Interesting analysis, Marv. The buyer of the second listing may have been willing to pay $129 for the SS, as his bid date in both cases was well before the close in both instances. In the first auction, the high bidder wanted it even more...and got it. In the second auction, no one challenged his bid above the proxy bid of $46.56. It's even possible that other bidder(s) researched the bid history on the first auction after it closed, and decided to pass on it with the assumption that it was futile to place additional bids if they weren't willing to go all the way to $129.

Sort of like in poker. If you have a hand you will call with, but can't stand a raise or reraise from a strong player with lots of chips, it's frequently wiser to fold early, instead of going part way, only to fold before the final showdown.

The second bidder is (or should be) very happy with his good fortune to lose the first auction, then win the second one at much less. It's just the nature of proxy bidding in small increments as structured on Ebay. You need at least TWO...not just one...bidder that REALLY wants an item to start a bidding frenzy.