Appalling new eBay bidding "glitch", more seconds added, & allows snipers to out bid a winning bid

[sam_in_barbate]

I have been buying & selling on eBay for over 15 years, & have watched whilst little by little eBay tweek elements which have worked perfectly, but this new little trick up the sleeve of eBay when bidding, takes the biscuit.

You find an item you want to bid on, you cancel everything in your day to make sure that you will be home, finger poised over the bidding button, & where I (for example) bid 4-5 seconds before the end of auction, this has been my chosen method for 15 years.

I first saw what I thought was a glitch a couple of weeks back, & where, over the course of 2 weeks, I had been outbid by other snipers, this AFTER I thought I had won the item, for, the seconds clock was timing down, 4 seconds before end of auction I place the winning bid, THEN the clock having almost hit 0 switches back & adds a new 5 or 6 seconds which count down again. I watched as my winning bid was then sniped & over the last 2 weeks lost all 3 items.

This has just happened a scant minute or two back on a fabulous item I had been watching for over a week. With 4 seconds to go I place what should have been the winning bid, then out of the blue more seconds were added to the clock, thank be to all the Gods, on this occasion I had added a far larger figure to my maximum bid, & did manage to win the item but at TWICE I repeat TWICE my original winning bid. Clearly, eBay are allowing watchers/winning bidders to think they have one clock which is slightly ahead of the actual end of auction, & allowing other bidders the chance to up the bid.

Yes, I am now regularly appalled by eBay's shenanigans, but this takes the biscuit, if there was an official body to whom I could report this I would..

[stortclose]

Certainly cannot offer anything to match your clear experience as a seller and buyer. Have seen an increasing number of similar posts. In my much fewer bid experience I've taken to bidding a maximum much sooner than in the past. If it's not a glitch it may be eBay's way of reducing last second bidders, infuriating maybe but no way to stop professional managers tinkering with a system to manipulate their bonus targets.

[pixiesen2012]

they aren't adding any more time

it's just the clock on the bid window isn't working properly

to avoid the problem you need to avoid opening the bid window and then waiting to place your bid,

or if you do open the bid window keep refreshing it to see the current time

[Anonymous]

Sam, I am surprised you haven't started using a snipe site, I used to do what you are doing but learnt my lesson when they ebay had the Please sign in glitch.

Just put your bid into a snipe site and get on with something else, they will tell you if you have won the bidding or not.

[sam_in_barbate]

Hi,

I thought I was going mad "(, or madder LOL, I am going to try this, but I don't think this is the issue. 

I watch the auction running down, I place my bid at (say) 10 seconds, then click confirm when it is at 4 seconds, at this time there is absolutely no diferential between the seconds left on the listing page, but then after I have confirmed & about to see 0 seconds left, I see  the  clock on the listing page appear to skip back a few seconds. How in Gods name can eBay allow this to continue?

[elitegiftsltd]

You are the 2nd person (I think) that I recall in recent weeks reporting a problem with the time.

Not consistent - the other reported an hour different.

Not noticed it myself last month, could be intermittent / rare glitch that affect certain accounts and maybe those accounts not bidding won't notice it. 

You've got data with the details of the items concerned so at least ebay should be able to look at the listings and whatever saved data they have. 

[sam_in_barbate]

You could be right, there is no doubt that we snipers must drive ebay up the wall, & for years they would banner an auction listing with "make sure to place a bet early to guarantee winning..." " Bid now, don't allow another bidder to out bid you...", or similar nonsence. 

Had I not been desperate to win this item today, I would never have placed such a high maximum bid, at least my earlier experiences over the past few weeks had prewarned me, had I lost this today over this I would have been apoplectic.

I am a collector, & lost an item a week back that almost had me in tears LOL

[sam_in_barbate]

Hi,

Not sure what I find more astonishing, that I am the first to have reported this here, only to find that this could be an ongoing issue, & I can't help but think if there were more people bidding then more would have seen it & reported it ???

I admit I am buying a fraction compared to what I used to buy, I now rarely buy items to sell on, for Brexit has wiped out my once thriving sales to the UK, but the 3 items I lost over the last 2 weeks were all rare gorgeous items, one item, where I had won, where I then saw more seconds added & another bid jump in made me feel sick to my stomach. It was the kind of find you come across once in a lifetime AND all these items had been found by chance, thanks to eBay now hiding so many items from browsers.

[hill-walker]

Although I'm pretty sure eBay are not actually doing this, I think it might not be a bad idea if they did.

Rather like a real auction, where tha auctioneer takes a bid, then waits, looks around, and then, only if all the bidding has finished, brings the hammer down.

Somewhere, in the distant past, I seem to recall a site that did do this, though I can't remember what one it was.

Ultimately, better for the seller, as prices might well be higher.

Better for ebay, with higher fees

Perhaps not so great for buyers, but it would prevent that last second scramble.

Say, a 10 second delay between final bid, and auction end? 

[elitegiftsltd]

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@hill-walker wrote:

Although I'm pretty sure eBay are not actually doing this, I think it might not be a bad idea if they did.

Rather like a real auction, where tha auctioneer takes a bid, then waits, looks around, and then, only if all the bidding has finished, brings the hammer down.

Somewhere, in the distant past, I seem to recall a site that did do this, though I can't remember what one it was.

Ultimately, better for the seller, as prices might well be higher.

Better for ebay, with higher fees

Perhaps not so great for buyers, but it would prevent that last second scramble.

Say, a 10 second delay between final bid, and auction end? 

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If a 10 second delay then everyone sniping would bid just before that 10 seconds. 

We'd play the system to get the result we want (a win). 

[hill-walker]

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@elitegiftsltd wrote:

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If a 10 second delay then everyone sniping would bid just before that 10 seconds. 

We'd play the system to get the result we want (a win). 

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Exactly! More bids, higher prices, better for sellers, better for eBay 😁

[hill-walker]

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@sam_in_barbate wrote:

Clearly, eBay are allowing watchers/winning bidders to think they have one clock which is slightly ahead of the actual end of auction, & allowing other bidders the chance to up the bid.

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Just curious, but how do you think eBay are differentiating between the two groups of bidders? Why would eBay care who wins?

[sam_in_barbate]

Hi,

I only wish I knew. But having now lost 3 fabulous rare items due to these added seconds, where by all the rules within eBay I should have won, I can only think it is not unlike that which pixies2012 mentioned.

I am racking my brain to try to remember if, when I placed the bid there was a delay or a jump to a slightly earlier finish, but I have always counted down in my head whilst also watching the clock, which does not let me think I bid earlier than normal, yet allowing other bidders a window of opportunity.  Whatever the reason is, it is now stoppping me from bidding, for it has the effect of shill bidding on the part of eBay who do ultimately get more fees the higher an item sells for.

One item where I was convinced I had won with 3 seconds ot spare, was then won by a bidder who won by over 150 euros my "winning" bid (my highest bid would have been around 10 euros less than his).

I was able to look through bidding history, & this bidder was a nuisance multi-bidder, only ever bid in tiny ecriments of 5 euros, had bid a second before me, but then had thrown a huge bid into the ring 5 seconds after my last bid,  hense them winning. I am not malicious, but have to admit to a certain pleasure in knowing they paid way over the odds ")

[hill-walker]

I really think you're reading things into this, that simply aren't there.

Bid once, bid your max, and if you win, well done. If not, then just accept that you've been out bid.

The reality is, that eBay's finest programmers make a total hash of just about everything they attempt to change, and the idea that they could conceive of a system like the one you believe to be in place, and actually execute it successfully, I feel is utterly unfeasible.

[hill-walker]

BTW, I'm not disputing that the clock timings at end-of-auction are faulty - far too many similar stories to dismiss that - but I don't for one minute believe this is some eBay conspiracy against certain buyers.

[zoomingmouse · Accepted solution]

A while ago - couple of weeks maybe 3 the clock would stop working when you opened the confirm your bid box.

The last couple of auctions I've won, it has not confirmed me as the winner straight away as is usual - where it usually states at the top - congrats you are the winner + the pay now button, it gives a message along the lines of awaiting confirmation of the winner .

Someone is tinkering...

[andrewlaidlaw1979]

How about instead of putting in the price you'd like to pay and anctually put inthe maximum price that you'd like to pay in an aution that way regardless of who wins you would know that you hat put in the max price that you'd be be willing to pay rather than jumping onto these boards crying about either:

A) A delay in your internet providers speed and or router performance

B) Claimining that is all ebays problem

When the problem is proberly somewhere in between the browser/app your using, your internet provider and the thousands of differant connections between the device your using and ebays servers

[elitegiftsltd]

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@hill-walker wrote:

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@elitegiftsltd wrote:

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If a 10 second delay then everyone sniping would bid just before that 10 seconds. 

We'd play the system to get the result we want (a win). 

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Exactly! More bids, higher prices, better for sellers, better for eBay 😁

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No, just move the bids back 10 seconds. No change in price or fees. 

[elitegiftsltd]

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@andrewlaidlaw1979 wrote:

How about instead of putting in the price you'd like to pay and anctually put inthe maximum price that you'd like to pay in an aution that way regardless of who wins you would know that you hat put in the max price that you'd be be willing to pay rather than jumping onto these boards crying about either:

A) A delay in your internet providers speed and or router performance

B) Claimining that is all ebays problem

When the problem is proberly somewhere in between the browser/app your using, your internet provider and the thousands of differant connections between the device your using and ebays servers

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Many of us do put in our max bid. Just we do it in the final few seconds.

[nigel_paul_wright7557]

At the end of the day  the highest bid will win so the snipers must have bid more than you were willng to.

I rarely bother with auctions, I dont want to wait a week then probably lose out on it anyway.

I just find cheapest "buy it now" and go with that.