Winning bid over my own bid?

[elgato963]

Has anyone encountered where your last bid was over you own previous bid?  

As an example, I had a bid of $150.01 on an item.  About 20 minutes before the auction ended I decided to up my previous bid, so I placed a bid of $175.01.  The highest bid from another seller was $150.00. So, wouldn't that mean that my original bid of $150.01 is the winning bid?  However, when the auction ended, the winning bid was at $152.50. Wondering why the increment when my original bid of $150.01 was higher than the next highest bid of $150.00. If I didn't put in another bid at $175.01, that would have meant I would have won the auction at $150.01 (highest bid placed). However, because I placed a higher bid the system took into account the increment. Very odd.  I wonder how often this happens and if people if notice? 

[marnotom!]

The bids you put in on eBay auctions are considered maximum bids.  eBay will automatically up your bid by certain increments (the increments will vary according to the dollar amount in the auction) until your maximum is reached.  Putting in a new maximum bid of $175.01 nullified your original maximum bid of $150.01.  Since somebody else bid $150.00 when your maximum was $175.01, your following bid increased by the set increment for an item with bids in the $100-$249.99 range, and that increment is $2.50.  So you outbid the other bidder with a proxy bid of $2.50 above that bidder's maximum.

You probably know most of all that already, just not the part about a new maximum bid "erasing" your old one.