Watched items ended then relisted at higher price

I have noticed a pattern in the past two days that 4 of the 5 items I was watching ended with no bids and are now re-listed at a higher price. I've been buying on eBay since 1999 and normally when something doesn't sell, they get re-listed at the same price or lower. I don't understand how almost every item I'm watching gets relisted at a higher price (I admit I watched it and let it end hoping that it would be re-listed at a lower price and if it does I'll bid on it). These are all from different sellers in the apparel category and are all cheap items (under $10).

I was wondering if eBay has a tool and is now prompting sellers to possibly re-list high because there were watchers on the previous auctions.

Thoughts?

No tool from eBay, but any seller sees how many watchers he has on his items.

Use a tool outside of eBay to keep an inventory of Watched items.

Many large volume eBay sellers participate in direct vendor drop-shipping so the relisted price increases are more likely due to an increase in the cost of the item from their drop-ship supplier vs the seller simply getting getting greedy.

sdsendoh said:   eBay places higher search relevance on listings thats been around and had previous purchase histories. Ive seen many sellers simply raise the price if something goes out of stock to prevent people from buying it, then lowering it once it goes back in stock....that way the listing can maintain it's history.

FYI eBay completely eliminated that hidden gem from their site search and google ad words advertising when they introduced best match last year. Now the only way to get preference in search over other listings is to play their "free shipping/returns with money back option" game or pay a premium listing fee for the exposure.