"I still don't know wht it doesn't require the minimum of 50c, but that's life in the fast lane at eBay."

Pete,
Suppose you and I were going to bid on the same chip. Each of us decides we're willing to pay $75 for the chip. Being casino oriented, and wanting to "hedge" our bids, we both decide to bid $77.77. We're both going to snipe, and are sitting with our fingers poised over our respective keyboards...

With 20 seconds left in the auction, I push my enter key.....

With 10 seconds left, you push your enter key....

your computer is faster than our webtv, so your bid registers with 4 seconds left in the auction...my bid registers with 3 seconds left.

Your bid registerd first, so I should have to bid 50¢ more than you....but I actually pressed my enter key first!! How could ebay require either one of us to bid a higher amount than we wanted to? Hence, ebay's policy of: in case of a tie, the first bid to get here wins!