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Bidding extended 10 seconds until no new bids received.
Summary: The discussion started with a technical issue regarding a bidding process, where a participant reported seeing conflicting messages about winning a bid due to a timing error. Another participant explained that such discrepancies can occur due to the complexity of handling bids from multiple servers. They suggested providing the listing number for further clarification on the timing issue.
I just bid on a auction with 6 seconds left my bid was at 5 Apr 2025 at 2:30:33am PDT, I was outbid and the winning bidder time was 5 Apr 2025 at 2:30:42am PDT.
10 comments
mod-nipun
·1 week agoHi!
This older thread has been closed to keep our community current and easy to navigate. If you have a related question or would like to continue the conversation, we warmly invite you to open a new thread.
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eBay Community Moderation Team
vt2946
·1 week agoThe message indicated I won the bidding. When I refreshed the browser, a new message said i didn’t win.
When I looked the last bidder, his bidding time was expired exceeding 7 seconds. Something was not right.
buyselljack2016
·1 week agoThat "won" and then did not win message happens from time to time.
Bids coming from so many places, via multiple servers causes that to happen.
Provide the listing #, and someone will likely explain the "7 seconds"
@vt2946
nobody*s_perfect
·1 year agohttps://www.ebay.com/itm/405711431683
The listing page shows that the auction ended at 02:40:44. So the final bid was placed two seconds before it ended. And your bid at 2:30:33 was placed 11 seconds before it ended. Not 6 seconds before.
If we go to the bid history page (click on the 22 bids note) we can see that the auction began at 02:40:44. There was no extension of the time; the auction ended at the exact same time as it began.
joe347
OP1 year agoMy computers time must of been off.
soh.maryl
·1 year agoItem number?
joe347
OP1 year agoItem number 405711431683
eburtonlab
·1 year agoThe last bid in that auction was placed two seconds before the auction ended at 5 April 2025 at 2:30:44am PDT.
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.
eBay does not extend bidding. Once you have bid your maximum, bid extensions can not help you, only hurt you.
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. Note that the countdown displayed on your device and the bids you see are not updated in real time, and just because you did not see any other bids when your clock reaches zero does not mean that eBay did not receive other bids at the last moment.
You have not won until the page refreshes and you see a note indicating that you have been declared the winner and you see a link to pay or your payment is take automatically. A note indicating you are the high bidder issued while the auction is still ongoing is not the same as being declared the winner by eBay after the auction has ended.
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.nist.gov.
Check your computer's time here:
https://time.is/
If your clock is off by even a few seconds, fast or slow, that can prevent you from bidding in the last few seconds of an auction. Either your computer will think the auction has already ended, preventing you from bidding, or else you will think the auction has ended when it is still going. Neither case helps you.
mudshark61369
·1 year ago@joe347,
I just posted an answer that contains a bid history example of what to look for to find the exact end time of an auction down to the second. Open the link below and look at the bottom of the screen shot I posted for the Starting time, which gives the exact number of seconds past the minute that ebay shows.
https://community.ebay.com/t5/Buying/Bids-accepted-seconds-after-bidding-cut-off-time-pushed-up-price/m-p/35019181#M517792
Auctions end to the exact second from the start time (hours:minutes:seconds).
Apparently someone wanted that item more than you did, sniped a bid in seconds before the auction closed with a bid higher than yours.