P3D Re: ebay question

[michaelk@xxxxxxxxxxx (Michael Kersenbrock)]

> One can argue that you should bid your ultimate maximum at any
> time and if you get outbid, then it was probably more than you
> were willing to pay. BUT this is not true because you'll often
> be outbid by only a few dollars when the auction closes. Then
> you'll realize that you would have bid a few dollars if you had
> the chance.

Actually, one doesn't really know.  Even the buyer doesn't know
what was bid.  The winner *always* wins by only a few dollars because
their reported bid isn't their maximum bid, but only the proxy-bid
that's one minimum-increment above the second highest bidder's bid.
In other words, the end price is primarily set not by the high bidder
but by the second-high bidder, which is true in live auctions 
as well (except at ebay, the shadow...er... computer knows, but doesn't
tell).

Mike K.


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