Well, you do.
But let's say you see something on sale for $10 and you would be willing to pay $20 for it.
You might bid $20, but the ebay system won't take the price right up to $20. It will go up by the smallest increment possible. From memory, that would be about 50c.
So it will show you leading the bidding at $10.50.
Say another bidder came along and typed in $15, then the auto system would bid on your behalf and take the bidding up to $15.50, because it knows you are willing to go to $20, so you 'outbid' the second person.
But if they then typed in $21, of course they would take the lead.
If they typed in $20 though, you would still show as winning as the earlier bid takes preference when it is a draw.
I think I have it right, unless there have been changes.
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Ebay will never do bidding on an item that you have not bid on.
If you think that happened, you better check who has been on your computer, because someone would have placed the bid.
Should add-some buyrs have proxy bidder programs where they type in a bid on an item and it bids at the last second, on their behalf. It can be a shock when you get outbid in that second, I know, as it has happened to me a few times.
But even with a proxy system, they will still only win if they have bid higher than other buyers.
