Why bidding war?

[simplynightbird]

In what i'm looking for, there's always a few to go in what seems an ego war or on an adrenaline trip, to inflate the prices and just lose to someone sniping. People don't understand eBay bidding or there is something i'm missing? Why would you want to fix the max you put on something and change your mind 5x times

Set a max bid:

Increase max bid:

 

Increase max bid:

  

[femmefan1946]

They may not understand how automatic bidding works.

They may be on an ego trip (is this some macho item?)

They may not trust automatic bidding.

The adrenoline wouldn't kick in until the last few moments usually.  Those are the ones who scream about being beaten by a single dollar at the last second because they don't understand what maximum bid means, how increments work, and the existance of sniping services.

[recped]

The bidder did bid their max but then they got outbid and came up with a new max (several times).

I think it's more a case of no being sure what ones max bid is rather than not understanding how proxy bidding works.

In the end that kind of activity will probably end up being good for you.

[ricarmic]

Yes as you are posting this in the seller forum, this is what we LOVE to have happen!!!

Another reason it might be happening is the bidder is not really sure what it is worth and the other bidder(s) convince them that it is worth more a chunk at a time.

Yet another reason might be that the bidder wants to "interrupt" the other bidder(s). Ie if I'm fighting with another bidder and they keep upping the price and I really want it, I'll let it stop with them being the highest bidder, hoping they go away and I'll come back later on and bid again later with a higher number.

I've noticed a lot of bidders bid once early on, then come back and bid again (likely with their real max) in the closing hour/minute/second. This behaviour is also likely to avoid slow progressive increases in the price over the time of the auction.