dodgy bidding?

Samantha, it's very common for bids to show small amounts like that when autobids from other members are equalled or automatically bumped up, especially if other members are using automatic bidding tools.

You need to edit your post to remove the links to the other member as it's not allowed to breach people's privacy and make accusations like that. Best to raise any suspicions you have directly with Trademe. Since that member has other listings, use Community watch on one of them and explain to Trademe there with links to any listings you have concerns about so they can investigate if need be.

Kia Ora Samantha,

Confusing Yes! This can be caused by different Members placing Bids &/Or Autobids which don't surpass an initial autobid set - the Member who has placed their autobid first will supersede further bids & autobids placed on an item which are equal to or lower than the existing autobid - another Member may've put a bid or autobid equal to the $72.00 & another Member may have placed a bid or autobid of $72.01 or $72.02 which has seen the pre-existing bid placed jump by the $0.02cents. - Cheers.

Reference: Placing a bid – Help - Trade Me

Kia Ora Samantha,

Confusing Yes! - My Comment for you has gone into Pending Status awaiting a TradeMe staff member to clear - Meantime this is how it reads for you - Cheers.

Wot?  A TM member staff has to approve your reply.  Unbelievable.  No wonder there is no service elsewhere on this site if they're busy policing these pages.   They can't police Reddit. 

Cheers Samantha,

Yes! it's not all replies - there are certain keywords, phrasing & even Links which cause the system to flag a comment into Pending - it can be very time consuming trying to edit comments & work out what has tripped the system so we can get our messages delivered 🤷‍♀️