Would you want them to tell everyone your high bid?

Just place your maximum proxy bid, the absolute MOST you would be willing to spend on the item, ONCE during the auction, preferably as late as possible. Then you don't have to bother placing any more bids. If you get outbid, that just means someone else was willing to spend more than you.

It doesn't make any sense to bid "again and again".

MAX being the most operative term in this circumstance...

Yes. I don't see why they should have to keep guessing.

How did you get over 200 feedback and be a member since 2005 and not understand the most basic principles of bidding here???

All max bids are hidden until they are outbid. EBay will only use enough of your max bid to keep you in the lead until you either win or are outbid. By keeping your max bid hidden, and only using the enough of your true bid as needed to win encourages HONEST valuation and placing your true maximum bid. That is how bidding works here.

If eBay told you the minimum amount needed to outbid the current leader, his max bid would not be hidden. That would undermine proxy bidding and likely discourage placing your real max bid. It would be a nibbler's paradise for a while until sellers left because the bottom drops out of selling prices.

If you can't decide how much something is worth to you until you see how much it is worth to someone else, you are placing yourself at a serious disadvantage here. EBay will allow you to nibble against another bidder's honest max bid but it certainly is not the best way to bid. Even if you overtake an early bidder, you are likely going to be outbid by a smarter bidder who understands bidding and avoids nibblers like you by placing his max bid too late for you to use his bid to determine how much you are willing to pay.

Rather than try to change the way that bidding works here, why not learn how proxy bidding works and use it to your advantage. I doubt that eBay will change their very successful proxy bidding because you are unable to understand it.

Thanks Widget, I forgot to explain about the sport bidders.

In that case, (somebody bids $1000.00), sport bidders and shillers would have fun bidding $999.99.

The reason that the bid leaders max bid is kept secret is to keep the bidding process honest and "real". For example, in a live auction, if somebody jumps up and says "$50.00", they don't then say "But I'll go as high as $400.00". While eBay isn't a live auction, they follow the auction process by simulating bidding by proxy. When you bid $400.00, you're telling eBay "bid for me, but only as high as needed to win, but never more than $400.00". Other buyers don't have the right to know your secret max, until such a time (if any) that it's exceeded.

As others have said, bidding isn't "guessing". Just bid once, and bid the most you would ever pay. Then you will either win or you will know that somebody else was willing to pay more than you.