Bidding Problem: Two different countdown times show between BID and CONFIRM BID screens.

[lifeofbryan73]

Usually on the last 10-20 seconds of an item, I will click BID and the CONFIRM BID window will pop up, continuing the countdown without interruption. When the clock shows "0 seconds," the auction is over. Right?

HOWEVER, lately, once I place a bid with several seconds remaining on the clock, the CONFIRM BID window will pop up with MORE TIME SHOWING (like 15 or 20 seconds). Then eBay's system will try and correct the two different countdowns, but then BOTH times will slow down as a result. There's a bit of chaos as the system tries to reflect the ACCURATE time remaining. I'll confirm my bid with 3 seconds remaining and be winning the auction. Then 2 seconds. Then one second. Then zero.  I think I won the auction.

BUT NOW ON THE OTHER SCREEN, THE CLOCK KEEPS RUNNING DOWN WITH MORE SECONDS ADDED (sometimes as much as 20 seconds). I can't put in another bid, and refreshing the page doesn't help. The seconds remaining vary in speed of counting down, and then the auction is OVER AGAIN, but now I see that I didn't win. The system wouldn't let me increase my bid, nor would it show accurate changes reflecting competing bids until the auction is over.

Has anyone experienced this? (I hope I explained it clearly.) I use Windows 10 and Windows 11 on two different desktops and one laptop, all at different locations. I experience this problem using FireFox and Microsoft Edge. 

[eburtonlab]

Others have noticed problems lately with differences between the countdown time shown on the item page compared to the time shown on the bid entry pop-up. Keep in mind that those counts are generated on your computer, not by eBay. Typically for me the difference between the two counts is rarely more than a few seconds and very often only one second, with the item page count being the more reliable of the two.

https://community.ebay.com/t5/Ask-a-Mentor/Ebay-s-Timer/m-p/33131702/highlight/true#M251427

The problem appears to be only with the countdown display. Auctions are not actually getting extra time or ending early. Examining the bid history using a desktop browser indicates that auctions are beginning and ending at the exact same time -- down to the second -- a set number of days apart just as intended, and all the bids shown were received by eBay before the end of the auction.

Even if the countdown time is totally accurate, a valid bid placed at the end of an auction may not have time to be transmitted around the world and displayed on every other user's screen before the auction ends.

Bidders should always assume that there will be late bids that cannot be reacted to and plan their bids accordingly. No one can count on being the last bidder, but that is not necessary; it is the high bid that wins, not the last bid. If you bid your maximum amount before the auction ends and eBay accepts it, the only way you can be beaten is if another bidder bids more than you or if an earlier bidder had bid the same amount.

[lifeofbryan73]

Two recent auctions I watched kept ADDING 5 seconds once the timer hit zero. This happened at least three times in one auction that I just watched without bidding on. Also, the lower  the timer gets to zero, the slower the time counts down.

It's not accurate. Period. The timer needs to be precise. I've placed bids with one second left on an item across the country, and won. eBay's timer software is malfunctioning. 

This is a new problem that's arisen in the past month. I've been on eBay 17 years, and timer malfunctions have not happened to me until now. The glitch must be repaired. Using three different computers, two different physical locations of those computers, using Windows 10 and 11, using two different browsers, this timer glitch is:

1. Unique to my account, which software is maintained by eBay.

2. A glitch in eBay itself, which software is maintained by eBay.

I'm bidding on auctions and losing, without being able to up my bid. When a timer reached zero, and the auction STILL CONTINUES, that's a problem. The countdown display is slowing down, and then the CONFIRMATION of BID display shows a different time entirely.

The problem I encounter is that I place my bid, the clock hits zero, and I win; however, then the clock counts down AGAIN and suddenly my bid is being defeated by other bids without my being able to increase it.

[kbcate]

I am having the same issue, started 9'12'2022, four days after your original post. Timers had a difference of at least 10 seconds. As most of us know, in the auction business, every second counts. Hopefully ebay will fix the problem on their end. 

[lln331]

I have participated in two auctions in the last 24 hours (10/14/22) and both times after the clock hit 0, more than 10 extra MINUTES were added to the bidding time.  I lost the first auction to someone who bid within those extra minutes.  

What is ebay up to?

[eburtonlab]

Check to make sure your computer's time is set correctly and that it is synchronized with a time server such as time.nist.gov or time.windows.com. If your computer's clock is wrong, that can apparently lead to odd problems with bid countdowns on eBay.

[diavolo69]

I have had the opposite problem.  I lost 2 auctions in the last 24 hours because the time was off with LESS actual time remaining than was shown.

 The first time, I refreshed the actual auction page with 1 minute to go before the end of the auction.  When I entered the bid, the bid countdown window was appropriately synched with what was on the main auction page.  When I went to confirm the bid with around 10 seconds left, I received the "bidding has ended on this item" and the auction had already ended. 

The second time, I had an alarm set on my phone for 1 minute from the auction's end.  When it went off, I refreshed the auction page and it was showing a little over a minute actual time left on the auction.  I entered my bid and expected to see the countdown timer on the bid page to be the same, but it was down to 7 seconds left in the auction and caught me well by surprise and by the time I tried to enter my bid, the auction had ended. 

This has to be a serious glitch on eBay's end if the main auction page is showing a minute left and then, only about 10-15 seconds later, the bid timer / actual time remaining was down to 7 seconds left.  This is extremely frustrating.  There is definitely a problem on eBay's end.  I have been at this for 22 years and even in the days of ancient, slow computers, the countdown was always reliable for bidding.

[tomiii3]

I have had this happen 4 times in the past 4 days (posting 1 Mar 23) 😞  Ebay people seem perplexed.

[eburtonlab]

Try another browser; some may work better than others or may have less "slop" or "lash".

And check to make sure you computer's clock is synchronized to an internet time server before placing a critical bid.

A slight difference is inevitable as pages do not load instantaneously. If you scroll down a bit before opening the bid window by hitting the bid button with no value entered you can see both countdowns. Go by the one that ends soonest and do not try to wait too late -- give yourself a few seconds leeway to account for various errors and problems.

[fritz2b2k]

I've experienced this. I do the same thing you're doing & for the record, I use chrome & I have an older version of windows. 
I've called about this & the customer service person always acts in one of two ways.
  *The first is that they don't know what I'm talking about (figuring I'll just get tired of explaining-which work!)
  *The second is that I must be doing something wrong(which I've been doing for almost a quarter of a century)
The upshot is, (In My Opinion) They feel they're leaving money on the table by using a hard ending, rather than a soft one (that adds time after each bid (like 20 seconds). 
****Buy at the same time, they think they're being slick by Not Mentioning this or admitting to it.
This is paramount, this was the whole appeal to ebay's product/service. They essentially killed Sniping (a term that came about THROUGH EBAY). 
I never bought those Sniping apps but I did what you're describing. As for the suggestion to give a few seconds leeway, no offence, in my case & I presume yours; we're not talking about a box of brand new golf balls.
*It's a deal breaking. I can't conduct business in this scenario. Unreliable.
I've even had an instance where it gave me 3 tabs as to a way to Up my Bid quickly, when there was nobody else bidding. I know this because it sold at my initial bid to me. 
[It's their game, their rules, they can change them at ANY time and the control panel allows them to test things out, whether on the fly or AB testing-Every element of their site has controls that can Easily be tweeked.
Just look at the ebayBUCKS program. They used to Reward you for BUYING. Now-I NEVER get offers. 
I hope this helps. You'll most like just have to live with it. Good Luck if you want to fight the good fight for all of us-it's uphill. Keep punching up.

[eburtonlab]

Check to see if your computer's time is synchronized or if it is off by a few seconds (or more) here:

https://time.is/

[joseph_nz]

I had this problem today. So frustrating. I was waiting until the last moments to bid and it just finished before I bid. The worst thing is that the winning bid was a third of what I was willing to bid for a somewhat rare item....

[deals_offeror]

Dear lifeofbryant73,

I just lost a bidding opportunity today when I pressed the Bid button when the Time Left still showed 5s. As soon as I pressed the Bid button, eBay told me that This Bidding Has Ended. This is the reason why I land on this page. I need a venue to vent my frustration of eBay Time Left's inaccuracy. Thanks for your writing about your experience with this serious issue.

Deals_Offeror

[deals_offeror]

I think you got it right. eBay purposefully makes the Time-Left clock on the Place-Bid pop up page inaccurate to encourage bidders to place bids well before the ending time, because this way of bidding always ends up with a higher winning bid than the sniping method can achieve. I once placed my maximum bid well before the ending time. As soon as I placed my max bid, somebody tried to test my max bid by putting in their bids one after another, incrementally higher by one dollar at a time. When their test bid reached their own max bid, they stopped, and I ended up paying for more than I would have, had I sniped, because sniping would not leave enough time for anybody to find out whether my max bid was higher than theirs or not.

[eburtonlab]

eBay purposefully makes the Time-Left clock on the Place-Bid pop up page inaccurate to encourage bidders to place bids well before the ending time

Any possible theoretical benefit to getting some users to bid earlier would be vastly outweighed by the actual loss of bids from numerous users that attempt to bid at the end of the auction but find that they are unable to bid at all because of the lack of an accurate countdown.

The fact that users are complaining about not being able to place bids is an indication that the problem is not an intentional result of policy, but is in fact due to an unintended error. Any time a qualified user is unable to place an otherwise valid bid, this costs the seller and eBay money directly. eBay benefits most when auction countdowns are precise and accurate, and when all bidders that wish to place a bid are able to easily do so.

Anything that makes bidding harder or makes a valid bid less likely to be accepted by eBay costs eBay money.

If you have problems bidding at the end of an auction, check your computer's time zone and time settings to make sure they are accurate.

https://time.is/