A extended bidding if bids recieved last few minutes type bidding would greatly benifit seller&buyer

[stillmanwi]

I have noticed auctions that have moved to extended bidding formats have greatly increased prices on items.  I have paid a lot more as a wholesaler however in general all auction companies are gravitating towards that style of auction.  I really think if ebay made that option ... eventually no one would use hard close options anymore.  Bid sniping is not very effective with the hard close option. Some buyers may not like it because they need to pay more. However some buyers dont like how ebay auctions just end without an opportunity to keep bidding.  ALL sellers will like soft close. Seems like a fool proof way for ebay to increase margins A LOT without soaking sellers.  If sellers cannot make profits eventually ebay will lose sellers and sales to other platforms or just stopping business all togeather. Ebays keeps thinking of ways to make sellers pay more percentage of their sales in promotions and fees to ebay for selling which I know is costing them sales and driving some of their sellers out of business. I wish ebay would make it easier on sellers by adding features that make sellers able to list more inventory exponentially faster. More listing tools and more shipping tools. They make massive revamps to how things are listed without enough research. Ebay should truly try and list some of their own products .... or a very large assortment of products like the average joe at home ebay store does and they will quickly start realizing what they need to do. Its obvious they dont really do it like most ebay sellers.  Ebay still has a classic niche in dealing with sellers who want to sell single listing type items, some on large scale. there is not too much competition they should capitalize on that before someone else does.  There are many ways ebay can increase its bottem line with its resources without soaking their actual customer which is those that sell on ebay... not as much the people that are buying.  It is the sellers they need to cater to just as much as buyers or they will lose the ultimate source of their revenue.

[gone.c-33]

This has been suggested thousands of times in the last 20 years and it has been explained as many times why it isn’t appropriate for eBay auctions.

I’ll let you use the search function if you want to learn why.

[bashort]

One big difference between those online auctions with soft close and ebay is that unlike ebay they actually expect you to pay if you are the winner.

The ebay sport bidders would love ebay soft close, they could sport bid against other sport bidders indefinitely 

[stillmanwi]

They have a prepay as requirement on submit offers now ... may not be a bad idea here 

[stainlessenginecovers]

Maybe I'm just ebay spoiled, but I see NO REASON to EVER do this. An auction is running, I see it on Day 3, with 4 days to go. If I'm a serious buyer and not a typical game player, I'm watching the auction and bidding accordingly. 

I've seen MANY other 'auctions' that do NOT do this 'soft type' ending. It ends at a certain time/date- so why is that so hard? 

[stillmanwi]

There are many auction platforms with search functions that are not affected by soft close. The difference here is the act of consignment is not required.  Really shouldn't affect a thing except it will stop screwing sellers, it will stop ebay from screwing themselves and last but not least it will stop screwing buyers who are willing to pay a lot more however think they are getting a deal and then get sniped. Ebay historically is a retail auction marketplace on many items. However the last couple years local auctions with smaller crowds are mostly all switching to soft close and in many ways are getting a lot more value out of their items than ebay. I have bought on ebay to resell and taken advantage of this when it happens due to the way bidding works.  I have always believed for the most part the more exposure you have to buyers the higher the prices will be.  The hard close pretty much stops that. Nobody walks into an auction wanting to start the price at what they are willing to pay. Thus people dont have the opportunity to try and feel like they are getting a deal or an opportunity to bid.   I have personally been willing to pay multiple thousands more for an item on ebay however just didnt because I thought I was going to win an item. The item then sold for far less then what I was willing to pay.  In general, logically and theoretically ebay has the ability to get more eyes on items across a larger area on larger scale then any local auction company. This means logically they should get more money on average for auctions however many times they do not simply because of not evolving the way their auctions close. If they did you would see ebay getting the most value out of auction sales and local auctions would become more wholesale again essentially because of audience disadvantage. EBAY is missing HUGE by not having soft close. Pros heavily outweigh the cons ... they could offer it as an option they would find that their old way of bidding would no longer be viable. Its a big net positive 

[eburtonlab]

Some light reading for folks interested in bid extensions and the various arguments pro and con:

https://community.ebay.com/t5/Selling/AUCTION-EXTENSIONS-FOR-BUYERS/m-p/29248518

[bashort]

I used to buy a lot from ebay auctions to resell and I still buy some but I can tell you that I have 0 interest in bidding on a soft close ebay auction.

[soh.maryl]

What "own products" does eBay have to list other than boxes?

Also, each eBay listing has a specific end time that's shown to potential buyers.  Anyone familiar with eBay knows this.  The end time is not a secret.  Experienced buyers and sellers explain to bidders that they should make one bid, bid the most they would pay as close to the end of the auction as they feel comfortable.

If they did not win, someone else valued it more than they did.  

Another point, the percentage of eBay listings that are auctions has decreased a lot over the years.  About the only thing that makes sense as an auction is some rare vintage item that appeals to collectors.  A high percentage of the merchandise listed for sale here is NOT in that category.  

[kensgiftshop]

If buyers are willing to pay more, why don't they bid what they are willing to pay the first time?

[a_c_green]

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@eburtonlab wrote:

Some light reading for folks interested in bid extensions and the various arguments pro and con:

https://community.ebay.com/t5/Selling/AUCTION-EXTENSIONS-FOR-BUYERS/m-p/29248518

---

My contribution, in one of the other eight-zillion threads on this topic 😁:

https://community.ebay.com/t5/Selling/Extend-the-auction-by-three-minutes-when-a-bid-is-placed-with-... 

[gone.c-33]

I rarely participate in auctions anymore, but when I do, I snipe. Without a fixed end time, I can’t snipe. If I can’t snipe I won’t bid.

How does that help sellers?

[janet9988]

As a buyer I could be sitting by my computer for days...I would not like that . Lack of sleep.

As a seller I could never plan a vacation if the bidding never ended on time.

In the end it  is  the  HIGHEST bid who would be the the winner. Extended bidding or or not.

I like knowing  the end time.

[ne*1*huskers]

Way back in the beginning there were sites with open ending.  I believe yahoo was one.  They had so many issues including sports bidders who would keep bidding to try and see how long they could keep auctions open and then not pay.  I believe some went on for a couple of days.  They are not around any more.

[chapeau-noir]

I suspect most of these auction houses with soft closes aren't open 24  hours a day in multiple national and international time zones. The logistics alone would be complicated.