Auctions: The Winning bid accepted after official end time

[morlmar]

FYI:  This in as of two days ago (3-25-22) from an EBay Representative:  All live auctions close, on average, up to 1 minute past the deadline and less frequently, close over 1 minute past the deadline. Really?  I was never told WHY, just the way it is.   Example:  the winning bid posted 45 seconds after the close and EBay’s official end time, posted 2 seconds after that, showing 47 seconds.  I just viewed another example of this 20 minutes ago. This creates such doubt to the legitimacy of the platform.  Thank you all. Hope this helps.

M

[albertabrightalberta]

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@morlmar wrote:

Hey there, sure I’ll post an example.  It just happened again. The item is a Buffalo Nickel, item #175208494526, End Time:  4:14pm.   I placed a healthily max bid at 2:50 pm, way before the close.  You will see the winning bid was accepted after this time, I think it was 25 seconds. 

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Your bid was placed about an hour and 24 minutes before the end of the auction.

The winning bid was placed 24 seconds before the end of the auction and an hour and 24 minutes after your bid. 

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@morlmar wrote:

The EBay rep was very nice & very informative.  I just wish I had pressed the issue as to WHY this is accepted/allowed.  Isn’t the point of a timed auction just that, TIMED.  I don’t begrudge anyone trying to get in at the last minute, I get that, but the bid can’t be accepted after the close, right down to the second. That’s the whole point.  Thanks so much for responding. I just want to understand the rules to make a decision whether to participate or not.

M

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I'm sure the rep was "very nice & very informative" but nice and informative don't mean ACCURATE! 

But again, the winning bid was placed 24 seconds before the end of the auction and beat you fair and square. 

[kathiec]

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@morlmar wrote:

Hey Kathiec, Thankyou!  Item #175208494526. This was today @ 4:14

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Look on the bid history page. It shows the official end time was 4:14:49. The last bid was placed at 14:14:25, 24 seconds before the listing ended. Wanna try again?

[morlmar]

Item #175208494526. This was today ending 4:14. Thanks for your help.

[albertabrightalberta]

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@morlmar wrote:

Item #175208494526. This was today ending 4:14. Thanks for your help.

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Yup, I saw your previous post in which you disclosed this item number.

And did you read my post  16 above? 

[kathiec]

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@morlmar wrote:

Item #175208494526. This was today ending 4:14. Thanks for your help.

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You just don't seem to be getting it. As many of us have pointed out, the ending time you see on the main listing page is rounded to the minute. Actual end times are to the second. You have to look on the bid history page (click on the number of bids to get there) to see the actual end time, which extends to seconds. Go to the bid history on your example and you will clearly see that the actual end time was 14:14:49. 

[elma_ny]

My assumption: it takes a minute for the winning bid to be determined. I believe the winning bid must still be be received at eBay before the auction ends.  I'm typically Joe Dubious, yet I believe the winning bid cannot be received after the auction ends.

It used to be that Pay Now button would appear instantly after an auction ended, then it started being delayed.  Now this text appears: We’re determining the winner. Please refresh the page.

Tonight it took 10 minutes for the Pay Now button to appear, and the associated You Won email was likewise sent 10 minutes after the auction ending.  Yes, Sunday evenings are busy, but 10 minutes is a new record for such a delay.

Why the slowdown?  Could it be tech issues or purposeful delay?  Unknown, and no guess.

[woodland_gnome]

I've long recommended that anyone watching the countdown do a manual refresh after a few seconds to account for any bids received in the last couple of seconds which can take a few seconds to be validated (timestamp is before the end of the last second, bid amount is at least the minimum, buyer not subject to blocks or limits or restrictions concerning that listing/seller).  The "You won" notice has tended to be generated prematurely.  Looks like this is something they're trying to eliminate or minimize the complaint.

But in any event what you bring up is not related to the problem brought up in this thread.  Rather the problem is that when ebay.com started to try to have the time display available in the viewer's timezone instead of all being in Pacific Time, they royally made a huge mess of it in several ways.  One of those messes is to truncate the endtime on the Listing Page to the lower minute which too many bidders think that means it ends at the top of the minute rather than a very specific time during that minute that is not displayed ANYWHERE on ebay.com while the auction is active (it is displayed to the second on the Bid History Page only after the auction ends, it can be calculated from the Starting Time while the auction is running only if there has been a bid because the Starting Price and time for some reason are not displayed unless there is at least one active bid).

[elma_ny]

re: your para #2 above... I humbly disagree that it is indeed related.  It goes to what is happening at eBay with respect to how auctions now end (as well as to the ongoing tech issues therein), and to the comment made by an eBay rep.  My comments are often out in deep left field (ya gotta love baseball metaphors) but this time I believe I'm actually on-topic.  First time not in deep left field... mark your calendars.

[mudshark61369]

@morlmar,

I doubt anything I add to this conversation will sway you, but I'm going to try.  First of all you are using the app to shop with.  Whereas, if you login the classic way with your username and password, the countdown info is more exact.  

This item number  265607121759 ends  " Time left: 10h 2m 2s |  Today 6:54PM EDT"  From 8:52am EDT currently in my time zone.  

Your example on the app shows a rounded up time only to the minute, not the seconds left.

If you look at this item number 373988524695 with 1 day 12 hours currently left the Time ending data says

Time left: 1 day 12 hours |  Tuesday, 9:26PM.  because the down to the second countdown clock does not start does not start until there is less than 24 hours left. In the last 24 hours the end time could be Tuesday, 9:26:58 PM.  Any one who bids in the last 58 seconds can win.

Unfortunately, ebay's Philippine call center reps will say anything to people who have issues not covered in their playbook, to get the off the phone.  Tech issues aren't usually covered in their playbook.

One last thing.  The time displayed on the countdown clock can be behind the actual time left.  There is always a slight lag between the time ebay's computers send information, and the time it is received and displayed. How much of a lag time there is, can depend on your connection speed, how much other activity is happening on your router, gaming, streaming, The number of cookies your device is storing at the time etc..

[morlmar]

Thanks for replying, but I am looking at the bid history & Ebay confirmed that bids are accepted up to 1 minute past the close, she just didn’t mention why this is allowed. 
Here’s another one which I’ve never seen before.   This auction ends Monday item #294890947353

the last 2 bids are the same person, same amount, but two different days 3-29 & 4-1. I didn’t think you could place a bid twice for the same amount. You would be instructed to place a higher bid. I print these stats so I can follow.   Thanks again to all!

Morlmar

[morlmar]

I considered a Time Zone possibility. Thanks.

M

[morlmar]

My max bid of 439.58 held until the close @ 4:14pm / PDT. I was logged in and just happened to watch the count down, by the seconds.  The winning bid came in at 4:14:25, 25 seconds after the close and eBay records the final time, another 24seconds after that.  That’s the other ?, I wish eBay would recognize the winning bid time as The End Time. That’s really all that matters in an auction.  
I sure do appreciate the time you took to help.

[nobody*s_perfect]

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@morlmar wrote:... item #294890947353

the last 2 bids are the same person, same amount, but two different days 3-29 & 4-1. I didn’t think you could place a bid twice for the same amount. ...

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The bids are showing as the same amount because that member is the current high bidder. You can't bid against yourself, but each new bid must be at least one full bid increment above the previous one.   The high bid showing will always be just one bid increment above the second-highest bid.

In this example, the second-highest bid is $790 and the bid increment in that price range is $10, so the high bid showing will stay at $800 until somebody else bids.  The current high bidder's actual hidden full proxy bids are at least $800 and $810. They could be much higher. They could be $1000 and $2000.

[nobody*s_perfect]

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@morlmar wrote:

My max bid of 439.58 held until the close @ 4:14pm / PDT. I was logged in and just happened to watch the count down, by the seconds.  The winning bid came in at 4:14:25, 25 seconds after the close and eBay records the final time, another 24seconds after that.....

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Auctions do not end at the exact minute.  An auction ends at the exact time in hours, minutes AND SECONDS after it began. An auction that started at 4:14:49 will end at 4:14:49, even though eBay will sometimes display just the hour and minutes, such as 4:14.  

[kathiec]

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@morlmar wrote:

My max bid of 439.58 held until the close @ 4:14pm / PDT. I was logged in and just happened to watch the count down, by the seconds.  The winning bid came in at 4:14:25, 25 seconds after the close and eBay records the final time, another 24seconds after that.  That’s the other ?, I wish eBay would recognize the winning bid time as The End Time. That’s really all that matters in an auction.  
I sure do appreciate the time you took to help.

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Are you not reading the responses you've received? Not one, not two, but seven of them have directed you to the bid history page. That's where you find the official end time of every auction. And as you've been told seven times, the official end time of the auction in question was 4:14:49, not 4:14. All eBay auction end times are calculated to the second. 

As for eBay counting the winning bid time as the end time, how on earth would they do that? Taken to its logical (illogical?) conclusion, that means the auction would be closed as soon as the first outbid was registered.