Everyone should see this...

Say you bid $50.00 for something. A nibbler bidder (a shill) comes along bidding in even $1 increments. When he bids $45.00, the auction price will hit $46.00. However, when the shill reaches a bid of $50.00, the auction price stays at $50.00, and you still stay as the high bidder, as there is a tie, and you posted this price first.

At this point, the shill knows you bid $50, and it is time to shut down.

This is that whenever I bid on an auction in advance, I go for a price of say $49.99. If there is a shill, he will nibble away and reach $50.00, and OMG!! now he's the leading bidder. The auction will close, the shill will "win" the auction, and invariably I will get a 'Second Chance Offer' for $48 or whatever. Because poor bidder #2 "could not complete the transaction" or some such BS. Ha. If shill bidder #2 hadn't been there in the first place, I probably would have won the item for $20.

I let the second chance offer expire. The seller reposts, and we do the same dance up to $50. But this time, he is smarter, and bids $49.99 as his final bid. Too bad: I bid $49.98, and he wins again.

Thank you for the great explanation. I get it now and look forward to keeping a better eye out for these shenanigans.

Those established sellers didn't bid as a courtesy to you. They're taking a chance that they'll be able to buy low and sell high. Sometimes you get lucky for no particular reason, so they're snatching up those reasons blowing in the mind.

This is why my max bids never end in 0 or 5; I try to chose a random number below $0.50. It's not uncommon for items I'm bidding on to end at $XX.17, or $XX.64 (with $0.50 bid increments).

I had spoken to the seller also, that was a very nice barely used frame, pretty much used as wall art for most of its life. I had much interest, but seeing as it was way too big for me, would have been up on my wall, probably till I passed away. Glad you got it and will make use of it, Hope you'll feature it in a build thread, and maybe even ride it in an Eroica event. I'm hoping more Italvega bicycles will show for this year's event, I was the only one there last year along with one frame in a sales tent. I hope to bring 2 or 3 Italvega bikes to the event this year, space hopefully available in my minivan. I have two Super Speciale frames that same metallic silver-green mist color, one 58 cm and the other 56 cm. Haven't decided if I will build one up as a Superlight yet.

Yeah man thanks for asking about that,(haven't even taken shipment yet.) and I will try and post about what I want to do with the Italvega build soon. To be honest even though I am 6'3, that is on upper range of bikes suited to fit my body type.(59.5 with long top tube is best for me. anybody got a Rb-1?) However I am sure I can ride it well enough and am excited about starting with a solid CV build base like this. The frameset was just too interesting to ignore, and when finally ecked down in price, I made a run at it.

Did I mention I am 50 slim, but out of shape and have a couple of old injuries. All I am doing right now is a 4x a week 10 mile rt commuter run on a piece-O-crap Mtb City bike special. Little far away from being "Heroic" in any event, and my mechanic skills are pretty lackluster right now, for a small but growing list of project bikes.

Thanks for encouragement though, well see about how I feel in a couple months. The New year is young, so now is the time to stay on top of healthy, fitness routine.

(I also work 20 hours a week and am full-time mature student.)