@nobody*s_perfect wrote:
When a bidder puts in a ridiculously high bid in order to ensure that they win, that is called a 'nuclear" bid. When two bidders do it, it's called a "nuclear collision." What we have here is either (1) a nuclear collision or (2) one nuclear bid and one snipe bid with a typo, such as missing the decimal point.
Note that the winning bidder had indeed placed a bid of $21.95. But he was immediately outbid by an earlier proxy bid, so he bid again 8 seconds later (which was 3 seconds before the auction ended). That's why I suspect a typo. He might have been trying to bid $22.95 but bid $2295 instead.
And this is why snipers are advised to decide on what is the absolute maximum they would bid, and bid that amount. If our regretful winner had done that, then he either would have stopped bidding at $21.95 or that bid would have been for a higher amount. Either way, the $1000 nuclear bidder would have won.
I think this is it!
I think the winner bid the 21.95 and then came back and place a proxy bid of $25 but somehow entered $1025, they didn't notice because the actual current high bid (21.95) didn't change.
The nuclear collision doesn't happen often but I did see it once on a sale of mine as I had a regular buyer who always placed a proxy bid of $500 on everything (pretty much all sub-$50 items).
