James...

I think what Stu is saying is that when you put in a bid that winds up being slightly more than the increment of the existing bid (which you must do in any event on eBay), the bid amount will be your actual maximum bid if it is in excess of the original bidder's proxy bid. But, like Jackpot, you still must bid an entire increment over the existing bid. What Stu's problem is, if I'm reading this correctly, is that if you increase your own bid, as protection, eBay will automatically raise your current bid to a full increment above the other bidder's proxy bid.

As an example:

Current bid: $10.00
Other bidder's proxy bid: $12.00
Your bid (which must be at least a full increment above the current $10.00): $12.05

The $12.05 becomes the high bid.

If you then put in a protection bid of, say, $15.00, it will raise your current high bid from $12.05 to $12.50, which would be the next increment above the previous high bid (which really isn't fair, as Stu points out).