Hi Marva. Each bid you place takes away one of your bids from your balance and increases the price of the auction by 1 penny, then resetting the clock to 10 seconds. It's in this small window that someone else must decide if they will place a bid to outbid you. If no new bids are placed and you are the final bidder in the auction, you win the auction at the final sales price.

Hope this helps. If you need anything else, please don't hesitate to contact me!

Seeing as how you didn't win the item you really won the right to buy it cheaper (maybe) and they have their money you spent on bids I don't see why you have to buy it. They will re auction and make more money.