I'm not insinuating any untoward behavior by either the bidder or seller in this transaction. It confused me that Ichiy was apparently bidding against himself. I did not consider that he was bidding against the reserve -- in fact I did not realize you could do that. Moreover, I never considered that the reserve on that item would be as high as $175.00. While the Ideale saddles have been going high, they haven't been going that high, much less as a reserve. It was also variance from that particular sellers usual practice of setting a minimum bid which also reflects the reserve, as he did with another Ideale saddle, a tan one now being auctioned.
Perhaps I know less about ebay than I thought, the bidding just seemed strange to me. My approach would have been to bid against the other bidders, then make an offer post auction if reserve was never met.
Regards,
Carlo Carr
New Orleans