Snipe of a reserve bid item

...it does always work this way. It wouldn't matter if you had bid $954.26 - or any amount $139 or above - because ebay has proxy bidding.

With proxy bidding you enter your MAXIMUM bid (or have AS do it for you). Ebay will bid on your behalf UP TO your max bid. But, if your max bid is higher than the next highest bidder's max bid, ebay will bid up only one bid increment (in this case $2.50) on your behalf. This applies whether you bid the traditional way, or snipe.

So, that's what happened with your auction...you set up a snipe for $152.52. The then-highest bidder in the auction had a proxy bid of $136.50. When your snipe was placed with ebay, it was taken as your maximum bid (proxy bid), but the price of the auction only went up one bid increment ($2.50) from $136.50 to $139.00. If that other person had a proxy bid of $150.00, you still would have won (because you would have bid $2.52, or slightly more than one bid increment MORE than the other bidder), as long as your snipe is at least one bid increment higher than the highest bid.

I assume you didn't meet the reserve price and therefore you didn't win the auction. If this is the case, it's because your max bid was not high enough. If it had been high enough, the current price of the auction would have become the reserve price, regardless of what you actually bid.

Sorry for being long-winded.

Richard

[This message was edited by big-bus-fan on September 20, 2002 at 11:21 PM.]

Richard, you wrote "If that other person had a proxy bid of $150.00, you still would have won (because you would have bid $2.52, or slightly more than one bid increment MORE than the other bidder), as long as your snipe is at least one bid increment higher than the highest bid."

You forgot to mention that if our AS sniper's bid had been placed *earlier* in the auction than the other person's bid (an unlikely scenario, but possible where two snipers are involved) then even one cent more or a tie would have been enough to win. Bid increments only apply to later bids.

...and thanks for the back-up.

There really are a lot of little nuances when it comes to auctions and sniping. They are easy to learn and remember, but sometimes it takes a while to encounter a situation where you will learn them.

Anyway, thanks Steve, and good luck, ggr!

Richard