Gixen placing bids after I have placed a bid

[talonite01]

[This is similar to the topic entitled \" Gixen placing multiple bid on the same item\" but when I would have replied to it I got this dialog box so just decided to start a new topic.]

I am interested in an expensive item listed on eBay, and if I correctly read eBay's explanation of automatic bidding at that price level the increment is $25. There is no reserve. There was a similar item listed by this same seller, which disappeared. Since there were zero bids on the item in which I am interested, I placed the minimum bid to ensure that it should stay listed.

I still have my Gixen snipe added, with a higher maximum bid. If I understand eBay's automatic bidding correctly, it seems Gixen entering a higher bid eight seconds before the auction ends will be treated as if I had placed a higher maximum bid than my minimum bid, and therefore if I win the item, I will get it for my minimum bid, if no one else has come along and entered a bid.

Am I interpreting this correctly?

I experimented with a low priced item from this same seller that had a bid amount set that I was willing to pay, but a Buy It Now price higher than I was willing to pay. I entered the minimum bid. The Buy It Now price disappeared. Later I went back and entered the slightly higher amount I already had set as a maximum in Gixen. The bid history now records there being two bids, one bidder, and they are for the same amount, the minimum bid. So now it is obvious that I also have a higher bid set, using eBay's automatic bidding, since there are two bids, but the minimum bid is still the bid amount showing. This would suggest to me that if Gixen bids a higher amount near the end, as if I was bidding to set a higher maximum, that eBay would consider the bids and if I win for the item, sell it to me for the lowest amount needed to win it, which might be that first minimum bid. It also suggests that I do not want to manually set a higher maximum bid for eBay to itself use, as it is then obvious there is one,

Thank you for your attention.

[mario]

This is correct. later subsequent bid by Gixen will raise your maximum bid, not the amount you will win for... unless, of course, there are other bidders that raise the price.

[Cupid]

Ebay bidding results in the second highest bidder setting the sale price, that being at most one bid increment above that second highest bidders maximum.

As indicated, bidding against yourself doesn't raise that auction price, but does ensure that, if another bidder comes along later and places a bid, that your highest accepted bid is taken into account in the calculation as to who is subsequently winning that auction and at what price. However, others can indeed see that you've outbid yourself, so they can also tell that the later bid must be at least one bid increment more than your first (lower) bid, because Ebay will only accept bids that are at least one bid increment more than the current auction price. That could encourage others to bid against you, even if they are not very interested in buying that item, since they can bid the minimum amount and be sure that your higher bid will be higher than that.

This does not mean that there's never an advantage to placing an early bid, especially if you wish to remove a Buy It Now price that you think others might take advantage of to buy the item before you get a chance to snipe it. In the past we referred to such bids as 'BIN killing bids'. I don't think anyone has ever come up with a logical reason to outbid such a BIN killing bid with a higher bid, a long time before the end of the auction though.
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Mark