Question Re: Has eBay stopped sending "15 minutes before auction e... in Buying on eBay DND

Has eBay stopped sending "15 minutes before auction ends" notifications?

bearsieboo — Wed, 30 Sep 2020 11:44:37 GMT

I used to receive an eBay notification on my iPhone 6 telling me that an item I was watching (or perhaps had already bid on, I can't remember), was ending in 14 or 15 minutes time.

This isn't to be confused with the emails that eBay sends telling a watcher that an item "is ending soon", which may be several hours ahead of the auction ending time.

Not sure when those notifications to my iPhone stopped, only realised it yesterday when an auction ended and I hadn't remembered the end time correctly and so missed out.

I haven't reset anything on my iPhone for ages.

Anyone else remember getting those 15 minute warnings, or if you are still getting them, can you point me in the right direction to turn them on again, presumably somewhere in my app settings?

Many thanks.

Re: Has eBay stopped sending "15 minutes before auction e...

john1297576 — Wed, 30 Sep 2020 13:05:48 GMT

I wouldn't be surprised if it has stopped. It is rather a waste of effort as the majority of members are not sitting waiting for the15 minute warning, so just a waste of time.

Re: Has eBay stopped sending "15 minutes before auction e...

bearsieboo — Wed, 30 Sep 2020 13:34:56 GMT

@john1297576
Thanks for responding with your point of view, although you didn't answer my question.

Can you expand upon "why is it a waste of effort" and "so just a waste of time".?

Clearly it was of use to me otherwise I wouldn't have wasted time and effort posting my enquiry.

Re: Has eBay stopped sending "15 minutes before auction e...

rusticrye — Wed, 30 Sep 2020 14:26:23 GMT

If something isn't used by the vast majority of users, Ebay can't keep it running as it's a waste of valuable e-space. I assume this notification falls into that category. It's certainly something I have no interest in whatsover, as I, like most folk, don't and can't have my phone switched on 24/7. Plus, also like most others, I place my highest bid well before auction end, often several days before auction end. So I have no interest at all in what happens during the last 15 minutes - either my highest bid wins, or it doesn't. My advice is that you do the same, so that you never 'miss out'. 🙂

@bearsieboo

Re: Has eBay stopped sending "15 minutes before auction e...

bearsieboo — Wed, 30 Sep 2020 15:03:20 GMT

Unlike you rusticrye and "most others", I and other eBayers that I know, deliberately don't bid early, this often drives the price up, rather, we prefer to bid in the last seconds of the auction.

So each to his own.

As is oft mentioned on this forum, no-one from eBay monitors the questions and answers, the forum is made up of eBay customers, and so I'm sensing that the only way that I may find an accurate answer, rather than opinions, is to call eBay Concierge Service and ask them.

Re: Has eBay stopped sending "15 minutes before auction e...

bearsieboo — Wed, 30 Sep 2020 15:06:07 GMT

Re: Has eBay stopped sending "15 minutes before auction e...

pixiesen2012 — Wed, 30 Sep 2020 16:12:55 GMT

go to:-

my ebay >>> account tab >>> site preferences >>>Buying alerts on eBay pages

Re: Has eBay stopped sending "15 minutes before auction e...

pixiesen2012 — Wed, 30 Sep 2020 16:20:29 GMT

@bearsieboo

@rusticrye

@john1297576

the option is available in site preferences

Re: Has eBay stopped sending "15 minutes before auction e...

bearsieboo — Wed, 30 Sep 2020 16:26:12 GMT

@pixiesen2012

Thanks for your reply, I'll take a look.

Re: Has eBay stopped sending "15 minutes before auction e...

*knight-rider* — Thu, 01 Oct 2020 00:29:50 GMT

`Unlike you rusticrye and "most others", I and other eBayers that I know, deliberately don't bid early, this often drives the price up, rather, we prefer to bid in the last seconds of the auction`

Have to say, i agree and i also was`nt aware this option existed. There`s been plenty of times in the past, where i`ve put something on my watch list, then completely forgot all about it, so i would find that feature very helpful, because i never bid till the end either, i come up with a price i`m prepared to pay and that`s what i put in during the last few seconds, i win it or i don`t 🙂
So although i have no idea why they got rid of it, i can see why others would find it useful, so not a `waste of time` for some.

Re: Has eBay stopped sending "15 minutes before auction e...

bearsieboo — Thu, 01 Oct 2020 07:35:34 GMT

Hi knight-rider
Thanks for your supportive comment. I can confirm that in fact they haven't got rid of it and it still works.

See my response to pixiesen2012.

Re: Has eBay stopped sending "15 minutes before auction e...

bearsieboo — Thu, 01 Oct 2020 07:53:26 GMT

Hello pixiesen2012

It's Thursday morning.

Thanks for your suggestion yesterday about looking under account preferences on the laptop. That was interesting but didn't have anything to change/set to get eBay to send a 15 minute notification to the phone.

What your helpful answer did do, was to get me to open the eBay app on my iPhone and go to Settings where I found that a number of options had been greyed out.

As I posted originally, I had not made any changes to my iPhone (or the app) for ages, so can only presume that features were turned off during an eBay app update.

Anyway, for yourself, knight-rider and the nay-sayers @rusticrye and @john1297576 this is how you turn it on.

Open the eBay app on your phone > Settings > Notifications > Scroll down to General Notifications > All push notifications.

Move the slider to the right and if you previously had any other options checked, they will turn from grey to blue.

To get the 15 minute notification, scroll up again to Shopping Updates >Item Ending and check the box next to "Item Ending".

There are a host of other options too, after making your selections, go back from Notifications, to Settings, back again to the eBay homepage on the app and the job is done.

This also works on Android phones.

And for rusticrye who tells us that he " like most folk, don't and can't have my phone switched on 24/7", there's an option at the bottom of the Notifications list to set a quiet time, when those notifications won't be sent, so now he and "most folk" (like me) can have their phone switched on 24/7.

End of my question and answer, hopefully those who are able to reply rather than just comment in this part of the forum, can use the steps above to answer others who may pose the same question as i.

the option is available in site preferences

Re: Has eBay stopped sending "15 minutes before auction e...

bearsieboo — Thu, 01 Oct 2020 08:15:50 GMT

Hello pixiesen2012.

Thanks for your reply yesterday, Wednesday about going to "my ebay >>> account tab >>> site preferences >>>Buying alerts on eBay pages" on the laptop.

That was interesting, but didn't have any option about setting a 15 minute notification on my iPhone.

However, it did make me think laterally, and I opened the eBay app on my iPhone, went to Settings > Notifications and I found a number of options were greyed out.

Continue scrolling down to General Notifications >All push notifications and move the slider to the right, it will now turn blue as will any other options previously selected.

Scroll up again to Selling Notifications > Auction updates and check the box so that a tick appears and the box turns blue.

Job done.

Retrace your steps back to the eBay home page in the app and you're ready to go.

So, the route is:

Open the eBay app on the phone, Settings > Notifications > General Notifications > All push notifications (move the slider) > Selling Notifications > Auction updates and check the box.

And for those like rusticrye and "most folk, don't and can't have my phone switched on 24/7", there's an option at the foot of the list of options to have a quiet period when the notifications aren't sent - for instance overnight, so now it means that (s)he and most others like me, can and do have their phone switched on 24/7, without the fear of hearing bleep sounds whilst sleeping.

I wrote in my original post that I hadn't made any changes to my IPhone (or the eBay app) for ages, so I guess the feature was turned off during an eBay app update.

This also works on Android phones.

So with your help pixiesen2012., I have answered my own question.

Re: Has eBay stopped sending "15 minutes before auction e...

bearsieboo — Thu, 01 Oct 2020 09:21:19 GMT

I've tried to add this comment/response to pixisen2012 twice this morning (Thursday 1 October) but each time I check back, it's not shown in the (rather jumbled) thread, so here I go again. Apologies if other people are seeing this for the third time.............

Hello pixiesen2012.

Thanks for your reply yesterday, Wednesday about going to "my ebay >>> account tab >>> site preferences >>>Buying alerts on eBay pages " on the laptop.

That was interesting, but didn't have any option about setting a 15 minute notification on my iPhone.

However, it did make me think laterally, and I opened the eBay app on my iPhone, went to Settings > Notifications and I found a number of options were greyed out.

Continue scrolling down to General Notifications >All push notifications and move the slider to the right, it will now turn blue as will any other options previously selected.

Scroll up again to Selling Notifications > Auction updates and check the box so that a tick appears and the box turns blue.

Job done.

Retrace your steps back to the eBay home page in the app and you're ready to go.

So, the route is:

Open the eBay app on the phone, Settings > Notifications > General Notifications > All push notifications (move the slider) > Selling Notifications > Auction updates and check the box.

And for those like rusticrye and "most folk, don't and can't have my phone switched on 24/7 ", there's an option at the foot of the list of options to have a quiet period when the notifications aren't sent - for instance overnight, so now it means that (s)he and most others like me, can and do have their phone switched on 24/7, without the fear of hearing bleep sounds whilst sleeping.

I wrote in my original post that I hadn't made any changes to my iPhone (or the eBay app) for ages, so I guess the feature was turned off during an eBay app update.

This also works with Android phones.

So with your help pixiesen2012., I have answered my own question.

Re: Has eBay stopped sending "15 minutes before auction e...

pixiesen2012 — Thu, 01 Oct 2020 15:12:17 GMT

I'm glad you sorted it,

I have a phone phobia so don't use one, so I can only give instructions for using the full site

Re: Has eBay stopped sending "15 minutes before auction e...

bearsieboo — Thu, 01 Oct 2020 15:51:27 GMT

I use the laptop mainly, but the phone app comes in handy when out and about.