Time remaining in "Confirm Bid" window out of synch with time shown in description

[bambopbam]

A few weeks ago eBay changed the bid confirm pop-up window, and now the countdown to the end of the auction is out of synch.  Big time.  

You can easily see for your self.  Pick any auction to bid on and enter a bid (you don't have to confirm the bid).  The time in the confirm window pop-up will be about 5 seconds out of synch than the time displayed in the item description page.  For example, if you think you have 10 seconds left to bid the pop-up window will show you actually have 5 seconds left. 

As an active bidder and sniper since 1997 this change is befuddling, and it will impact sniping.  Who knows why they did this... are they trying to mess with sniping?  The entire eBay world exists on sniping.

[riocalypso]

no its just pure fraud!!!! changing end times and telling us were committed is a joke..i guess no one has a gun to our heads and makes us use this garbage, but seems highly illegal and very dishonest...!!great ebay!!!

[eburtonlab]

my timer is 5 minutes slow

If the auction countdown does not seem to be synchronized with the actual end of the auction, check to make sure your computer's time and date settings are correct, that your time zone is set correctly, and that your computer's time is synchronized with an internet time server such as time.nist.gov or time.windows.com.

Differences between your computer's time and other computers' times can lead to all sorts of problems including the inability to get needed updates.

It is entirely possible that eBay has recently changed how the countdown timer software operates, and that previously minor synchronization issues have suddenly become much more noticeable or problematic due to that.

Some users experiencing certain problems with countdowns have indicated that those problems went away once their clocks were synchronized with an online time server.

[kathiec]

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@riocalypso wrote:

no its just pure fraud!!!! changing end times and telling us were committed is a joke..i guess no one has a gun to our heads and makes us use this garbage, but seems highly illegal and very dishonest...!!great ebay!!!

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Ebay is not changing end times. The problem is with the synchronization of the countdown clock. There are two simple fixes: 1) Realize that it's the highest bid that wins, not the last bid, and place your bid earlier. 2) Use a sniping service.

[house*of*paws]

Hi @bambopbam 

I haven't bid on auctions for a while ... so haven't experienced the change personally.  There have been quite a number of complaints about auction countdowns being out of sync, however.

When I used to snipe ... I used a mechanical kitchen timer to match up with the auction time clock ... and checked it to make sure it was synced to within 1-2 seconds.

I went to the auction several minutes before the scheduled End Time.  I then Signed-out and Signed-in to my account.  I placed my bid ... and waited at the Confirm screen for my timer to reach 8-6 seconds before clicking on 'Confirm'.   [I paid no attention to what eBay's countdown clock was saying after syncing my timer.]

I'm not sure whether that will still work ... but I think it should.  The main issue currently seems to be making sure you're aware of the exact End Time ... including seconds.

[diavolo69]

I lost 2 auctions in the last 24 hours because the time was off with LESS actual time remaining than was shown.

 The first time, I refreshed the actual auction page with 1 minute to go before the end of the auction.  When I entered the bid, the bid countdown window was appropriately synched with what was on the main auction page.  When I went to confirm the bid with around 10 seconds left, I received the "bidding has ended on this item" and the auction had already ended. 

The second time, I had an alarm set on my phone for 1 minute from the auction's end.  When it went off, I refreshed the auction page and it was showing a little over a minute actual time left on the auction.  I entered my bid and expected to see the countdown timer on the bid page to be the same, but it was down to 7 seconds left in the auction and caught me well by surprise and by the time I tried to enter my bid, the auction had ended. 

This has to be a serious glitch on eBay's end if the main auction page is showing a minute left and then, only about 10-15 seconds later, the bid timer / actual time remaining was down to 7 seconds left.  This is extremely frustrating.  There is definitely a problem on eBay's end.  I have been at this for 22 years and even in the days of ancient, slow computers, the countdown was always reliable for bidding.

[sthero]

I've read alot of posts about bids going in to find there are more time left to bid than clock indicated at time bids placed! 
Yet my experience is bid clock timer shows time left to bid that is not true ! I open multiple tabs and refresh them multiple times to see if timers are confirming and and still  getting inaccurate count downs in bid box timer  ,time left  which exceeds the actual time left to bid ! I just placed a bid with 5 seconds left ,but auction ended ! This has happened to me many times, i developed measures to counter this EBAY BUG ! Checking multiple tabs timers , not leaving the bid window open too long , i open the bid window no more than 3 mins left to bid ! and timer accuracy still failed , 5 seconds wasn't enough lead end time to get my bid in , so back to 10 sec to place bid,  Yes Last Min sniping is playing at the Ebay Clock timer Casino ! Its a total crap shoot alot of the time.

[kh-gary]

Hi everyone,

Due to the age of this thread, it has been closed to further replies. Please feel free to start a new thread HERE if you wish to continue to discuss this topic.

Thank you for understanding.