Alright, I see from your example what you meant.
Afraid that what you're talking about is way out 
of my league though (which is why I had not 
really thought of this). I rarely spend more than 
$50 at once on an auction. I simply don't have 
the kind of money for bidding up past whatever I 
determine is my orginal max, regardless of how 
badly I want an item. The thought of spending 
thousands of dollars on a cel....yowtch. I don't 
think I'll ever be able to relate to that. 
Also, the majority of my ebay transactions is 
actually non-cel related. In fact, I think nearly 
every cel I've ever gotten off ebay was from the 
same seller. For the lower-key auctions I usually 
participate in, I still believe the current 
method works really well, am I'm perfectly 
content with it. However, I guess I agree with 
you that higher ticket items like very nice cels 
probably ought to have conditions closer to a 
live auction.