Maybe the seller has more than one item to sell. If you've bid what you were willing to pay and somebody else has topped your bid... you only pay what your bid was. Look at it this way. If your high bid was NOT topped, you would have won the item anyway.

On occassion, I've put in a low bid just to be notified if someone has bid higher ... and sometimes I've wound up getting a 2nd chance offer to purchase at my low bid.

Lastly, you are under no obligation to accept the 2nd chance offer if you don't feel comfortable with the offer.