then bids a max of 420, they're well over the requisite incremental bid, but they are still short of my 423 max bid, and I win the auction with 423.

Bid increments come into play when the visible \"current bid\" price gets close to the highest max bid.

So if I have a max bid of 423 set to fire just before the auction ends, and all of the sudden, two other late bidders ratchet the current bid up to 420 with five seconds left to go, my bid of 423 will fall short of the new requisite bid increment (430), and won't be accepted. But again, this is only in cases where the current bid price gets close to someone's max bid and thus subjects the max bid to the increment rule.

That explains the concept of the bid increment advantage, which confused me in the first place and led to all of this. But I think I've got it all now, please correct me if I've messed anything up.

[Cupid]

To me this sounds like you have this all figured out correctly now.

The fundamental truth that bidders should always bear in mind is that on Ebay the highest accepted bid always wins.

What often confuses people is that what Ebay will accept is based on the current auction price, not on what the high bidders actual (undisclosed/hidden) bid is. The auction price displayed by Ebay is more related to the second highest bidders maximum bid than it is to the current high bidders actual maximum bid.

So, yes, that's why this only really comes into play when there are multiple other snipers involved and they push the auction price up to near your maximum bid before your bid is scheduled to be placed. That is why bidding before other snipers can be helpful in winning more auctions.
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Mark