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bidding issue
Hello, I bid on an item with 5 seconds to go. I was told I was the winner. Then other bids came (looking at the bid history) in 23 seconds after I bid and I was the told I was outbid. This was AFTER the auction ended. I'm a long time user of ebay . What is going on here ?
4 comments
woodland_gnome
·1 year agoYou're lucky in that the countdown was fast instead of slow and your bid with 5 seconds on the clock made it in before the end of the last second.  You didn't lose because other bids were later (if anything your earlier bid would have beaten any bid for the exact same amount) but because at least one other bid was higher.
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Your bid must be RECEIVED and timestamped at eBay's servers before the end of the last second. The countdown is NOT a real-time feed of bids coming in and eBay's clock counting down and is not an accurate measure of how much time you have left to submit the bid (click the confirm button) so it is received in time. It is rather a script that runs on your device periodically calling for updates on the status and time remaining, and uses your device's clock to count down from the time left display it last received from eBay (which took time to traverse the internet and get loaded into your device's RAM so your clock could start counting down). There is no adjustment for latency either way and so it is doubly slow compared to the time you would have to submit for it to get to eBay in time (AND there are other issues making it appear faster or slower, again you got lucky).
Back before the countdown was introduced, it is was relatively easy (and fun) to synch a local clock to the time remaining by clicking refresh on the Bid History Page at a particular noted time per the local clock (top of a minute was easiest) and then adding the returned time remaining to that time; this automatically adjusted for latency both ways and gave you the second before which you had to click the confirm button (best to do that a few times and pick the earliest result and add a solid buffer time since latency can change). But the countdown replaced the static display that enabled you to get a single unchanging time left display upon refreshing so it's not so easy anymore. I now use and recommend a "snipe service" to place your one true maximum bid about 6 seconds out; mine allows limited snipes for free (up to 4 wins per month) or several different pay plans if you are using it more frequently (or want a bit more reliability that comes with a "mirror server" in another location than the main server) and uses an eBay supplied API instead of the glitch user interface. It also captures any error message that eBay returns if the bid is unsuccessful, as opposed to you using the user interface where any such error message is overwritten when the countdown gets to 0 so you generally don't even see it much less be able to read it. There are other snipe services out there with their own plans, but we are not allowed to make unsolicited recommendations of particular ones.
copitec
OP1 year agoThanks for the heads up. looks like a clock issue as you suggested. I used my shop computer and it was off the seconds in question. Never had that problem before in 20 + years of using ebay. Thanks again !
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eburtonlab
Mentor1 year agoYou are very welcome!
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About two years ago eBay entirely rewrote the bid entry page coding, and ever since then the countdown displayed has been dependent on the computer's local time, as opposed to eBay's own time, as it was in the past.
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For most folks that have their computer's time automatically synchronized it should not matter at all, but if the time is not synchronized and it drifts too much, or if the time zone setting is wrong, that can cause issues, particularly when bidding at the end of an auction.
eburtonlab
Mentor1 year 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.
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eBay does not extend bidding. Once you have bid your maximum, bid extensions can not help you, only hurt you.
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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.
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Being told you are the current "high bidder" while the auction is still ongoing is not the same as being declared the winner after the auction is over, even if the countdown on your computer reaches zero. If you are the winner, you should see a link to check out.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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Check your computer's time here:
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https://time.is/
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Any difference between your device's clock and eBay's clock can cause problems for you if you intend to bid in the last few seconds of an auction. If your clock is fast or slow by thirty seconds, either way, this can prevent you from bidding. Either your computer will think the auction has ended when it has not, preventing your from bidding, or else you will think you have more time when the auction actually ends. Neither helps you.
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Synchronize your device's clock to minimize errors, and don't wait until the last second to place your bid.