Auction timing consistently ending when there is about a minute left from the page clock

[fashionmusic451]

Hi folks,

I use an iPad.  The last several auctions have ended when the clock on the Ebay page says there is about a minute left .  

Why would this be happening?  Is it the clock on my device?    I prefer to bid when there is about 20 seconds left in an auction.   Any one else experience this?  How can I fix this issue?

Thanks

[stainlessenginecovers]

Auctions only show the day/hour/minutes left; but in reality, it's down to the second. 

An item ends at 5:59 PM, really may not end until 5:59:49. 

Also, easy that their clock and yours are not on same page. 

Always look at 'other bids' and you will see the start time down to the second. Waiting with 20 seconds left may or may not work. 

[woodland_gnome]

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.

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.

[crazystuff4sale]

Next time reload the page every few seconds as what you see on your screen is a script running on your computer.

[ebooksdiva]

Since You didn't post an item number I can only give you examples.

Example Auctions start time is 7:21:59pm EST

They end exactly to the second 7 days later 7:21:59 pm EST

They never end sooner than what the start time is. They never add on 1 minute either.

There is nothing for you to fix. That's all I have to say about it. 

[eburtonlab]

If the auction countdown does not seem to be synchronized with the actual end of the auction, check to make sure your computer's time and date settings are correct, that your time zone is set correctly, and that your computer's time is synchronized with an internet time server such as time.nist.gov or time.windows.com.

Differences between your computer's time and other computers' times can lead to all sorts of problems including the inability to get needed updates.

[mudshark61369]

@fashionmusic451,

When you open an auction page if it is slow to load the info you first receive may already be behind, because of lags between the time the info was sent and then displayed on your pad. If your device is synched as eburtonlab suggested, but pages load slowly, you may want to clear your temporary internet files and cookie cache, then restart it. 

[fashionmusic451]

Your answer is redundant, and known.

Syncing my device time to the Ebay clock seems to be what I have to fix.  

[crazystuff4sale]

---

@fashionmusic451 wrote:

Your answer is redundant, and known.

Syncing my device time to the Ebay clock seems to be what I have to fix.  

---

Then you will need to reload/refresh the auction page periodically to sync the time. That is what I have always done - for years and it never fails.