it's STORYTIME!!!
Once upon a time there was a widget offered in a 7-day ebay auction (or was it a 9-day??). Anyway, the minimum opening bid was $299.99.
ana..........$370.66..........Nov-19-03 13:54:33 PST
ana..........$370.66..........Nov-18-03 15:21:56 PST
parna........$365.66..........Nov-19-03 17:30:14 PST
happy........$300.00..........Nov-13-03 20:39:59 PST
About 6 days before the auction ends, Happy places a $300 bid (the very first bid!). If you look at the auction screen at this point, it shows 1 bid placed, the winning bid at $299.99, and Happy as the winning bidder.
About 1 day before the auction ends, Ana places a bid for an amount we can’t know. What we DO know is the bid is for MORE than $370.66. For the sake of this explanation, lets say the amount Ana bid is $380. If you look at the auction screen at this point, it shows 2 bids placed, the winning bid is at $305 (one bid increment above Happy’s bid), and Ana is the winning bidder.
Maybe before Ana’s bid, maybe after, Sniper Parna takes a look at this auction and decides to snipe it. With the current winning bid showing $305, Parna decides to snipe a bid of $365.66 and sets up a snipe on Auction Sniper with a lead time of 8 seconds.
Then, about 3 ½ hours before the auction ends, Ana gets nervous! While holding the current winning bid at $305 with a max proxy bid of $380, Ana is concerned somebody might snipe a higher bid than that! Ana REALLY wants the widget, and decides it is worth $420 to her. So Ana places ANOTHER bid (bid#2) for $420. (Based on what we can see in the bid history, all we really know for sure about Ana’s 2 bids is that BOTH of them are MORE than $370.66. They could be $400 & $450, or $371 & 400, or $500 & $1000, etc.! For this story, we’ll just say Ana’s 2nd bid $420). So at THIS point, Ana has TWO bids on this item, both of which are HIGHER than the winning bid showing on the screen. If you look at the auction screen at this point, it shows 3 bids placed, the winning bid is still at $305, and Ana is the winning bidder.
Then 8 seconds before the auction ends, AuctionSniper places Parna’s bid for $365.66. BOTH of Ana’s bids are higher than Parna’s. If you look at the auction screen at this instant, it shows 4 bids placed, the winning bid is at $370.66 (one bid increment above the $365.66 snipe), and Ana is still the winning bidder. That’s how the auction ends. As you see in the bid summary, BOTH of Ana’s bids have “floated” to the top, because both of them are AT LEAST 1 bid increment more than the next highest competitive bid (the $365.66 snipe).
I think that pretty well sums it up! While we can’t know exactly what Anna bid (either time) for the item, I think we can recognize the obvious! – Ana REALLY wanted the thing!
If anyone thinks this analysis is faulty
, I’d be interested in hearing an alternative explanation."...and they lived happily ever after!"
Jabbergah
