[Edit]: I logged in to say that I subsequently (after going to bed) had the same thought as James: that whoever put in the bid put in an amount well in excess of my maximum and the only amount I would have seen would have been the minimum to exceed my bid. Which is perfectly fine on all fronts. I apologize for any implications to the contrary and for not thinking of this utterly plausible explanation earlier.
Maybe the guy just got lucky with his top bid, it happens some times
People who bid early are divulging [truthful] information.
People who bid late are withholding [truthful] information.
Setting aside the question of Advanced Game Theory [e.g. intentionally poisoning the well with false information, i.e. lies], who do you suppose is more likely to win most of the time: Those who divulge, or those who withhold?
your post reveals a fundamental misunderstanding of auction bidding. the person could have very easily put in a maximum bid of 2x yours, but the auction will only bid it up to the minimum above your bid absent another bid. learn the rules before you put a company and their integrity on blast.
Listen to James, he is correct…
Yup !
Maybe you should have just bid more.
I think maybe he’s saying his bid was say $100.00 and the winning bid was 100.01 yet the bid increment might be $5.00? Therefore it would be unlikely (although I bid odd amounts sometimes) for someone to actually bid right over his bid instead of the usual next bid of $105.00.
you bid what you are willing to pay and, if someone outbids you, no problem—they paid more than you would have. But the aforementioned analysis is correct.
Either be in the room or have a trustworthy representative…otherwise don’t bother…
Your maximum bid should always include 1 cent, or perhaps something up to 10 cents.
Where are the rooms for an internet only auction?
deleted since OP edited post to explain…
Most auction systems do not allow a bid of only a few cents above the high bid. The original post does not give the details, but the sniper apparently bid a full increment higher, or more. That’s the whole point of the minimum increment. The highest bid won. That’s life. If you want to defeat sniping, place a higher bid early. Auctions are not won by the last bid. They are won by the high bid. Inside information had nothing to do with it.
Phil Jones
If somebody has spent six figures or more on wine, another few hundred dollars is not even a rounding error.
The issue is, if the current bid is $20, and you’re about to enter a max bid of $100…a max bid of $100.01 might get you the lot for only 1 cent (assuming someone bids up to $100 and gives up). There are several ways to avoid this, but most auction sites I’ve seen don’t
This works on eBay but not certain about wine auctions. I just bought the gold coin you see in my avatar for $306.11. That was my max bid. If someone else bid $306.10 max, I won with the coin. Even though bid increments should have been by $5.
Also. I did not snipe this. The initial offering started at $299. I was the first bidder 24 hours prior to close. I bid $306.11 then at the last minute/second someone noticed that the value of gold in the coin was actually $307 but bid $305 as his max bid. My bid jump to $306.11
Chris has since edited his original post. But just to expand on Joe’s comment:
If the opening price is $50 and the bid increment is $5, if I bid $100, the web will show my bid of $55, and no more. And it will ask subsequent bidders to bid at least $60. If I bid only $55, and if someone bids $75, it will show as $60, just enough to outbid me, and no more. If I bid $100, and it shows as $55, and if someone later bids $100.01 just before the auction closes, they will win the item, even though they did not exceed my high bid by $5. They exceeded it by only a penny.
At least that is how I think it works on eBay. Please let me know if I am wrong.
Some people criticize sniping, and they say the solution is to keep the bidding open past the close date if the bids are not very far apart. But that might keep the bidding open indefinitely. The advantage of having a fixed closing date is that everyone is required to bid their highest bid or risk losing the item at a price less than what they were willing to pay.
Every system has its plusses and minuses. But placing your highest acceptable bid is the best way to avoid snipers. Either that, or become a sniper. With eBay, there are websites that will automatically enter your snipe bid seven seconds before the sale closes. If you want to become a sniper.
Phil Jones
Winebid wouldn’t take a bid that is not in the next increment. So a bid of 100.01 would have to be $105. Not sure how other wine sites do it.
I did this last night…I bid 15% higher than the highest bid, and I got the wine for 1 increment higher than the previous bidder. So it looked like I just barely over-bid…but I wanted to make sure I got the wine…so I went a bit higher than I thought was needed.