I wish eBay would allow more time at end of auction to allow for more bidding.

[rknotar]

It's at the end of the auction, the final few seconds...you put the high bid in with only 6 seconds left and you do your victory dance but still lost by 25 cents as someone else placed a bid with only 5 seconds left or perhaps they had a faster server. You lose something that you really wanted just by a dollar but would have paid more if you had the chance or would have known someone else wanted it too... I have an answer that would benefit all, and I hope someone from eBay reads this thread.

Suggesting a new policy....If anyone bids within the last 5 minutes of an auction end, the system adds another 5 minutes. It continues to add 5 minutes after each new bid until the last offer is made and the other bidder has had enough and it's too much for him to spend and stops bidding. The 5 mionute clock ticks down.

It would be like, "Going once, going twice...sold!"

This is how a real auction plays out, and it allows for everyone to have a fair chance. This would also bring more money into the sale for the seller so it's a win-win all around.

The only people that would have an issue with this would be the penny sharks that sit waiting for the last 2 seconds to gobble up items they don't even really want or to make a profit to sell elsewhere.

And yes, you can always enter what you believe is the most you would spend and leave it at that but, come on...to lose it just because you didn't put in just 0.50 cents more? I hate that feeling!!

Wish I only had another chance to increase my bid.... This new policy would allow me to.

[campanaelia]

I never liked playing leap frog even as a child.

I guess you would call me a "penny shark", gobble gobble gobble.

[just-me]

People that bid at the last few seconds of an auction on eBay put in their max bid because they only have one chance.  If they put in their max bid hours earlier or days earlier, you can end up with other bidders that increase their bids one at a time raising the price each time potentially up to their max bid limit. 

If you put in your max bid and someone comes in in the last few seconds, if your bid is high enough, you will win the auction.  It is fair as is, giving additional time after doesn't make it fair, it just makes people not place their max bid on time.   When you are going to bid, decide the amount you are willing to pay, then add a "don't feel bad over .50 cushion) of 1 to 5 dollars.  If you win, it was potentially only 1 to 5 dollars over what you were willing to pay, and if you lose, it was definitely more than you wanted to pay.

[maxine*j]

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@rknotar wrote:

... It would be like, "Going once, going twice...sold!"

This is how a real auction plays out, and it allows for everyone to have a fair chance... 

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No, that is how an outcry auction works, and such an auction is one type of "real auction."  Another type of "real auction" is the sealed-bid auction,  which is the type used on eBay. 

eBay has buyers all over the world, and they cannot be expected to be at their computers bidding on eBay auctions despite the time of day or night where they are, despite whatever activity they're engaged in at that time of the day or night where they are.  People have to sleep, drive to work, work, keep dental appointments, see folks in hospitals during visiting hours, and on and on -- and do those things in accordance with their local time.  The world has 24 time zones and 37 local times within those zones. 

eBay makes it easy for them to bid on an auction no matter where in the world they are.  If they see something on eBay they like, they can submit a "sealed bid" for it at any time that is convenient for them.  They can later check the result, at a time convenient to them.  If theirs is the highest bid, they win.  It's as simple as that. 

- 

[redmodelt]

"Other than a vital organ for transplant, there is nothing material  I need badly enough to bid on with such urgency. 

If its just " stuff", you will most likely come across something like it  again at some point."

Very true and what you wrote, I was going to also post. 🙂

[yuzuha]

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@rknotar wrote:

It's at the end of the auction, the final few seconds...you put the high bid in with only 6 seconds left and you do your victory dance but still lost by 25 cents as someone else placed a bid with only 5 seconds left or perhaps they had a faster server. You lose something that you really wanted just by a dollar but would have paid more if you had the chance or would have known someone else wanted it too...

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If you were willing to pay more, then why didn't you just bid more in the first place? That's exactly why the prompt says "Please enter your MAXIMUM bid."

[downunder-61]

How many more seconds?............

until you are the winning bidder?

[marnotom!]

eBay auctions aren’t won by the last bidder.  eBay auctions are won by the highest bidder.

I’ve won auctions that I’ve bid early on or halfway through the auction’s run and still won them because subsequent bidders didn’t bid an amount higher than my proxy bid.

You do know how proxy bidding works, right, @rknotar?

[hurryagain]

I wish eBay would allow more time at end of auction to allow for more bidding.

That is why there's a count down timer...

... and snipers...

😶

[mudshark61369]

@rknotar,

"It would be like, "Going once, going twice...sold!"

This is how a real auction plays out, and it allows for everyone to have a fair chance".

By Real Auctions, if you mean English outcry auctions, you are right.  However, there are other types of real auctions, like Sealed Bid auctions, that you find at charity events. Everybody in attendance knows that the bidding will end at a certain time, and their bid has to be in the box by then. Those type auctions are what ebay's system is based on. They are fair to everyone who wants to bid on an item, the only limit being, how much each individual is willing to pay for an item.

"This would also bring more money into the sale for the seller so it's a win-win all around".

If that were true, don't you think ebay would have switched to extended time auctions years ago?  After all, the more an item sells for, the more ebay collects in fees.

 Extended time auctions tend to wear people out bidding over and over one increment at a time, sometimes for hours.  That does not always translate into an item receiving higher prices.

  People who know how ebay's auctions work, know the highest bid will win at the end, so they bid the most an item is worth to them when they bid. Some bid early on and win, while others wait until the last few seconds to bid, even then losing to an earlier bid, so they bid the highest amount they are willing to pay.   I have seen auctions jump in price by hundreds of dollars in the last seconds, and it took ebay's computers a minute or so to determine the winner. What's really fun is winning an auction for an item that costs hundreds of dollars, by a few odd cents. 

"The only people that would have an issue with this would be the penny sharks that sit waiting for the last 2 seconds to gobble up items they don't even really want or to make a profit to sell elsewhere".

Have you ever watched the documentaries during Shark week, and seen what sometimes happens to smaller "penny" sharks during a feeding frenzy?  It isn't pretty!  They turn into food for the bigger sharks.

[rknotar]

What are snipers?

[house*of*paws]

@rknotar 

Sniper =  A person who bids in the final few seconds of an action … too late for anyone to respond to the late bid.

[pastimpressions]

I have been involved (in the past) in auctions that function as the OP suggests.

They are maddening.

Adding 5 minutes every time there is a "last second bidder?"  stinks.

As others have opined. As others have already explained.

If you fall in love with an auction item, aim for the moon to catch a star.

Translated: don't bid for the bargain, bid what the most is you would be willing to pay.

This way, win or lose, you go to sleep happy.

Win? You won the item. Happy dance.

Lose? You were not going to pay a penny more for the item anyway. It hurts, but that's life. 

[kh-stanley1]

Hi everyone,

Due to the age of this thread, it has been closed to further replies. Please feel free to start a new thread HERE if you wish to continue to discuss this topic.

Thank you for understanding.