I wish there were some norms to keep a check on sites like these but sadly our government is not any more trustworthy than these sites. I can say I’ve had the same experience when I had the lowest unique bid right till the very last moment and "voila" - someone else outbids me and wins the product!
In such a case, whatever the site tries to do to convince the users of its authenticity is meaningless. You can always have tens or even hundreds of hired people who can testify to the site being honest. Only a certified government agency can instill some amount of faith by declaring these sites as authentic.
Till then, I would say that if you’re participating in these auctions, you’re either really stupid or very rich (which, if true, is a paradox!). I have learnt my lesson the first time itself and I hope people read this before they actually participate.
PS: danny137 and jack_mondler - "It reaches in no time and the service is just out of this world. Simply love it :-)" - wow.