Got luck with bid or to sketchy?

Question

I bidded on a rug when it was at $55. I put my bid in at $110, $110 was my max as well. There was 25 minutes on the clock.

I figured I had a strong chance of getting the rug. I entered $110 and the bid jumped to $65 with only 8 bids. The 9th bid $ 1111 and it sold. There were no incremental bids between $65 and $110 it just went to $111. How did #9th bidder just magically pick $ 1111. Does this seem Sketchy? So did bidder #9 just know my max bid was $110. How did they just magically pick $ 1111. I have been bidding for years on eBay and this is very strange.

disneyshopper · Answer

The winning buyer could have bid $200, but ebay will only increase the bid just enough to put that bidder in the lead. Since your highest bid was $110, then ebay used $112 of the $200 to place that bid since the increment at that level was $1

eburtonlab · Answer

@garus_b1el8qg4g

How did you pick $110 as a maximum bid amount if the current bid was $55? Perhaps you decided that was about how much the rug was worth to you.

Is it that much of a stretch that another bidder made a very similar calculation of the value of the rug? Or made the same calculation, and added a dollar to avoid the round number? Or perhaps that the winning bidder guessed that your maximum bid was double the bid amount at the time you placed your bid, and decided to bid a bit more than that? Or the winner simply thought that someone would bid at least $100, and wanted to bid a bit more than that to have a reasonable chance at winning, and typing 111 was easier than typing some other number near that.

If you bid on enough auctions, sooner or later you wind up with two bidders bidding the same amount, or very close to it.