Jerry; I understand completely what you are saying. Perhaps you have misinterpreted my post or have taken ofense to something personally that I've said. Please allow me to be more careful in choosing my words in this reply post ... by intentionally avoiding the use of the word "you".

All I'm suggesting is for bidders to bid the price that they are willing to pay. If they win the item at their bid offered, good, that's the way it's supposed to work. If someone else is willing to offer more, I don't see how anyone can claim to have been taken advantage of by someone else's higher bid. If someone doesn't get the item they are seeking this time around ... maybe they will be successful the next time with one less bidder in the mix who now has the item he/she wanted.

There is no hard & fast rule that says the highest bidder must be indentified to the underbidders. I understand the position of those potential bidders who may be looking for a bargain. However, the purpose of putting an item up for bid at auction is for the seller to sell to the highest bidder, period.

Many auctions have bidding agents acting on someone else's behalf to conceal their identity. If I wanted an item bad enough and didn't want my identity known to the competitive underbidders, all that would be needed to accomplish that goal would be to arrange to have a friend or a relative to bid on my behalf ... or maybe even have Norm Clem enter a bid for me. We all know that nobody bids against Norm!