> the two highest bidders must both pay It's simply in the rules that you must pay if you're high bidder #2, even if you pull out. Basically, it will immediat

> the two highest bidders must both pay It's simply in the rules that you must pay if you're high bidder #2, even if you pull out. Basically, it will immediately devolve into the two highest bidders each bidding over each other, in an attempt to not be the one who has to pay money and get nothing at all in return. At some point, one will have to take the fall and accept that they've lost money with nothing to show, and the other will also have lost money, just slightly less. Both people lose. Everyone else sits there happy that they avoided being one of the two highest bidders. In the penny auctions, however, you can have multiple people who have spend hundreds or thousands of dollars on this stupid auction, who all hope that at least if they win, they'll get something in return for their losses.