Should have just kept well buttoned
Or perhaps made things known by whisper listing. It was only two persons bidding on this item so whoever winner was obviously wanted the thing desperately. Maybe he came upon the thing on his own, maybe from here; who can say.
As for losing an auction by $1, that is a common misconception.
In truth unless one knows what winner's highest bid was, one did not lose by only $1.00. That is if current highest bidder put in $100 as his best number, eBay system would only show current high or winning bid over previous amount.
If current high highest bid (including max) is $39, but someone bids $100, new highest bid will only be one dollar or so more than previous. But if previous highest bidder entered a max of $100, or $200, then the snipe/last minute or any other subsequent bid will be rejected and new highest bid would increase by one dollar or whatever, but still previous bidder is winning.
This would go on until another bidder exhausts previous max highest bid. In other words the "one dollar" highest winning bid you see could be at low end of maximum range. No one knows besides eBay and bidders that max number.
You can often see in bidding histories frantic attempts to outbid someone. Sometimes they are successful, others not. Those that wait until last minute to snipe often find they are out of luck if max highest bid keeps generating automatic bids (until max high number is exhausted), and or others are pouncing on same target.
In theory the old adage applies; bid maximum amount willing to pay upfront, then let chips fall where they may. Problem with that is you get idiots who have no intention of winning, but just keep driving up the bid price. This or those who keep testing the waters to see just how high things will go.
If one *really* wants something will go in with a snipe at last minute of several hundred (don't look at me like that), which normally does the trick. Of course one has to be ready to pony up if winning bid reaches an obscene number.
