Skip to main content

Reply to "e-mail notification when bid too low?"

Danny, everything is working as it should. When a bidder places a bid during an auction, his max does not show, but ONLY ENOUGH TO KEEP HIM AS THE HIGH BIDDER--one increment above the second place bidder's amount. This entry shows up as a single bid. Even when someone comes along later and bids higher, pushing the first place bidder's proxy bid up, the same single bid amount simply shows higher. There are not multiple bids made. Let us look at an example.

Had one looked at an auction while it was going on--shortly after the winning bid's time stamp--one would have seen the eventual winning bidder's name listed as the high bidder, but WITH A LOWER high bid, because the amount shown is only what is needed to keep the winning bid one increment above the second place bidder. If bidder X is the second place bidder at $22, and bidder Y is the current high bidder, the latter's high bid will show as $23, no matter what his maximum bid was--even though he may well have bid $250. One dollar is the increment that Y needs to stay ahead of X at that price level, so that is all that shows. But at the last second, bidder Z, a sniper, comes along and bids $175. This causes Y's bid to use more of its proxy, and when the auction closes, he will be listed as the winner at $177.50, because the increment at that level is $2.50, and one increment above Z's snipe is all that is needed. Like yourself, Z wonders why Y's costly bid did not appear until the end of the auction, but in fact, it had been listed all along, but with a lower bid amount, because only the amount needed to win is shown. Remember, there is NO WAY, during or after the auction, to know what the high bidder's max was. You will always see only one increment above the second place bid.
×
×
×
×