Takeover frenzy

Last month, I bought my first ever item on eBay. Only vaguely familiar with the concept of bidding, I logged onto the site and placed a bid for an item that had just been put up for offer. Needless to say, I was very excited when my offer was accepted as the highest one and thought I had secured myself as the winner. However, 10 minutes before the end of the bidding, it all went pear-shaped as I suddenly found myself outbid not by one but by three other more-savvy eBayers. In desperation, I started to randomly put in various bids and, while ending up winning the item, it cost me pretty muc...