but you haven't answered his question 2 (oh and BTW I mean "guys" as a non-gender specific descripton").
quote:
2. If i put a maximum amount of say £10.00 and just before close the price is say £2.00 with a bid increment of say 50p does sniper make my bid £2.50 providing NO ONE else bids on the item?
The answer is that AS bids £10.00. eBay then processes the bid results and assuming that your bid is higher than the proxy bid of the previous high bidder (and no-one else bids in the meantime), you will win and the price will be the lower of (a) £10.00 and (b) the actual amount of the previous high bidder's bid plus one increment.
At the time you bid, you have no way of knowing (except in certain special cases) how much the previous high bidder has actually bid. It is the lower of (a) the amount he actually bid and (b) the previous high bidder's actual bid plus one increment.
The only circumstances in which you will know how much he bid before the aucton closes are (i) you have been watching the auction and the high bid goes up by less than one increment or (ii) you have been bidding and the high bid is less than one increment above the amount you bid.
The bid increment on eBay UK at this level is 20p. Here's the table (from
http://pages.ebay.co.uk/help/buy/bid-increments.html):
Current Price Bid Increment
£0.01 - £1.00 £0.05
£1.01 - £5.00 £0.20
£5.01 - £15.00 £0.50
£15.01 - £60.00 £1.00
£60.01 - £150.00 £2.00
£150.01 - £300.00 £5.00
£300.01 - £600.00 £10.00
£600.01 - £1,500.00 £20.00
£1,500.01 - £3,000.00 £50.00
and up £100.00
The eBay.com table is at
http://pages.ebay.com/help/buy/bid-increments.html and is a little different:
Current Price Bid Increment
$ 0.01 - $ 0.99 $ 0.05
$ 1.00 - $ 4.99 $ 0.25
$ 5.00 - $ 24.99 $ 0.50
$ 25.00 - $ 99.99 $ 1.00
$ 100.00 - $ 249.99 $ 2.50
$ 250.00 - $ 499.99 $ 5.00
$ 500.00 - $ 999.99 $ 10.00
$1000.00 - $2499.99 $ 25.00
$2500.00 - $4999.99 $ 50.00
$5000.00 and up $100.00