View ebay Bid History in One Step
Frequently Asked Questions

Stephen P. Morse , San Francisco



1. What is a proxy bid?

When a person submits a bid, ebay doesn't necessarily display the full amount of the bid.  Instead it displays the amount needed to beat the previous high bid.  If no other bids are received, that displayed amount is what the person will pay rather than the full amount of his bid.

If a subsequent bid arrives that is higher than the currently displayed high bid, ebay will keep increasing that displayed amount on behalf of the bidder up to the full amount of the bid submitted if necessary.  That is proxy bidding.

For example, suppose that the minimum opening bid is $50.  The first bid received is from Frank for $60 on Monday.  Ebay will display only $50 for Frank because that is all that is needed to open the auction.  The next bid is from Sam on Tuesday for $55.  This is higher than Frank's displayed bid, so ebay will act as a proxy for Frank and increase his displayed bid to $56.  Frank is still the high bidder.  Sam sees that and on Wednesday submits a bid for $65.  Ebay will increase Frank's displayed to his full amount of $60, but Sam's $65 is still higher.  So ebay will display Sam's bid at $61 so that it is the highest bid.  Then on Thursday Tom bids $75, which will cause ebay to proxy-bid on Sam's behalf until his full amount of $65 is reached.
 

2. How is the bidding history displayed on the ebay site?

The ebay site displays the bids ordered by their bid amount, with the highest amount first.  So in the example given in the preceding question, the display would look as follows:

After Frank's initial bid the history display is:

Mon:  $50  Frank
After Sam's bid the history displays is:
Mon:  $56  Frank
Tues:  $55  Sam
After Sam's second bid the history displays is:
Wed:  $61  Sam
Mon:  $60  Frank
Tues:  $55  Sam
After Tom's bid the history displays is:
Thur:  $66  Tom
Wed:  $65  Sam
Mon:  $60  Frank
Tues:  $55  Sam


3. How is the bidding history displayed on this site and why is it better than the ebay display?

This site displays the bid ordered by the time that it was received.  And bids that are higher than the displayed high bid but lose out in the proxy bidding are shown crossed out. So the preceding example would be displayed as follows:

After Frank's initial bid the history displays is:

Mon:  $50  Frank
After Sam's bid the history displays is:
Tues:  $55  Sam
Mon:  $56  Frank
After Sam's second bid the history displays is:
Wed:  $61  Sam
Tues:  $55  Sam
Mon:  $60  Frank
After Tom's bid the history displays is:
Thur:  $66  Tom
Wed:  $65  Sam
Tues:  $55  Sam
Mon:  $60  Frank
Such a display makes it easier to follow what happened as each bid is received and to see which bids did not become high bids due to proxy bidding.
 

3. Why do you display the bids with the most recent first rather than last?

Because that lets you see the current high bid near the top of the screen and not require you to scroll down to find it.  However some people find it easier to view the bids with the earliest one first.  That's why I provide a radio button for you to specify which order you prefer.  If you check off that you prefer to see the bids by increasing (rather than decreasing) date, the history display after Tom's bid in the above example would look as follows:

Mon:  $60  Frank
Tues:  $55  Sam
Wed:  $65  Sam
Thur:  $66  Tom


-- Steve Morse