Out sniped...how does this work?

Hi John,

Getting a handle on proxy bidding can be difficult at first. When your bid went in, the price of the item was something lower than $23 (your $23.50 bid less a $.50 bid increment). The winning bid was $23.51, but that wasn’t the price of the auction when your bid was placed. You’re $23.50 bid caused the price of the item to go up to $23.51. Hope that helps.

Here’s some tips that might be helpful:
http://www.auctionsniper.com/TipsSheet.aspx

Thanks Rick,
What I don't understand is that if his bid was put in higher than my snipe and put in earlier, then why wasn't his bid forced up to $24 by my snipe as per this quote taken from the page you referenced:

"So a snipe of $52 will look perfectly fine until it snipes and you lose to the max bidder at $53."

So can I assume his bid was only for $23.51? or would it still have only gone to $23.51 even if his proxy bid was $100?

John,

Well, first off, the most that a proxy bid will increase at this price range is $.50:
http://pages.ebay.com/help/buy/bid-increments.html

And, the top bid didn’t go up to $24 because the top bidder bided $23.01.

quote:

So can I assume his bid was only for $23.51?

No assumption – his/her bid WAS $23.51. Had your bid been $23.52, instead of losing by one penny, you would have won by one penny.

quote:

or would it still have only gone to $23.51 even if his proxy bid was $100?

If you were the only other bidder, and you sniped at $23.50, and had the proxy bid had been $100, your $23.50 would have cause the closing price to be $24 (your $23.50 bid plus $.50 increment).

I think I've got it now. Since the s&h was $6.50 and I figured I'd go $30 total, I put my bid at $23.50. The winner was savvy and figured someone might do that so chose 23.51 for his proxy.
However, you say:

"Had your bid been $23.52, instead of losing by one penny, you would have won by one penny."

but wouldn't I have had to bid $24.01 to beat his previously placed bid of $23.51 by 50c?

Thanks for the education,
John

Good questions, John.

quote:

but wouldn't I have had to bid $24.01 to beat his previously placed bid of $23.51 by 50c?

Nope. Just like the other bidder only had to have a $23.51 bid to beat your bid by one penny.

The increment only means that the bid has to be at least an increment above the “current price” – it does not mean that the bid has to ALSO be at least an increment above the top bidder’s “proxy bid”. That could cause a bidder to have to reach two increments, which isn’t the way ebay works.

Make sense?

Tough stuff to understand, but you sound like you're there, or very close.

P.S. It wasn't that long ago that someone (I think Robert) had to explain all this to me AND some other members.

I got it now. So I literally missed it by 2c.
Oh well, I guess this falls under the catagory of a "cheap education"!

Thanks again,
John