Question about shady ebay bidding

[squt]

I don't know if any of you can answer this, but is there a way to find out what someone's max bid is without them knowing, or it showing up in the bid history?

Reason I ask is, lately I've been outbid at the last minute by someone on just about every beta single I bid on anymore.  I know a lot of people do 'ebay sniping', but last night I sniped myself on a goblin king I wanted.  I was the high bidder, but with one minute left, I overbid on my own bid, and low-and-behold - someone else had placed a bid exactly 1 dollar more than my previous bid at the same time.  I won the card, but it was almost like this person knew what my max bid was already...

If they jacked up the bid and then retracted, would it show up in the bid history?  is there some fancy super-secret new software that lets you spy on what people bid?  Am I just being paranoid?


Squt

[dry cereal]

people will always be just over your bid because they may bid a lot over at the last second.  Right?

[misterpid]

There is no way for anyone to see what you're max bid is.  Plus, all bid retractions should show up in the bid history.  Otherwise, it's just regular snipe bidding with their bid beating you, but only showing the lowest bid increment over yours.  Just the same way that they can't see your max bid, you can't see theirs.


Stu

[Gryfalia]

Yes, what you are seeing is merely their bid going the minimum increment over yours, which is necessary for them to beat you.  They could have bid $20 over or whatever, but you wouldn't know unless someone else bids it higher (or yourself).

Pick a small amount of change and bid a bit above the dollar.  $20.13 instead of $20.

Gryfalia

[Muldoon]

Squt: I think you're just being paranoid, if it is exactly a dollar he probably bid alot higher and that one dollar is the bid increment.
Also, I know the frustration from being sniped... Ended up with 5 alpha uncommons for $1 each with $6 shipping (greedy seller) while I got sniped on the alpha whelp which was the main card I wanted.

OT:
Hey Gryfalia, .13 is MY sneaky way of winning sniper duels ;D

[squt]

OK now, I apparently didn't explain myself well...

My max bid was $30.

I was the current high bidder at $27.

At the last minute, I re-bid $40 and the auction ended at $31.  

Squt.

[Muldoon]

If it ended at 31, then the guy only bid 30 :P I think it's just a coincidence...
In general I think it's just a matter of guesswork, if you know that a card is worth ~30 dollars, then you'll expect the high bidder to have a bid around 30, and thus you try bidding 31 or 32 if you really want it...
Thats my 13 cents ;)

[hammr7]

The only way to know what someone else is bidding is to bid in small increments until you get to where the current high bid is less than the minimum increment over yours.  For example, if I bid $24.00 and the high bid is $24.12, then I know that is the other bidder's max bid, becuase otherwise the max bid would have been higher..  

If I'm bidding on a bunch of similar cards (ie near mint alpha, non-special uncommons, to upgrade mine), I'll sometimes see another bidder check out a couple of my auctions by winning one, and confirming the same price by bidding just below my first bid a second.  When this happens I know the person may try to barely overbid me on all the competing auctions in the last few seconds.  

Remember that eBay has a huge number of bidders, and the better the price the more likely you are to get sniped at the end (there is software that apparantly allows you to automate the sniping).

[squt]

THANK YOU Hammr7 - That makes sense.  so i guess it would be better to bid an even amount when you bid, so that this can't happen to you?

Squt

[Tha_Gunslinga]

They can still do it then.  Say you bid $240 on a Mox.  The current high bid is only 130, though.  I could come along and bid 135, then 140, and keep going up.  Eventually I'd bid 240 and it would say I was outbid but that the high bid was 240.  I'd thereby know what the other bidder's high bid was.