Countdown Clock Stops in "Place Bid" Pop-up When Trying to Place a Bid

[greg5000]

A new problem for both Buyers and Sellers has been confirmed by me and others on eBay.  

When using the "Place Bid" popup window on auctions, the countdown clock will stop after a short time.  When there are just a few minutes left, the countdown clock will stop after 5-6 seconds of clicking on "Place Bid."  If there is more time left in the auction, the countdown clock will stop but will take a little longer.  

This can and will result in:

1)  Buyers losing auctions who are trying to bid near the end of the auction (like many do).

2)  Sellers not getting the most for their items (due to Buyers not entering bids when they see the clock stop).

3)  eBay losing revenue, as auction items may not sell for the highest price they could have (and should have).

4)  eBay potentially losing Customers due to their frustration with the Bidding Interface not working, and not having confidence in the platform.

5)  Auctions no longer being fun, as they joy of bidding at the last minute(s) is now taken away, as you don't know how much time is left in the auction.

Are you also experiencing this?  If so, please let the Community and eBay know.

[ajs_coins_and_alchemy]

I bid on a good number of auctions and always snipe at the end. I've experienced count down clocks stop, I've experienved them delay several seconds showing more time than there is, I've seen them blatantly add time like a good number of seconds or nearly a minute.

When I'm bidding, depending on how bad I want the item and how serious I am, I either use 1, 2 or 3 screens ... no joke. I have a dual monitor set up for my computer, and I have my phone. I'll simultaneously open a bid window on each screen of the computer and on my phone, or i'll have a bid window on one screen and listing window on the other screen just to maintain an eye on the clock. Even my phone shows a second faster than the computer sometimes bid windows aside.

Yes it's a problem, no ebay probably wont fix it, absolutely there are work arounds if you want to work hard enough!

[ajs_coins_and_alchemy]

I also have 2 bid windows open, one phone and one computer, with the bid typed in on both, just because ive had them magically close the bid window at the last second like it "timed out" and i dont leave it open long, maybe 30 secs at most. I try to do lots of back to back bidding so i can pay a lot of attention and time to it.

[mudshark61369]

@greg5000,

I agree with the first four items on your list, but not number (5).  eBay's auctions do end at their correct time, despite the clock freezing. You can tell what time that will be if you look at the bid history for the starting time down to the second.  As long as a bid can be placed the excitement of knowing whether or not one wins is till there, because it is not always the last bid that is placed that wins, but the highest one.

  "Are you also experiencing this? If so, please let the Community and eBay know".

  As for notifying ebay, if more of these topics were posted on the Share Technical Issues board which can be found under the Community Info header maybe ebay would take action.

[greg5000]

Yes, there is a workaround, but not everyone uses multiple screens/monitors to bid.  

This is a new technical issue that just started recently and hopefully eBay will resolve it quickly.   eBay should be making it easier to bid ... not harder.

[greg5000]

Yes, it's not always the last bid that wins the auction if someone set a higher "max bid."  But the last bid that is made will be higher than the last bid, so the Seller makes more for their item.

When a Buyer sees the clock stop, they may stop attempting to bid, and stop buying.  Having to open multiple windows (a workaround), is extra work and time for Buyers. 

This issue has already been reported at the Technical Issues Board, and I've replied to those posts.  Since this problem will be seen by Buyers, I also created this post here, so Buyers are informed and can report it.

[1tuna]

when I snipe an auction I look at my seiko clock on the wall with a big sweep seconds.

you need to figure out at what point you will have 7 seconds left

every time the clock on the wall reaches a certain point  you will know hw many seconds and minutes are left

when the last minute is up you can place a bid and go to the confirm page

when the seconds hand reaches that mark again you already know you have 7 seconds until its over

then you can hit the confirm bid without worrying about ebays clock

you just need to compare the countdown clock a few times to your own time source.

when the big hand on my wall clock gets to a certain point its go time

@greg5000 

[n.c.simon]

The countdown clock on the bidding window issue is affecting me as well. As a long time Ebay user I remember when the Ebay bidding window did not have a countdown clock at all.  The countdown timer was then added to the bidding window. It was a great enhancement. Something has recently broken and the countdown timer no longer counts down in real time. There is no longer a way to know how much time is left on the auction if you are on the bidding window and chose to bid late. CAN THIS PLEASE BE FIXED?

Thank You.

[eburtonlab]

eBay should certainly fix the stuttering or stopping countdown on the bid entry pop-up.

Until eBay does fix it, you may be able to use the countdown on the item page to coordinate a late bid.

You may be able to scroll down a bit before opening the bid window so you can see the countdown on the item page, which seems to work more consistently.

[0possum]

Could not bid on 4 auctions today because of this problem.

The clock on the item page and the bid box are both inaccurate.

Clicking "Place bid" results in "This auction has ended".

Using the bid box results in the bid box abruptly disappearing before auction end.

[fabrisham]

I'm experiencing something quite similar. What I have observed is that the issue seems to be linked to the auction page banner ad. After the advertisement loads, the page automatically refreshes and another ad will then load, causing the page to refresh again. This anomaly continues unceasingly, making it impossible to place a bid.

[eburtonlab]

What I have observed is that the issue seems to be linked to the auction page banner ad. After the advertisement loads, the page automatically refreshes and another ad will then load, causing the page to refresh again. This anomaly continues unceasingly, making it impossible to place a bid.

Are you able to bid if you use an ad blocker that prevents the banner ad from loading?

[fabrisham]

Just finished a chat with eBay regarding this issue. A work ticket was issued on Monday 8/22/22 and the technical team is working to resolve the problem.

[rrr555]

I'm sure this is happening to many bidders because I won a bunch of auctions for much cheaper than I should have won them for.  But I also lost some because I would bid with 10 seconds and get outbid and then instead of sending in another bid as I always do with about 3 or 4 seconds; the auction would be ended.  The countdown clock would go from 8 seconds down to 0 in a split second.  This is terrible for buyers, sellers and ebay.  This thread started 2 weeks ago and Ebay still has not fixed the problem

[fabrisham]

No, haven't tried an ad blocker. Have you? Positive result?