Yes - EBay “proxy bidding” only ups the bidding by “one bidding increment” at a time.
This is true with “advance” bidding & sniping…
If a bid is entered at say £50 but the first acceptable bid is £5 the current bid shows as £5
Which is what you are bidding against. (lets assume the bidding increment is £1)
Any (higher) bid will increase the current bid (in £1 increments)
So if “player 2” bids £8 the bidding will go:
Initial bid player 1: £5 (£50)
Player 2: £6 (£8)
P1 (auto/proxy): £7
P2 (A/P): £8
P1 (A/P) £9 (£50). - The intermediate bids do logically exist)
In order for P2 to “win” they need to bid £51+
and it doesn’t really matter if they manually do it in any number of increments/amounts
Only £51+ will allow them to win
P1 can win at any increment - above where the later bidder stops.
Including a “few pence” above the later bid
(The full amount of the initial bid was accepted as an acceptable bid when posted)
Any later bid has to beat the earlier bid by more than an increment.
My argument is:
If you bid your MAXIMUM bid early you will “win” - In that you will pay the minimum price possible for the item (below your maximum)
If someone else bids more (than you max) they will win
- BUT their MINIMUM winning price WILL BE HIGHER than your MINIMUM winning price!
Proxy bidding just means that the price only increases to a single bid increment above a rival (very similar to a “real” auction Commission bid)
As previously stated any user has every opportunity to bid at any point - irrespective of other peoples actions.
(I accept that an early bid does indicate/tell other people that “someone” is interested - but they have no idea if the initial bid is actually higher).
I am in full agreement about the futility of incremental bidding……..