I'm the 99p first bidder, I admit it. And I always see another STWer on eBay doing the same too!
For what it's worth, I'll occasionally bid midway through an auction if I really want something just to possibly scare away a few punters that hang around looking for the bargains. People will snipe a big price if they think they can get a bargain, a fair few seem to ignore stuff already getting a decent-ish price.
That's the whole point of 99p starting prices. Get people watching/bidding on things then the red mist decends. Been tempted by a (new) Campag chainset that has not sold at starting price £45 twice already this week, when an identical used one went for over that cost because they started at 99 pennies.