Lee - I think you may be mistaken.  What you described is a "BIN", i.e., a "Buy It Now", where if someone bids or clicks on the BIN, the auction is over.  You may start an auction at a particular number but it keeps going from there until there are no more bids and the auction ends. 

5th is right, what you are describing is a Buy It Now. If you start the auction with a starting price of $200, bids will be entered, until the planned end time of the auction, with the high bid winning the item. If a bid is entered in the last 10 minutes of the auction, the auction is extended by 10 minutes from the time of the bid, in order to try to replicate an actual auction where final bids are asked for, and it is going, going, gone. Some like this feature, some don't. That is another whole topic of disagreement. As a buyer, I dont like it, as it takes away the snipe. If you put a BUY IT NOW price on the item of say, $350, and someone wants it bad enough to take that option, THEN the auction ends with no further bids, unlike a real live auction. The starting price of $200 or whatever price you choose, is kinda like an open reserve that everyone can see. Most people hate the hidden reserves, so if you must get a minimum for the item use a start price. But, if you start it at a penny, it usually gets more as a result of bidders frenzy. Good luck.