Can't tell you how many times I've gotten into a biding war with a Seller shill bidding his own auctions with more than one account with no intention of winning. Many times I've been 2nd, 3rd or 4th highest and the seller has tried to sell me the item. A few times I've seen a guy bid up on my first bid to where I'm only a few cents more (seller=$20.00 vs. me=$20.04). I would have another higher bid say $20 ($39.95)more and the same guy would keep bidding up and up and bid too high and win the auction (me=$39.95 vs. seller=$40.00). The seller would try and sell me the auction at the $39.95 price. the winning bidder was the only one between my $39.95 bid and $20.04. That's where the whining and sniveling begins. That takes lots and lots of experience. I'm glad I don't have to deal with that anymore. 

This.

Also l if I don't have the money for the item in my account the second I win the item I pass.  I never understood people taking days to pay for an item.  I alwalys pay right away after winning a item.

Agreed.  

A bid may have involved bad judgment, and thus been a mistake, but it wasn't "an accident".

That's why I put "accidentally" in quotes I'm glad I got it, but the situation was a little spur-of-the-moment compared to my usual buying style and I was looking for support.

Sure, sometimes I have done this, usually if I am browsing ebay late at night and have been drinking. But if I win an auction, I win, and then I pay like any good buyer would do. Luckily, this hasn't happened too often, and even with the items I win, they are things I want, though maybe the time wasn't right (i.e. they weren't my priorities at that point)

I could never understand this sort of childish mentality either, tbh.  And in the end it just hurts everyone as sellers become wiser with what they are selling, prices increase, and then no one ever gets a deal.  And for what reason?  Just out of spite / jealousy of the shill bidder, at least that is all I can think of as any sort of "justification", though I am sure our buddy dj5kjlara could offer us more insight.

I bid on a secret of mana on ebay, then found one here to buy. ended up winning the auction which i had forgotten about. now i've got 2 copies of secret of mana =/

Absolutely agree. 

I don't buy games on ebay, but I do occasionally bid on Christmas lights.  I've never placed a bid I wasn't comfortable paying if it turned out to be the winner.  It blows my mind that anyone would.

If you were competing with other bidders, then it sounds like you were goaded into something of a minor bidding war.  Either way, if the loss only amounts to a few dollars, I wouldn't feel too depressed about it.  For every one or two great deals that slip away on eBay, there are several average ones, and others yet that close at a much higher price for whatever reason.  At least it doesn't fall into that latter category.

This happened to me a while back and I'm still somewhat baffled by it. I had an arbitrary bid and someone bid $.05 or $.10 less than I did with less than 5 seconds left in the auction. I had the exact same feeling that OP has. I wasn't going to back out but was kind of annoyed that I was paying my max bid. But, like others have said, if you are going to bid a certain amount you should be ready to pay it out. I never bid in a similar fashon again. Live and learn I guess. Although these days I don't really go on eBay much anymore since everything seems to be above my maximum bid while there's still days left in the auction. Prices be crazy.

Same thing happened to me when I won my Suikoden II, sniper made it my exact max bid.

I don't bid on anything unless I know I want it. I also don't bid on anything if I don't have the money first.

Diablo 3 had an auction house exploit where a seller could tease out the high bidder's max bid and shill bid to just under that max amount. It wouldn't surprise me if a similar exploited existed on eBay.

I just put in an offer on all 3 ttmnt nes games, cib and very minty. I put in a somewhat lowball offer of 125, and it was accepted 2 minutes later to my surprise. I am somewhat conflicted because it is a good deal, but still a lot of money.

That's a nice find darwin. I would be happy
Maybe the guy will let you pay in installments so you don't lose such a big chunk of money at once.