eBay

adlo-8235 · ‎03-03-2021

Hi there,

I was bidding on an item today. I bid about 7 seconds before the item ended and was the highest bidder. I watched the counter go to the end of the item. The item then finished and I thought that's great, I've won.

The page then refreshed after the item had finished and it said that I had not won. I was very surprised so looked at the bidding history. The item had finished at 4:42:16 PM. There had been a bid accepted by someone else at 4:42:16 PM.

I don't understand how the other person's bid can be legitimate as the item had already ended on the when the person had placed their bid. I thought that the second the item ended, no bids would be accepted.

Is there any help that I can get as I still would like to get the item?

Kind regards to all,

A.

releasethekraken_1 · ‎03-03-2021

@adlo-8235 wrote:
I think it is "odd" to allow a bid a millisecond before the end of the auction as it is not fair on the other bidders as they have no opportunity to counter the other persons bid.

Well, there it is. Clearly, even after being here for 2+ years, you don't understand how eBay bidding works. Counter-bidding is a losing strategy in an auction with a fixed end time. That goes for eBay and any other venue that does auctions with a fixed end time.

You need to learn how automatic bidding works. There's no need to counter-bid. You have days to decide your maximum bid, and if you elect not to bid that amount while the auction is running, that's your problem, not eBay's.

BTW, factoring in the lag time for internet connections, eBay would have to reject any bids in the last 5-10 seconds to be "fair" based on your criterion. I'm sure eBay and the sellers would just love losing out on that extra money.

adlo-8235 · ‎03-03-2021

I'm sorry if me not understanding something has offended you. I was just asking a question about something that I didn't understand. There's no need to be hostile like that.

I did say that even if they did ban people from bidding in the last second, that would also cause similar situations, meaning that there would probably be someone who still manages to bid on the last nanosecond and that it wouldn't work.

In future, I'll probably do automatic bidding. Thank you for your help.

adlo-8235 · ‎03-03-2021

Thank you for the information and your help. I shall make sure to do Automatic bids in future.

eburtonlab · ‎03-03-2021

You are most welcome -- good luck with your bidding!

releasethekraken_1 · ‎03-04-2021

@adlo-8235 wrote:
I was just asking a question about something that I didn't understand.

You wanted eBay to disallow bids near the end of the auction because it was unfair to people who wouldn't have time to counter-bid, i.e. you wanted eBay to change its entire bidding system.

That's a lot more than asking a question.

adlo-8235 · ‎03-04-2021

I was attempting to edit out the last part of the question last night but couldn't.

My main question was regarding the validity of bids made on the exact second that an item ended. IF it was considered not valid, I was asking weather there would be any possibility to do anything about it. I have since learned from users on this forum that the bid was probably put a micro second before the end of the auction and have accepted this.

I have since changed my mind about changing the bidding system and was not directly asking eBay to change it and if I was, why would I be asking people on a forum to do something about it?

Anyway, what I am saying still doesn't really merit you being so hostile. I'm sorry again if I have said anything to offend you. That's all I can really do to try and make this right.