Making additional bids to ensure an auction win

[swrwizard]

Recently I've noticed that when I outbid another bidder on an item by a small amount(such as 1 cent) & make another bid right after, eBay treats my 1st bid like it doesn't exist! In other words, when I make another bid, eBay increases my cost to the NEXT increment! Example: My 1st bid is $3.01. Then I make a insurance bid of $4.01(2nd bid), then eBay raises my cost to $3.25 without another person making a bid! Why? Does anyone have a reason why eBay can do this without committing a form of fraud? Prior to this year, that has never happened!   

[swrwizard · Accepted solution]

Apparently I didn't get charged the next increment up in this situation, but it is something that can cause initial confusion to someone not aware of this! My cost was my initial(1st) bid.