Last second bids

Question

I am considering leaving EBay for good. In the last month I have held a bid on a sports card and with one second left, Iâ€™ve lost the auction. How does this happen. Sorry, should have said this before, it has happened 5 times in one month. Is EBay not smart enough to figure out they are losing money by not having extended bidding? Is this done by some kind of computer program to bid with one second left? Help me to understand this.

lady_madonna · Answer

@locohogs

Auctions have a specific starting time and a specific ending time. Bidders are welcome to place their maximum proxy bid at any time during the auction from first second to last second. Timing does not matter so there is no logical reason to extend the auction time. Highest bid wins.

eburtonlab · Answer

What would you do with the extra time if you had it? Raise your bid?

If so, that indicates you are not bidding your maximum.

You do not need to wait until you are outbid to bid your maximum. In fact, there is no benefit to bidding less than your maximum in an eBay auction.

Once you have bid your maximum, bid extensions can not help you, only hurt you.

Bidding less than your maximum amount just means that someone else can jump in at the end of the auction and win at an amount you were willing to match or beat. Why let that happen?