Offer canceled before able to reply

[slainte-mhath]

A buyer submitted an offer at 7pm+PDT.  I'm EDT and was long to bed because I was scheduled for surgery early the next morning.  By the time I saw this offer, eBay had expired it.

1. How can I accept the offer?

2. Is there a way to extend this cancelation period for more than 24hours?

[woodland_gnome]

1.You don't.  Expired is expired, cancelled is cancelled.  No backsies.

2.  For a while eBay let the buyer choose among 2 or 3 options as to the expiration time, but I think that was just an experiment to get data as to what duration works best to balance between the buyer's interest in not being tied to the offer for too long vs. the seller's interest in having it available longer (and the interest of other sellers and eBay to release the buyer earlier so s/he can buy from someone else).  The time was originally 48 hours before that, and they now seem to have settled on 24.

Also note that the stated time is the MAXIMUM duration of the offer, it expires earlier if there is an auction bid on the listing or if the listing ends for any reason.

[slainte-mhath]

24 hours is insufficient; especially, when the clock starts ticking on weekends, holidays, and life's little emergencies.

Another buyer submitted a bid on an item which I accepted.  I submitted and invoice — twice — and I have yet to see a single 1¢.  What does eBay do FOR ME???