[mcantor]

It's to incentivize buyers to Buy It Now.

If you know that Buy It Now disappears as soon as someone bids, then you're more likely to Buy It Now because if you don't Buy It Now, you can't buy it later; you can only bid on it later, and then you might not get it. So if you want it, eBay wants you to Buy It Now.

Buy It Now.

[jkubicek]

I had no idea eBay worked like this. The whole strategy doesn't make much sense if buyers don't know about it.

[unfed]

I see what you did there.