That is indeed a very likely possibility. On a number of bids I have seen my maximum bid price reached a little too often. Granted some are a result of people putting in a lot of incremental last minute bids. I have often missed a bid thinking "Darn, I could have afforded another $25".
I think the best deals are to be had (with some patience) from dealers having close-out specials. A prime example is when I bought Mirage M3-si speakers at about $3600. After a year or two, Mirage discontinued them and they cleared them out at $2650. That's a big mark-up! They were the speakers that I had a great experience with my first Adcom GFA-535II with passive preamp. That is why I was considering a multichannel Adcom until someone mentioned they are no longer the company that they used to be.
The option I like is used/demo equipment from the dealer.
