I understand exactly what he is doing. I have done it myself a few times. I like to start a few chips out at 2 cents with no reserve in order to get a little bidding action going and because the majority of bidders like real auctions. Obviously I would hope that the bidding would go above the minimum.. what with listing fees, PayPal fees, etc.. especially since I don't try to cover all that in an inflated shipping fee.. my shipping charge is always just $1 for combined shipping anywhere in the world. If the item gets a 2 cent bid, and that is the only bid, then that is the selling price and someone keeping an eye on my auctions got a great deal. But if the auction goes 6 days with no bids then I assume there was not sufficient interest in the chip at this time and go in and revise the starting price to a higher level in order to preclude a 2 cent snipe on the last day. Tis better to go ahead and eat a listing fee and try for a free relist of the item at a later date if a 2 cent starting price doesn't generate at least one bid in 6 days.

The way to bid on auctions like this is to go ahead and throw a minimal bid down to lock it and mark it for you to come back to later like we used to do in the old days before ebay added the Watch option.