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Auctions: The Winning bid accepted after official end time

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

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Auctions: The Winning bid accepted after official end time

I would have to see that to believe.   Item numbers please?

Message 2 of 39
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Auctions: The Winning bid accepted after official end time

An auction will end at the exact same time as it started: The same hour, minute, and second.  Some displays don't show the seconds.  An auction that shows as ending at 12:00 could have an official exact end time at any time between 12:00:00 untll 12:00:59.  An auction that ends at 12:00:59 will show as 12:00 in some displays, but will accept bids at 12:00:47 etc.  You can see the exact end time, including seconds, in the bid history of the listing.

 

If that explanation doesn't make sense, please share a listing number or link for a  listing where this happened.

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Auctions: The Winning bid accepted after official end time

I would love to say that you misunderstood the eBay rep, but unfortunately they seem to give wrong information more than right nowadays.

 

I think where the confusion may come is that the end time shown on the listing page is to the minute, where the actual end time, shown on the bid history page, is to the second. For example, a listing I'm looking at showed an end time of 12:25 on the listing page. But looking at the bid history I see that the official end time was 12:25:36 with the last bid placed at 12:25:34.

 

If you have a listing where the bid history shows a last bid placed later than the full xx:xx:xx time ended, I'd love to see it.

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Auctions: The Winning bid accepted after official end time

just more misinformation from a csr.



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“Never pick a fight with an ugly person. They don’t have anything to lose.” ~Robin Williams
Message 5 of 39
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Auctions: The Winning bid accepted after official end time

It's possible that the CSR was misunderstood.  " All live auctions close, on average, up to 1 minute past the deadline..." could be a rough interpretation of the explanation that an auction can end up to 59 seconds after the time signature that only shows hours and minutes, without displaying the seconds.  

 

The OP's  comment that "the winning bid posted 45 seconds after the close and EBay’s official end time, posted 2 seconds after that, showing 47 seconds..." indicates that the poster saw the bid at xx:xx:45 and the   xx:xx:47 end time in the bid history but thought that all auctions ended promptly at xx:xx:00 due to being sometimes displayed as whole minutes.

 

However, I'm at a loss to account for any CSR saying that auctions "less frequently, close over 1 minute past the deadline"...

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Auctions: The Winning bid accepted after official end time

@morlmar 

 

Please post an item number (or numbers) to show an example in which this happened.

albertabrightalberta
Volunteer Community Mentor

Message 7 of 39
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Auctions: The Winning bid accepted after official end time

Don't hold your breath. 

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Auctions: The Winning bid accepted after official end time

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. The other day, I lost a bid that was accepted 45 seconds after the close and it was the bidders only bid.
FYI:   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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Auctions: The Winning bid accepted after official end time

The example you gave, 175208494526, ended at 4:14:49pm PDT, not on the dot of 4:14.   No bids were received after the closing time.

 

Ebay shows closing times on the auction listing only to the minute so an auction showing a listing time of 12:00 noon could actually end as late as 12:00:59.   I think this is the source of your confusion.

 

You have to look at the bid history to see the actual ending time.

Message 10 of 39
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Auctions: The Winning bid accepted after official end time

Hi, winning bid was placed before auction ended. From the bidding history of the auction:

 

 

  • Time Auction Ended:
    27 Mar 2022 at 4:14:49pm PDT

Winning Bid Placed:

27 Mar 2022 at 4:14:25pm PDT

 

See nobody*s_perfect answer in post #3 for detailed explanation.

 

lisa5768
Volunteer Community Mentor

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Auctions: The Winning bid accepted after official end time

Thanks so much for the response. And yes, she said less frequently, but it can be as late as 1minute 2 seconds or 3seconds after the close. I remembered it because it was so odd.

The example I mention above, I watched until the end.  The clock is running live, counting down by the hour, minutes and seconds, as does the bidding history. That’s all I have to go on.  Thanks.

M

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Auctions: The Winning bid accepted after official end time

Do not assume a precision that isn't indicated. 4:14 is not the same thing as 4:14:00.000. eBay truncates (rounds down) its time displays to the lower second, minute, or even hour depending on the page you are looking at and in some cases how much time remains. 4:14 could be anywhere from 4:14:00.000 to 4:14:59.999.

Go back to the Bid History (where you found the bid time) and look up at the actual end time to the second and you will find it is somewhere between 4:14:25 to 4:14:59 inclusive. Look down at the Starting Price line and you will see that the starting time displayed there will be the same clock time to the second as the endtime but 7 days (the "Duration" also displayed at the top) earlier.  In fact it started 20 Mar 2022 at 4:14:49pm PDT and ended 27 Mar 2022 at 4:14:49pm PDT, exactly 7 days to the second later and exactly on time (I'm not sure whether it ended at 4:14:49.999 or at 4:14: 49.[fraction of a second same as the start time]

For an active auction with a bid you can calculate the endtime to the second from the starting time and duration displayed on the Bid History Page IF there has been a bid (there is no direct display on that page, and if there has not been a bid the Starting Price line with the start time does not display; copy the item number and paste it into the URL: ebay.co.uk/itm/########## to get the endtime to the second in London time (BST in Summer, GMT in Winter).

Message 13 of 39
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Auctions: The Winning bid accepted after official end time

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

Message 14 of 39
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Auctions: The Winning bid accepted after official end time

Hi, I just checked another live auction (coin) on the listing page and the clock is counting down by the minutes and seconds. It’s the last 20 minutes or so. Hope this helps you to help me 😉

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