Increments

[sushi_16au]

Hi there,
I just won an auction by 4c! I was wondering how I managed to do that - I thought the increment rule came in? My max bid was $126.89 and another persons was $126.85. They bid about 45 secs before the auction ended and Gixen came in for me 5 secs before the auction ended and I won!! Is it because at the auction end the actual bid was not at the other persons maximum?
Cheers,
Suzanne (sushi_16au)

[Cupid]

It looks to me like you have pretty much answered your own question.

Without seeing the actual auction and the bid history I can not be certain.

What I can be certain of is how eBay bidding works in terms of increments... the incremant is based on the current auction price and has nothing to do with what someone has actually bid (they might be the same value if their whole proxy is spent but that is pretty much irrelevant)... So if the auction price stood at anything less than one incremant below your bid at the time that gixen made it for you then eBay will accept it... and you will win if it is the highest bid placed before the auction closes.... It sounds like that is exactly what happened in this case.

To sumarise whatever price the auction finishes it is always possible to win by 1c (or 1p depending on currency)
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Mark

[juangrande]

Just to elaborate on what Cupid said: the increment is based on the "current bid" (which used to be called "current price" and IMHO still should be). The "current bid" is either the starting bid or the second-highest bid plus one bid increment at that point in time.

Since you won the auction for $126.89, when your competitor bid $126.85, the second-highest bid was no more than $126.89 - $2.50 = $124.39 (and was probably much lower); otherwise, eBay would not have accepted your bid. So yes, the current bid showing when Gixen entered your bid had to be $126.89 or less. But that's what you said in your original post.
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John

If you don't know where you are going, you will wind up somewhere else.
--- Yogi Berra