It's been doing this for ages, maybe 2 years or more.  At one time ebay used to work, but now it doesn't.  One of many issues with the site.  There's been a few forum posts about the countdown clock and the usual advice is to set the time on your computer to the right time zone.  I have absolutely no idea how to do this or even if that is the root cause of the issue.  My solution is to make sure I place a bid in good time.  I know that the traditional ploy in winning ebay auctions is to try to place a decisive bid in the closing seconds of an auction finishing, but I really don't think that has as much importance anymore - that is considering that what you bid has only a passing resemblance to the final price on auction close, fees taken into consideration, and ebay itself can't even decide who has won once the time is up, and takes a few seconds to have a think about it whilst advising bidders to refresh the page and come back later.

what a load of rubbish!