[78-L] Little bitty bids and bidders

[Taylor Bowie]

Cary wrote:


> One theory on this. Some people might just be curious as to what the 
> maximum bid was by the original bidder. They inch their way up the price 
> ladder, and then if it gets to a certain level where they are 
> uncomfortable, they back off and bow out. You never know if the first 
> bidder is just placing a bid for the original amount, say $9.99, or if 
> they slapped on a huge first-time bid and then went away for the rest of 
> the auction period. I've sold (and won as well) lots of records for $10.49 
> because the first bidder only put down an initial bid of $9.99 and never 
> came back.

 Cary Ginell


I've run into this as well...but it doesn't explain why there can be so many 
bids,  and such a huge spread from their original to their last bid.

On occasion I do put down a low one,  just as a way to "mark" an item and go 
back to it later and raise the bid.   But I'm still baffled by the bidder 
who makes a dozen or more bids on an item,  raising the bid by small 
incriments.   And if they do this on the last day,  they can't be doing it 
just for curiosity as you can't retract a bid during the last 12 hours,  as 
I recall.  It's like they are almost afraid to win the item and afraid not 
to at the same time...that is strange to me.


Taylor