GWG Auctions question...

I apologize if this is in the wrong section. Please remove/close this thread if this is in the wrong section.

I dunno if it's the lag 'cause of intense traffic but I find the Auction site to be kinda weird...

There's this item that I'm keeping a close eye on... it's the last 5 minutes of the bid, so I'm checking it every minute... right before it goes down to 1 minute remaining, I refresh the "auction" and the time remaining jumps to 10+ minutes... this has happened 3 times already with the same auction... Is this a weird bug? lag thing? or are there like functions when making a auction that automatically adds 10-20 minutes at the end of auctions??

Also, sometimes when I bid on an item, let's say the "current bid" was 20k. I bid 21k (increments of 1k), then it says my bid was not high enough. Okay so I figure maybe someone bidded right before I bidded, so I bid 22k... again it says it's not enough... Okay so I decide to throw down 30k, then it says "you currently have the highest bid, you cannot bid lower than your current offer" (or something along those lines), then when I go back to the auction later, it says the current bid is 21k by silv3rr (me) -- Okay so I guess you guys can see how frustrating this is for me xD

Once again, is it just me or is there something about the Auctions system that I don't know about??

I'm finding this really frustrating because it takes forever for the auctions to load already

EDIT: OMG the time-remaining thing just happened again... this is REALLY annoying -- I've also noticed that the bid the auction takes isn't what I actually bid... let's say current bid is 20k... increments of 1k... I bid 30k... then it says the current bid is 21k (by me).. WTH SAKjlsajdsakjdsaldhsa

i think the bidding system works much like ebay... you put in the MAXIMUM amount you are willing to pay, and the bidding is done automatically for you UP UNTIL the highest price you are willing to pay...

also i think the auction ending time is extended might be because reserve price is not met (this i am unsure of, so please verify)

scenario:
s/o:20k
increment:1k
reserve:25k
b/o: 40k

and you bid 30k (highest you are willing to pay)
system bids you are 21k (increment + c/o)
some other person wants the item as well, bidding at 22k
and you will automatically bid at 23k, rendering you with the higher bidder....

now let's say that time has expired, but reserve price is not yet met, so the bid will continue until the reserve price is met, and whoever happens to be the highest bidder...

now let's suppose some one bid at 31k... since your highest offer is 30k, you will no longer bid higher,... so you will not be winning on the bid (the person who offered 31k will be)

Thanks xiao, Oh that explains the bidding thing (the thing I didn't know about as I never use eBay).

But the "not closing when time runs out" part doesn't make sense still because 1. That particular auction I was in had no reserve. 2. The auction would close regardless if the reserve was met or not, it would just end with no winner (that has happened to my auctions and other auctions that I have been watching)

Thanks for your help xiao

As stated in this auction note dated February 17, 2006,

Ohhhhh, thank you Dralspire -- So it was something that I was ignorant of