The whole proxy bidding thing is a good concept in theory, but for some reason most people seem to have trouble working their heads around what it does exactly. There is no doubt in my mind that when people wait to bid until the last minute the ending price of the sale is less than if people had been going at it the whole time. I think this isn’t as much a function of liking the action as it is that when people bid throughout the life of an auction it gives them a chance to talk themselves into a higher bid. If you’ve had the highest bid for a couple of days, you get used to the idea that you’re going to win. Then when someone comes in higher you start to reevaluate what you’re willing to pay in order to restore the auction to the favorable conclusion you’ve gotten used to. As more people join in the auction, those who’ve been around a while find it difficult to resist bidding higher because they’ve formed an attachment to the auction.

For me I mostly bid in the last minutes of an auction, not in an attempt to “snipe” the price but in order to keep myself from stewing over the auction and talking myself into a higher price than I originally felt was acceptable. Of course, I fully recognize the problem is my own weak will power and inability to stick to a price I’ve chosen, but this is the way I overcome it. I don’t commit until there’s not much of chance for me to change my bid.

I probably really wouldn’t mind if Ebay restricted each person to one bid, but it does sound a bit like Ebay taking away my freedom to bid however I want.