It's your risk, your tactical move. With the absence of the "winner" and given the big gap between your 103 and 137 bids, I'd consider it a good bet that you bid against yourself on the item above 103. I'd hold at 103, maybe go higher if the item is worth it, but it certainly looks like someone sniped and didn't want it, or the seller had someone bid on it to get you up there, and it backfired. Whatever the tactic, see if the price fits in your overall strategy.

While you have to ask yourself if you were willing to go to 137, the seller also has to admit if he'd have sold it for 103 if you'd have won at that price. After all, if no one had come in at 139, it'd be yours for 103, right? Good question.

I know an eBay seller that routinely snipes his own items at what he considers his "reserve" price. It costs him too much to set a reserve or higher starting point, and he sells hundreds if not thousands of low-price items. He considers it ethical, and says "if I win, I just pay myself, right?" He does not send second chance offers because his items are often less than $5 and he just re-lists them.

As far as having eBay and ethics in the same sentence...won't go there. The world is a circus.