If it makes you feel any better, you were probably outbid by more than a dollar. Ebay only increases the bid amount by enough to eclipse the current high bid, so he probably placed a much higher bid than just a dollar more. The process of stealing an auction like that is called "sniping" and there are even bidding programs out there which can do it for you automatically. You enter in the maximum you want to pay and it places the bid seconds before the auction ends.
The fact that the auction has a set "ending time" is one of the things I don't like about Ebay. I think they should revise it so it works more like a regular auction where bidding doesn't end until bidding has stopped. In my scenario, bidding would have a set end time and if someone places a bid in the last five minutes, then the auction is extended for an additional five minutes to allow for more bids. They could even do a "Going once... going twice..." thing in the last two minutes. I'm sure it would take major revisions to their software to implement it, but one would think that would allow for a more fair system, and in some cases where one or more people really want an item, it would also result in higher prices for the sellers in the end.
I doubt Ebay is listening though....
>8^)
ER