"If my TOP $ amount is the eventual winner my bids show up here and there in the string with me at the top."

Incorrect. Only your original bid is in the list. The date shows when you bid and the order shows where your amount ranks in the list.

Back to my example. Let's do some actual bidding back and forth. If you bid $15, you are high bidder at $10. I bid $20. I am high bidder at $16. You bid $50. You are high bidder at $21. I bid $40. You are high bidder at $41. There are now 4 bids in the history list. There were 5 actual "bids." The proxy bid by ebay to outbid my $20 is not a "bid event."

"How can you enter a bid that eventually wins and NOT have EBAY put in the amount of your bid just above the next lowest bidder."

You can't. As Steve pointed out, once myjne bid on Nov-20-03 07:45:16 PST, he remained high bidder to the end. He obviously bid at least $305. We'll never know how high his bid really was. James bid twice since myjne bid and failed to outbid him. Your bid also was not enough.