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Items declared Sold before the time is up.
Twice now I have been prepared to bid on items with ample time left when they are suddenly declared sold.
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Locked
Discussions in this board are limited to the original poster and Community Mentors
Twice now I have been prepared to bid on items with ample time left when they are suddenly declared sold.
eburtonlab
Mentor5 months ago@divan7613
It is possible for the seller to end the listing early and sell to the current high bidder, though it is generally not in the seller's interest to do so, but it can happen. Examine the bid history to see if the ending time matches the starting time at the bottom.
Bidding 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 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/
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.
Synchronize your device's clock to minimize errors, and don't wait until the last second to place your bid.