Time sequence and bid sequence reporting issues

[dpar3518]

Bids closed at 25/02/24 at 19:00 AEDST - My (dpar) bid of $46 was timed as above at 13:57:54 but as one can see a 6**2 $45 bid was timed at 19:00:47 followed by my 2 higher bids of $46 and $55 (a $10 increase against myself ?) but those 2 bids were timed at 13:57:54 -  about 5 hours hours before the so called auto bidding was supposed to place my higher bids after 19:00:47- so what happened after 19:00:47 to my 2 higher bids which had those "wonky/incorrect" times reported?  - I would have thought higher bids would always be recorded at a later time sequence - it is an auction where the higher bid always winning, is it not ? It would seem that auto bidding can follow a very strange sequence in dates and times. The timing below is a exact copy from the full bidding ebay report - dates and times are out of sequence with the increasing bids but maybe there is an explanation which I would like to know.

[dpar3518]

Yes, I agree, but a decision about that highest bidder  should be made at the stated auction expiry time (in this case 19:00 or within 1 second of it). The highest bid should not win after this time. That is to what I am objecting. It means that any auto bid I set cannot be successful,  if the auto bid is made to cease by the bidding expiry time and another bid can succeed up to 48 seconds longer

[countessalmirena]

OP, if you had set your maximum bid at, say, $100, you’d probably have won. When it comes to setting a maximum, you need to make it the very highest you are willing to pay, so that if you lose, you know you were not willing to bid even 1¢ more.

The problem with using eBay to bid automatically on your behalf is that your maximum is out there ready to be exposed. As other bidders bid, your bid will be automatically increased to beat them, and a bad-intentioned “bidder” can bid you up to the highest you have bid, then retract their bid with an excuse, having thus exposed for their knowledge what your maximum is.

It doesn’t even have to be a bad bidder; another bidder having placed their maximum (let’s say it’s just $5 lower than your max) will automatically drive your bid up to that level.

If you wait until the last few seconds and bid your absolute maximum then, you’d have a better chance of avoiding the process of nibble-bidding and could well win at a price considerably less than your max.

However, if someone else is also bidding in those last few seconds and their max is higher than yours, of course you will not be the winner.

Manual sniping runs the risk of a slow-running server, failure of communication (so bid never received), forgetting, your computer having a fit, etc.

Using an auction sniper is strategically more likely to succeed. There will be a mirror server in case of failure from the main server, no forgetting, bid placed in last 3 or d at o seconds and much faster than any human can bid, and once again you’ll only be increasing the highest bid by the required increment, up to your max but often well below it.

I won’t belabour the fact that 19:00:48 is contained within 19:00… it’s not yet 19:01. That appears to be how eBay have set up the end time but it may show time after final processing. At any rate, that’s the time displayed but I wouldn’t rely on that being time actually bid.

[sugar249]

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@dpar3518 wrote:

Yes, I agree, but a decision about that highest bidder  should be made at the stated auction expiry time (in this case 19:00 or within 1 second of it). The highest bid should not win after this time. That is to what I am objecting. It means that any auto bid I set cannot be successful,  if the auto bid is made to cease by the bidding expiry time and another bid can succeed up to 48 seconds longer

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I think you miss an important factor,  a listing is set to run for exactly say 3 days (5 or 10),  so if they kick started the listing at 48 seconds after the hour,  than it will finish at exactly 48 seconds after the hour in 3 days.

[sugar249]

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@kh-stanley1 wrote:

Just my two cents, based on answers provided by vastly experienced sellers on eBay US, the asnwer is that an auction ends to the second of the time period selected.

In this case the auction was loaded at             18 Feb 2024 at 19:00:53 AEDST

and ended, exactly seven days later Ended:25 Feb, 2024 19:00:53 AEDST

The incremental bidding has been explained already in this thread, as has the final bid, either by sniping or by someone with great reflexes, placed 5 seconds before the auction expired

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Snap, we both had the same thought.  LOL...

[dpar3518]

Ah some relevant info -The 19:00 time was indeed incorrect

Just to prove the published closing time  and also to prove that 5 hours before the end, I had no indication that my $33 bid had been overtaken by a further 8 bids.

[sugar249]

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@dpar3518 wrote:

Ah some relevant info -The 19:00 time was indeed incorrect

Just to prove the published closing time  and also to prove that 5 hours before the end, I had no indication that my $33 bid had been overtaken by a further 8 bids.

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Thats because it is still 5 hours from the auction end time, you need to refresh the page, and it will start counting down in the last hour (on some browsers)

[dpar3518]

A  few bits of info I have learnt

1 Only use the start date down to the second and add the auction time to that - do not use the screen end date and time - can be incorrect by many seconds or even minutes

2 Set an auto bid based on the time to end and the relevant bid increase for that bid range for the estimate of a possible final bid - example $25 to $99 - $1 increment

3 Do not bid at all until the last possible seconds and allow 20 or so increments but this may not allow for  bids where you may bid against yourself and an increment may be more than that shown in my example

5 Refresh the page (whatever that means) - If the screen does not show the latest bids but counts down and shows winning then suspect an issue but I do not have a solution

4 Perhaps Use Gixen over the last 40 seconds or perhaps try Bidnapper for a free trial

[sugar249]

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@dpar3518 wrote:

3 Do not bid at all until the last possible seconds and allow 20 or so increments but this may not allow for  bids where you may bid against yourself and an increment may be more than that shown in my example

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You cant bid against yourself.  Unless you have 2 accounts bidding.

[dpar3518]

Yes I know but ebay auto bidding can - if you look at my bid sequence at 1 of 18 above you can see I had a proxy/auto? bid at $46 then a my/real? bid of $55 at exactly the same day and time with a $9 increment (which cannot happen, of course but seems it did).

It is something I should be aware of

[sugar249]

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@dpar3518 wrote:

Yes I know but ebay auto bidding can - if you look at my bid sequence at 1 of 18 above you can see I had a proxy/auto? bid at $46 then a my/real? bid of $55 at exactly the same day and time with a $9 increment (which cannot happen, of course but seems it did).

It is something I should be aware of

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It only happened because someone else bidded in between, but the bid history is showing it in an odd way.