Can you fine folks take me to school on how online auctions work? I saw a couple of things that interested me in an online auction yesterday. I had signed up for the ability to bid with no problem the day before. When the auction started, I was watching how things went. I had seen where the amount of each bid increased in increments such as:

From $0 to $49 : $5
From $50 to $199 : $10
From $200 to $499 : $25
From $500 to $999 : $50
From $1,000 to $1,999 : $100
From $2000 to $4,999 : $250
From $5,000 to $9,999 : $500
From $10,000 to $19,999 : $1,000
From $20,000 to $49,999 : $2,500

I took some screenshots of finished auctions that confused me. Here is the first one:



I understand the starting bid was $10000. But I don’t understand the next bid of $20000. If the bid increment is $1000, why isn’t the next bid $11000? Even if the person bid $20000, I would’ve thought it would have increased in $1000 increments until his $20000 was reached. After the $20000 bid, it did go up in $2500 increments like I thought it would. I just didn’t get the $10000 to $20000 jump.

In the next picture, the bids were like I expected:



The auction from the third picture made NO sense to me:



I understand the starting bid of $1500, but why in the world did the next bid jump straight to $4250?

This next picture is the item I wanted to bid on:



Again, I understand the opening bid of $600. Before the auction had started, I had bid $650 and wasn’t winning. I then bid $700 and was winning at the time. I then placed an $850 bid. The winning bid (mine) was still showing $700, which I still understand. All this was still before the auction for this item started. As you can see from the picture, the bids went from $600 straight to $1900! It says “Ask price increased. Next bid $1900” What does that mean? My bids never even showed up anywhere!

Thanks, in advance, for any assistance.
Larry

Attached Images

	IMG_1186.jpg (63.9 KB, 94 views)
	IMG_1187.jpg (53.5 KB, 94 views)
	IMG_1188.jpg (25.1 KB, 95 views)
	IMG_1189.jpg (32.4 KB, 93 views)

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Miss Buddies crsides & fat tom

Auctioneers are often gods in their domain, depending on state law. If he/she decides something is undervalued, they might well up the minimum bid. Then there might be hidden reserves you couldn't see. Then there are the auctioneers who treat you maximum sealed bid as "the" bid, rather than bidding the increments for you. That's likely what happened on your item, he had a sealed bid for $1800. You have to be VERY careful reading the terms and conditions of online auctions.

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Release the Kraken

Whole lot has changed since Leroy Van Dyke went to school.

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Front sight and squeeze