Greg is right, The bidder directly before all those bids by the same person left a high bid, but Ebay only puts the amount in that will beat the person before him. The next person comes along and "chips away" at the proxy bid until he has the high bid. I think Ebay's idea is for people to have a shot at it (by bidding up front what they are willing to pay) if they aren't available towards the end of the time countdown..