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Bidding
I'm in Central Time, I've bid on two occasions already with about 3secs left and deemed the highest bidder. But then clock resets with about a minute left such that other bidders eventually outbid me; and I can't tell if bidding had really ended to the contrary (because when I rebid with what I saw as the NEXT 3 secs left, bidding showed as ended). Would it help if I adjust my time to PST? Thanks
5 comments
carhub
OP2 years agowoodland_gnome Thanks much! I appreciate your time.
woodland_gnome
·2 years agoThe countdown is unreliable. The actual timekeeping is very precise and accurate (bids received are timestamped when received and then processed and those that are timestamped before the end of the last second are accepted and those with timestamps after that are rejected). It is the DISPLAY that is the issue and as long as you bid your TRUE maximum in time for it to be accepted you will win unless someone else bid more (or the same amount--ties go to the earlier bid) before you or more after you, up until the actual end according to eBay's servers clocks. Don't rely on the display--bid far enough in advance of the end so you won't have any issues or have time to try to resolve them if you do; OR use a "snipe service" if you want your bid to go in during the last few seconds so others can't react to it. Do not expect to be able to react to new bids, bid your TRUE maximum without regard for what others have, haven't, or might bid (other than to add a few cents to the round number you have in mind as a tiebreaker since most bidders bid the round number).
There is no way to "adjust" your eBay timezone displays (which are a mess in that different pages have different settings) other than by changing your device's timezone settings which causes major issues if it is set wrong (e.g. if you set the timezone to Pacific--or leave it there from the factory set to Pacific as most computers are--but change the digits to reflect Central it causes search results to show auctions with up to 2 hours to go as finished, and some think it also messes with the countdown.)
carhub
OP2 years agoThanks for the reply. Here's an example:
My true maximum was probably sniped, but by 29 secs beyond the end time (note that perhaps the same bidder put their initial bid also 25 secs beyond the end time? My same true maximum was almost $100 more before said winner's "initial bid". But how can the display be unreliable? The time stamp on my bid does not actually reflect the last 3 secs that I saw when I submitted it. When bidding ended the clocked stopped as well. Though the page showed I was still the highest bidder, it didn't say I won it, like I normally would see having won hundreds of bids already by sniping with true maximums, plus the odd cents. So I checked if I did win by clicking on the item, but then clocked started counting down again with less than a minute left. THEN my second last three seconds of bidding failed. This happened twice this month alone and have yet to make another try.
woodland_gnome
·2 years agoThe timestamps are accurate. It is the DISPLAY that you see (especially the Countdown) that gives people trouble. For instance eBay truncates the time displays to the second, minute or hour depending on the page (and sometimes how much time remains). The auction did not end at 5:00:00.0000. For some incompehensible reason eBay truncates the Time Ended display to the minute but the bids are displayed to the second. The actual endtime was 5 days to the second after the start time which is displayed at the bottom (past where your screenshot cut off) on the Starting Price line.
The Countdown is not a real-time feed of bids coming in and eBay feeding the time constantly. It is a series of snapshots of status and time remaining that software running on your device stitches together to make it look like a real-time feed. Do NOT depend on it to time your bid in the last minute or two. If you want to place your bid as late as practical so others don't have much of a chance to react to it, use a "sniping service". There are reliable and secure ones with free limited use (the one I use lets you have 6 wins per month for free--after the 6th win you have to pay for further snipes--and different payment setups to match how you intend to use it--e.g. how often you use it and many auctions you bid on vs. what percentage you win).
disneyshopper
Mentor2 years agoI believe ebay truncates the ending time, so you see hh:mm when in fact the listing ends at hh:mm:ss .
Make sure the computer time is accurate.