Reset Timer on Auction

[micbro-brknjzh]

I guess nobody bids on anything on eBay anymore. Everybody seems to want to wait until the last three seconds. eBay needs to do away with that and start a five minute rule like other auction sites do.. Its  really unfair for sellers as well as buyers when buyers do that. Since I’m unable to find a actual link so I can make suggestions I’m hoping at least somebody from eBay staff may see this and forward it to somebody who can do changes that actually helps both buyers and sellers.  I’ve actually lost items I needed because somebody outbid me in the last second after being the only bidder for days. It’s time for a change eBay. 

[downunder-61]

@micbro-brknjzh  Bid your Max - add a few cents to the $$ value to make an exact bid unlikely and sit back and wait, good luck.

[krazzykats]

Snipes rule!

[redmodelt]

People have been gripping about people bidding in the last second or loosing in the last second for about as long as eBay has existed. 🙂 

[chapeau-noir]

So, I put in a maximum bid of $40 and was the highest bidder for several days up to the last 5 minutes. Someone put in $41, so I upped my bid to $42, and then he jumped to $44. Before I could bid, someone other than the two of us bid $45 and then the auction was over.

And therein lies the lesson. Don't nibble. Bid your max and walk away.

Auctions by their very nature are games of chance. You can't always win.

[imac7065]

Your idea would have items ending at very off peak times causing many sellers to lose a lot of money (IE buyers would target items around 3am their local time)....

About 15 years ago bidding on ebay was different than it is now.. IE if you bid $5 on an item.. the items bid was $5.. not 25 cents more than the next highest bidder. To me, this was a much better format as it made shill bidding next to impossible and the bids were far more transparent.... you didn't have to bid 10-15-20 times to get the highest bid.. if you saw bid was xx... you could bid $1 more and boom.. you're now the highest bidder. This is far more simple from my perspective. 

[linda7913]

Thank you everyone for your helpful advice. Most of the time I purchase through Buy It Now, but sometimes an item I want is Auction only. I try to guess what the item is worth and bid accordingly, because I want to bid smart and stay within my budget. For those who think that a person who loses the bidding didn't want the item badly enough, that's not always the case. I still want that doll and have her on a Saved Search for new ones to show up, hopefully on a Buy It Now sale.

From what I understand, it sounds like extending the auction timer to accommodate last-minute bidding would not help. 

[krazzykats]

Probably not, just push the price even higher.  But what you can do to improve your chances is be the better snipe. 

Get an atomic clock to use, so you can bid as close to the last second as you can. I have used this one forever:

National Institute of Standards and Technology | NIST (time.gov)

[bos_5590]

This is terrible point. It may be that you bid a fair price for an item. You are willing to bid more than fair price if needed but don’t want to overbid. Someone pips you at the last second, both you and seller miss out. If the timer reset to 10 minutes it would at least give you a chance to win your item back. 

[reallynicestamps]

If you are a buyer, then you lost not to a last minute snipe bidder, but to someone who bid more than you did.

Bid once.

Bid your maximum.

And don't nibble bid. It really doesn't work to bid reactively.

[maxine*j]

eBay never will -- and never should -- change its auction format, which is type of sealed bid auction.    But you think that no matter where people live, or what else life demands of them, they should be inconvenienced and strung along for an extra and indefinite time because you won't simply bid your maximum but choose to nibble bid and bid reactively.

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[maxine*j]

eBay never will -- and never should -- change its auction format, which is type of sealed bid auction. But you think that no matter where people live, or what else life demands of them, they should be inconvenienced and strung along for an extra and indefinite time because you won't simply bid your maximum but choose to nibble bid and bid reactively.

[maxine*j]

Apologies for the duplicate post.  Not sure what happened there.

[selsa84]

If they did that they would lose buyers.  Key to winning auctions is being the highest bidder. I almost always bid in the last 2 secs and I win some and I lose some. 

[eburtonlab]

If the timer reset to 10 minutes it would at least give you a chance to win your item back.

What would you do with an additional ten minutes that you could not already do in within the current time allotted?

Use the time you have to bid your maximum.

Once you have bid your maximum, bid extensions cannot help you, only hurt you.

There is no need to wait until you are outbid to bid more; figure out your maximum amount in advance and bid that amount once at the end of the auction.

[soh.maryl]

On eBay, if you are actually willing to bid more, then bid more.  Do it near the end of the auction.

I gather that "pips" means tops your bid.  How does the seller miss out? In the scenario you outlined, he gets the highest bid anyone made.  It's not your item til you win it and pay for it.  

What is "overbid" exactly? Bid more than you wanted to spend? Why?