From: lowen@pari.edu   
      
   Mike wrote:   
      
   > In *any* auction, the selling price is always determined by the highest   
   > bid,   
   > not the "second highest".  That's what auctions are all about.   If you   
   > want   
   > it, you outbid the other guy.  If *he* wins, then *he* has set the price.   
   > If *I* win then *I* have set the price.   
      
   No, the second highest maximum bid sets the final selling price.  The high   
   bidder did not bid the selling price, but some price above the selling   
   price as a maximum; the second highest bidder's maximum is a set threshhold   
   below the selling price.  You're not directly bidding the set price; eBay   
   is bidding by proxy for you up to your max, and thus eBay has set the   
   price, based on the second highest maximum bid.   
      
   It's a good thing the high maximum bid doesn't set the price; there are a   
   number of times I've bid, oh, $500-600 for an item where the starting bid   
   was $1; and I typically get the item for a little over the second highest   
   bid (this is what Knut meant; the second highest maximum bid sets the price   
   the item sells at, since in the standard eBay auction you do not directly   
   bid, but only maximum bid, with the eBay automatic proxy); many times I get   
   the item for $5 or less even having bid a max of $450 or so (I take the   
   phrase 'maximum bid' literally most of the time, unless I just need the   
   adrenaline rush that comes with sniping; if my max was, say, $150, and   
   someone bids $160 in the last few seconds, oh well, I did bid my max).   
      
   Of course, Dutch auctions are a whole different animal.   
   --   
   Lamar Owen   
   Director of Information Technology   
   Pisgah Astronomical Research Institute, Rosman, NC   
   www.pari.edu   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)