I am not sure what you are exactly asking but I will guess. A single increment is a bid and the reserve is usually not disclosed by a seller. The bid establishes a 'watch' point on the bidders my ebay without actually adding the item to a 'watch this item' list. In other words, the bidder is a real bidder and not a phantom 'watcher' that never bids.The bid is no good but any future bids by anyone will show up in items not won. If there is a Buy It Now auction price, the single bid used to, and I think still does, take out the auction BIN. The bidder may also be hoping that if there is no interest, the seller may offer it at that only bid price. I am not sure if this answers your questions on the example you gave.
Quite some time ago (like 2-3 yrs) I was looking at an item that had a low starting bid and during the time I was asking the seller some questions(the same day) to see if it was genuine, the seller sold the item by re-listing it as a BIN and selling it to someone who evidently made them an offer. If I would have put in an initial bid of any amount that could not have happened and the auction would have had to continue. The seller sold the item well below market value and well below what I would have finally bid. I emailed the seller and said as much.
