This is for the benefit of the cluless individuals, like Willis, who relish in conspiracy theories, and accusing me of rigged auctions. I'm just going to explain this, and then I'm gone.
What you don't realize about eBay bidding that appears to be outrageous or insane, is the exponential factor of the bidding plateaus.
For example, let's say two people want an N Scale KATO diesel. The bid raises will generally be in $1 or $5 increments. I put down $40 on Tuesday. On Wednesday, someone tops me at $45. I raise him another $5 to make it $50. He snipes the diesel in the last hour for $57 and wins.
With me so far...? Two average guys (or three) bidding on an average priced item. Neither of us would likely plop down a $20 or $30 raise on this item to show how serious we are.
Now... you take an item like a unique weathered car that appeals to collectors with an excess of mad money. The car has some conservative bidding early on, by regular folks. Hoping to score it within their modest budget. Occasionally a collector will step in and do a "bookmark" bid. But not always. The car is still obtainable to most bidders.
Soon the price has made it's way over $100. Or $200, let's say. Now the regular guys walk away. It's going to be a battle between maybe 3 collectors and one persistent first-timer. Just as an example.
At this plateau, the bidders involved do not mess with $5 or $10 raises. That's for a $70 KATO diesel. Follow me so far? Because the repeat customers (and that's the key here) know what they need to do to win such a car - they do their raises in much larger amounts. Like $50 at a time. In their world of luxury, that is akin to my $5 KATO raise.
The wild part comes at the end. Suppose you know two other collectors have, or will jump on this car with a knock-out blow to win it...
The current bid is sitting at $255 maybe. Time is ticking down. If you go with a $301 bid, will that be enough in the final seconds? What if the other guy locks in $350. You'll lose the car. Hmmmm. Don't want to go $400. How about $360 then. What did he spend on the last MM car...? Damn. He really might go $400. Meanwhile, Collector B is worrying about what A or C are going to bid at the end. $425...? $450....?
Ever see the finale of the The Good, Bad, and the Ugly...? Where the three gunslingers are in the cemetery staring each other down wondering who is going to draw first. The suspense is probably something like that.
So, in these auctions of mine that reach high final prices, it's all in the last seconds. The weapon of choice for my repeat buyers is a snipe. Shouldn't have to explain what that is to you. Collector A locks in his snipe amount. Collector B locks in his. Persistent First Timer goes out on a limb and puts in something substantial. Collector C folds his hand, and decides not to snipe, but the others don't know that. They assume he'll be in.
Three pre-programmed snipes, done to guarantee a victory, fire off simultaneously in the final 5 seconds. It's all or nothing. That's how a car at $255 can end at $600. Someone's snipe was $450... another was $595, and the winner was above that, but only the amount necessary to win is recorded.
My auctions are not rigged. The bidders are not shills. In a shill situation, you can't do huge ending snipes like that. If the bidder's friend wins by accident, there's a problem. That's when you see the car sold to the runner-up bidder. Or, the car re-listed later down the road. Or sold at Timonium, and you go "Hmmmm.... saw that on eBay a while back.... what happened..."
With all that being said, let's drop this.
MM