The idea was related to an auction internet site that was popular at the time in which you could bid on a products, but you paid for each individual bid - so if you observed an Iphone with a winning bid of 1p, you could bid 2p, but if you have been outbid, you’d shed your 2p - inevitably someone would earn it at a cut price cost at the price of absolutely everyone who’d bid just before them and the organization would make a fortune.