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Message:: [QUOTE="-jeffB, post: 1236553, member: 27832"]Okay, okay, you're a perfectly rational bidder, you always bid your max, and therefore you have no stress and no regrets. Thing is, you're bidding against others who aren't necessarily perfectly rational. They may be more likely to check out an auction that already has one or more bids -- if others have bid on it, it may seem more likely to be legitimate, or less likely to have an unreasonable opening bid. They may be influenced by the current bid price. "I wasn't sure this lot is a good deal, but if others have already bid it up, they must think so. Maybe they see something I'm missing." Or, they may simply not have a good idea of what they should expect to pay. "I don't really know what grade this coin is, but it looks nice. Others have already bid it up to ($5/$50/$500), I guess I can go ($6/$60/$600)." It doesn't matter that you're a perfectly rational bidder. If your competitors aren't, your early bids can motivate them to bid higher. As a result, you're more likely to lose the auction (if they exceed your max), or pay a higher price for the item (if you don't). I too bid my max, and I win or lose. But I almost always do it at the last minute, and this is why.[/QUOTE]