EDIT2: In the brick-and-mortar life auction, a beatten bidder always has an option to outbid outbidders. Why would it be different in online auctions?
Well, in a 'brick and mortar' auction, all interested parties are present at the same time. The auction ends when a short period of time elapses, and no one has bid. The equivalent on ebay would be like this: someone places a bid, and everyone else has 10 minutes to place a responding bid, or the items ends. ("going once, going twice, Alpha 'lotus sold for $10 because no one else noticed it yet!). When another bid is placed, the 10-minute countdown would start again...
That would be **more like** a 'real' auction, but many items would end with exceedingly low bids, and sellers would stop selling on eBay b/c they wouldn't get anywhere near asking price, and eBay would go out of business becuase they wouldn't get enough fees.
The answer is, just be there when the auction closes. If I am bidding on something, even on the rare occasions I don't snipe, I try to be there for the last few minutes, just in case....