What is the purpose of the last 10 seconds of an auction if bids are not accepted within that time?

[cilacowboy]

I am feeling rather annoyed after having waited 24 hours to bid on an item that I really wanted, only to be told the auction has ended when I confirmed my bid with 10 seconds of the auction still remaining. My bidding technique has always been to add my bid when there are just seconds remaining in the auction, but now it seems you can't do that.

What then is the point of the last 10 seconds of an auction if nothing can be done during that 10 seconds??? The auction might as well end 10 seconds earlier! Make it make sense.

[nobody*s_perfect]

Bids ARE accepted during the final seconds of an auction. Most likely the countdown in your listing was out of sync with eBay's clock.

[eburtonlab]

eBay accepts bids right up until the last fraction of a second -- but the bid must actually be received by eBay before times runs out. If you check the bid history of many auctions you can see examples of bids received in the last second of an auction.

Just because you submit a bid when the auction countdown on your device shows some time left does not necessarily mean that eBay will receive the bid in time, though.

If your auction countdown is not behaving correctly, check to make sure your computer's time and time zone are set correctly, and the date and time are synchronized with an internet time server such as time.windows.com or time.nist.gov.

Check your computer's time here:

https://time.is/

If your computer's time is off by a few seconds, fast or slow, this can affect your ability to submit a bid in the last seconds of an auction.

[simba6]

That countdown clock runs on your computer and can be off.  It get re synced every so often that is why you see it jump around.  I suggest you use a snipe service to place bids.  Also, they are handy when you can't be at a computer when an auction ends.

[cilacowboy]

I checked with the link you shared and my clock is indeed 1.2 seconds behind, but I confirmed my bid with about 5 seconds to go so that 1.2 seconds shouldn't have made a difference. This never used to happen before. I will be sure to add my bid sooner from now on.

[eburtonlab]

I checked with the link you shared and my clock is indeed 1.2 seconds behind, but I confirmed my bid with about 5 seconds to go so that 1.2 seconds shouldn't have made a difference.

I agree that if you have a reasonably fast connection and there are no network issues, a bid submitted under those circumstances should have been successful, or at least that has been the case for me using my network connection.

This never used to happen before. I will be sure to add my bid sooner from now on.

eBay's countdown changed a little over a year ago and since then it has been more prone to issues due to the user's clock not being synchronized. Bidding a bit sooner may help to avoid problems.

[soh.maryl]

Why not bid the absolute most you're willing to pay at about 20 seconds before the end of the auction?

That way, you may be the winner.  Or maybe not.  But you did bid the most you wanted to pay and would not have bid any more, even if there were another hour left, right?  

[cilacowboy]

The reason I leave my bid until the last moment is so that it leaves other bidders no time to rethink their highest bid. I've often been left thinking "If only I'd gone £1 higher..." It's just a tactic I've used for years and it makes sense to me logically. Now I'll have to change my tactic to bidding within about 20 seconds, which will then still give other bidders that little extra time to think.

[eburtonlab]

Now I'll have to change my tactic to bidding within about 20 seconds, which will then still give other bidders that little extra time to think.

Chances are that other bidders are encountering similar issues bidding at the end of the auction, and they will likely find they have to bid a bit earlier as well in order to get eBay to accept their bids before time runs out.

It may be worth finding some low value items for auction that you are interested in buying to practice submitting bids at the end of an auction, so that you can be reasonably certain you are able to submit a bid at just the right time to maximize your chances of winning when the next opportunity arises.