eBay

Anonymous · ‎27-02-2025

. . .I was interested in an electronic item earlier today and put in a maximum in my snipe tool that I thought would be more than enough to win it, but I lost out to someone who bid £5 above my maximum FIVE seconds BEFORE my snipe went in!

. . .Is there some way of hacking to find out what my max was, or is this eBay's thieving nonsense with clock times again to try and get a higher selling fee?

. . .I've had this a few times, and in such cases I go on the laptop to check "automatic bids" in case the item was won by a bid–war, but there was no signs of one for this item I lost – it went up from £27 to £79 and then from £79 to £212 five seconds before my snipe and the other bidder got it at my snipe plus one increment!

**peaseblossom** · ‎27-02-2025

If they'd put in a previous higher maximum bid it will automatically overtake yours. Here's more info about it:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/help/buying/bidding/automatic-bidding?id=4014

sml192 · ‎27-02-2025

Clearly their 'maximum bid' was higher than yours, nothing odd about that. The person who enters the highest 'maximum bid' will always win, doesn't matter when they place it.

There is no way that they could have found out your 'maximum bid' especially if they placed their bid before yours.

geosacha007 · ‎28-02-2025

You are claiming that ebay messed with the clocks to get a higher bid when you yourself state that the bidder bid before your snipe bid. Which must mean that it was before the end of the auction.

And how could anyone discover what your maximum bid was before your bid.

It doesn't have to be an automatic bid. Many people, myself included, wait until the last few seconds to bid our maximum. Sometimes we win sometimes we lose. There is nothing untoward about it.

Anonymous · ‎28-02-2025

. . .There has been some discussion on this Forum about Auction–Style listings suddenly "jumping back" five or ten seconds before the end time so another bid can be placed and there are several other members who have also raised suspicions that eBay is purposely doing that to try and get a few pence more on selling or (now!) the "buyer protection fee!"

. . .If the other bidder's time–to–end– clock "jumped back" by 10 seconds he would get to see what my snipe was and place a bid that out–bid my snipe!

. . . There's nothing more I can do about it tho', unless the winning bidder doesn't pay, (which I suspect will be very unlikely!) other than save a new search for that item!

Anonymous · ‎28-02-2025

. . .The reason I get very suspicious is when I lose by one (and only one!) bid increment, as in the case I quoted – if it goes a long way over my maximum some time before the end I wouldn't be suspicious about it!

buffster1963 · ‎28-02-2025

@Anonymous wrote:
. . .The reason I get very suspicious is when I lose by one (and only one!) bid increment, as in the case I quoted – if it goes a long way over my maximum some time before the end I wouldn't be suspicious about it!

As you were the second highest bidder then it will always show as one increment above your bid as that is how it works. The other bidder could have bid £200 more than you but would still win one increment above your bid.

sml192 · ‎28-02-2025

@Anonymous wrote:
. . .The reason I get very suspicious is when I lose by one (and only one!) bid increment, as in the case I quoted – if it goes a long way over my maximum some time before the end I wouldn't be suspicious about it!

That simply means that there was only one person who bid more than you. There would need to be at least two higher bidders to push it up by more than one bid increment.