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6 day auction-what is the official end of auction time?
Summary: aud-33097 expressed concerns about the auction process on eBay, particularly questioning the accuracy of the end time for bids. jacbarcollectibles and eburtonlab provided clarification, explaining that eBay records bids with exact timing and that discrepancies may arise from device synchronization issues. aud-33097 acknowledged this explanation and appreciated the insight, noting a lesson learned for future auctions.
Dont want this to come off as sour grapes... the 6 day auction i participated in was fun up until the snipping "effort". What i am trying to confirm since eBay only offers limited detail responses via AI is .... how does the ebay automation determine an auction win... AI, after drilling down with very specific detail conceded that the time snap bidder log associated with each auction has a final, end of auction time stamp. In my situation i can see in that log that the winning big time stamp was 9 seconds after the end of auction time stamp. I have submitted 5 different ways to the ebay powers to be with no response. All i want is confirmation that the final winning bid met what ever hidden criteria they operate to, and not a glitch. Just want see their final evidence.
eburtonlab
Mentor1 month ago · EditedBidding ends a set number of days after the auction started down to the exact second. Bids are accepted so long as a bid for a valid amount is received by eBay's server before the auction ends, even if those bids are not displayed on individual bidders' pages around the world until a few seconds later.
For some unknown reason eBay no longer displays the ending time to the second at the top of the bid history page, but if there are any bids you should be able to calculate the actual ending time by examining the starting time of the auction at the bottom of the page.
Auctions always begin and end at the same time down to the exact second, unless the auction is ended early by the seller. All bidders have the same time to place valid bids, and no one gets any extra time. eBay time stamps every bid as it is received by eBay, and the times are displayed to the second in the bid history if you use a desktop browser.
If you bid the maximum amount you are willing to pay (taking into account any shipping or taxes) then the only way you can lose is if someone is willing to bid more than you were and actually does so, or if someone bid the same exact amount, earlier.
No one can count on having the last bid, and bidders should assume that other bids will be placed at the end of the auction too late to be reacted to, and set their bids accordingly. Note that the countdown displayed on your device and the bids you see are not updated in real time, and just because you did not see any other bids when your clock reaches zero does not mean that eBay did not receive other bids at the last moment.
You have not won until the page refreshes and you see a note indicating that you have been declared the winner and you see a link to pay or your payment is taken automatically. A note indicating you are the high bidder issued while the auction is still ongoing is not the same as being declared the winner by eBay after the auction has ended.
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.gov.
Check your computer's time here:
https://time.is/
If your computer's time is too fast or too slow, that can prevent you from bidding at the end of an auction. Either your computer will think the auction is over when it is not, preventing you from bidding, or else you will think you have more time left when the auction is about to end. Neither situation helps you. Set your computer's time to automatically synchronize to prevent this from happening.
aud-33097
OP1 month agoThank you.... 50 seconds, not visible in the bidding log. Fair eBay win.... lesson learned.. appreciate the visual.
eburtonlab
Mentor1 month agoYou are very welcome -- good luck with your future auctions.
aud-33097
OP1 month agoFor what its worth...
jacbarcollectibles
Mentor1 month agoWhat is the item number so we can look at the bid history. eBay servers are very good at determining the winner of auctions. Each auction has an end time that is exact to the nanosecond but eBay does not normally show timing to this level. eBay has been doing auctions for many years and would not survive if they made mistakes determining the auction winner.
aud-33097
OP1 month agoaud-33097
OP1 month agoThis is great, appreciate you asking the question and hopefully reviewing the data. I am new to all this and would like to understand a few of the impactful details associated with the process.
disneyshopper
Mentor1 month agoThe auction started on August 28 at 11:50:55
The high bidder placed his bid on September 2 at 11:50:09
The auction ended on September 2 at 11:50:55
Therefore the auction ended 46 seconds after the last bid was placed.