Max bid did not register - Winning bid could have been higher

[Anonymous]

I just had an auction end and received this message from a bidder:

Hi there! I cannot believe I didn't win this! I put the very first bid in on this little guy and followed it to today. I had 10 seconds left so I put $85.00 max bid on it. It displayed you have been outbid at 4 seconds. I didn't have time to think and before I knew it the bidding was over and it went for $15.93. Not only did I not win the auction but my bid of $85.00 was not even entered into the bidding. I am really upset about this. Is this e bays fault or what? Could you maybe explain it, I just don't get it! 

The winning bid would have been higher had her max bid registered - I don't suppose ebay cares or compensates for iussues like this, do they?

[luckythewinner]

---

@Anonymous wrote:

The winning bid would have been higher had her max bid registered - I don't suppose ebay cares or compensates for iussues like this, do they?

---

Or there is an alternate explanation ... the buyer simply forgot to bid, and is now making up a story in hopes that you will sell to him or relist the item. 

Most people I know who "snipe" auctions at the last minute do not bid early and then snipe. They just snipe. 

[Anonymous]

I don't know what a snipe is.

[Anonymous]

Your alternate solution makes sense.  That is what I first thought when reading the message.  I do know she was the first buyer, though I see nothing after that.

[castlemagicmemories]

---

@Anonymous wrote:

I don't know what a snipe is.

---

A snipe is a bid, usually the bidder's max, that will be placed in the last few seconds of the auction.  

[coolections]

Tell the bidder to never attempt to manually bid within the last ten seconds. It is always going to be a loosing battle.  Tell him to either bid earlier then 10 seconds, or use a snipe program.

[Anonymous]

Thank you!

[juststuffisell · Accepted solution]

check ezsniper.com as one solution for sniping.

As was noted, it is possible they did not bid again. More likely, the bid never got to the server before the lot closed. The you have been outbid notice related to their first bid. The secondary bid never got through because of lag and server time different than what they were seeing on the screen. Happens all the time to people that manually wait until the very last second watching the computer screen. You have to account for actual server time versus what you are seeing on the screen - why a sniping service is so much better.

Cheers