why would someone place a bid that was double the last bid?

[licoricebabyandfabmama]

Hi I'm really confused.   On two of my items that ended,  I had two separate buyers place bids that were double what the last bud was?  For instance one bid was 8.50,  then the next bidder bid 16.99?   Then the same thing happened on another item by a separate bidder.  I can't help but feel a bit guilty or think it was a mistake on their part,  even though they lost the bid anyway.

[recped]

Proxy bidding.......

On the bid history page look to the upper right for the "show automatic bids" and click on that.

[femmefan1946]

So the second bidder nearly doubled the first bidder's bid, but lost to someone who bid even higher?

I really don't understand the problem.

Your takeaway should be that the item could open at a higher price and still sell. Hope you have more of whatever they are.

[licoricebabyandfabmama]

Lol yes I do, I'm selling old stock for pretty much what I paid to less what I paid wholesale.    I was just surprised,   well mainly I didn't realize there was  a full bidding history I wasn't seeing on the mobile site, I'm only seeing 4 bids. 

[licoricebabyandfabmama]

OK actually going back and looking I'm still confused even after looking at the automatic bidding history.      I understand that when you put in a proxy bid, eBay will increase your bid each time someone bids against you. But it showed the same bidder increasing their bid with no one bidding against them until their 4th bid when they doubled their bid.    Its like they were bidding against themselves?

[recped]

They are bumping up their max proxy bid, just in case. It only appears they are bidding against themselves because another bidder came in. If another bidder didn't show up you would not see the amounts the multiple bidder placed only the number of bids they made.

A winning bidder cannot pay more than one increment above the next highest bid

[licoricebabyandfabmama]

thank you!   I understand now,  after doing a little more research and remembering back to when I used to bid on auctions ;).   The bidder is "chasing the other bidders proxy bid".        He's getting  a message each time he bids that he's been outbid, so he continues to raise his bid, untill finally doubling his bid but still loosing out to the other bidders proxy.     So I can only hope to receive more high proxy bids on my items!     So really,    very inconvenient auction ending times could help me receive higher proxy bids as the buyer knows he can't check in at 2pm while he's in a meeting or at 2am in the morning.    Or it could hinder me because no one bothers to bid at all at the end of the auction.       

[femmefan1946]

Or he could bid once, bid his maximum and let it ride.

Or he could use an electronic sniping service to give his maximum bid in the last few seconds of the auction, annoying everyone but himself and the delighted seller.