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Bidding
Hi, I upped my bid on an item with 1 second remaining but was outbid anyway. The bid history showed the winning bid came in at 14 seconds past the finish time. In addition, I had made a note of when the bid was to end but when I looked at the item, it showed 35 minutes remaining so I exited and re-enabled the view and got the correct time remaining. I'm a novice but this looks fishy to me. I had lost out on many other items which is why I decided to look at this item as time was expiring. Under the circumstances, I'm just wasting my time bidding on anything. Any feedback?
5 comments
eburtonlab
Mentor3 years agoBidding 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 think you have encountered an auction where a bid was accepted after the end of the auction, examine the starting time closely and compare it to the time the bid was received and you should find that the bid was received before the auction actually ended. If not, please post an item number so that others can see it.
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.
If your auction countdown is not behaving correctly, check to make sure your computer's time zone is 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/
dkhdavhar
OP3 years agoHi, i replied via gmail. Here it is again in case it doesn't get to you.
eburtonlab
Mentor3 years agoThat auction began at:
21 Mar 2023 at 11:05:18am PDT
Which means it ended at the same time five days later, since it was a five day auction.
So the last bid was received four seconds before the auction ended. Your bid was received four seconds before that bid was received.
The highest valid bid received by eBay before the end of the auction wins. If you had wanted to bid more, you should have done that. If you bid your maximum, then someone else bid more than you did and legitimately won the auction.
dkhdavhar
OP3 years agoOK, fine, except as far as I could tell (without somehow finding out that 18 seconds past the hour start time), the bidding should have ended at 11:05:00. When does ebay start adding tenths or hundredths of a second? Not ending exactly on the minute regardless of the seconds of the start time is a deceptive loophole IMHO. I'm sure this is perceived as sour grapes and maybe so.
eburtonlab
Mentor3 years agothe bidding should have ended at 11:05:00. When does ebay start adding tenths or hundredths of a second?
The bidding ended five days after it started at 18 seconds past 11:05 AM PDT.
Do not assume that the bidding ends at 11:05:00 when you see 11:05. The ending time always has a seconds component, even when it is not displayed that way.
eBay may keep track of tenths or hundredths of a second, but eBay displays bid history in seconds, so that is what you have to work with.