I have never bid on e-bay, but I have a question for those of you familiar with the process. Why would the same bidder keep outbidding himself??? It seems to me this is a way for a seller to get his price higher. Am I being paranoid , or is there a legitimate reason why this has occured in several auctions I have followed?

might be the seller with an additional screen name. might be the seller's friend. all very likely, and not unheard of...

could be trying to meet the reserve price too

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1985 300D Turbo ~225k
2000 F350 (Powerstroke) 4X4, SWB, CC, SRW, 6spd ~148k
1999 International 4900, DT466e (250hp/660 ft/lbs), Allison MD3060 ~73k

As in previous, bidder may increase bid to meet reserve.

Also,

You can set a maximum for your bid, an the first accepted amount will be the minimum bid increment over the previous winning bidder. If someone else places a bid higher than your current winning bid, but lower than your maximum, your bid will be incremented greater than or equal to the new bidder, and when equal, you will be the winner as you have placed your bid first.

The other bidder may not even be noted as having placed a bid, and the bid list may show your incremental bids, which are responses to other bids, without showing the other bidders' bids.

Would agree with Greg. When you sett a maximum bid, e-bay will only bid you at the lowest amount needed to keep the lead. If someone else bids and is below your maximum, e-bay rebids you at a level above their bid (at the bid increment). Works well when you know how much you are willing top spend, but would like to get the bid at the lowest level possible and do not have the time to watch constantly.

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Bob

03 ML320
99 C230K
85 300D 164K
93 190D 2.3 (sold)
62 220S (sold)
58 220S (sold twice -- a long story)

Its called Proxy bidding. If the last bid is $100 and you bid $200, the computer will automatically set your bid to $100 + the increment, probably $105. It will continue to do this until it reaches your $200 maximum. Then you will have to bid higher than the current to stay in the auction.

P E H

Thank you!