Time sequence and bid sequence reporting issues
Summary: The discussion revolves around issues concerning time sequence and bid sequence reporting. Multiple participants, including dpar3518, padi*0409, sugar249, and countessalmirena, engage in a dialogue with exchanges that aim to address the complexities associated with the reporting sequences. The conversation does not arrive at a concrete solution but indicates a need for further investigation or clarification. The interactions suggest a collaborative effort to understand and potentially resolve the reporting issues.
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.
countessalmirena
·2 years ago@dpar3518,
You posted this thread, hence you are the original poster / opening poster (OP). Your first post in the thread is the original /opening post, hence that also may be referred to as the OP.
dpar3518
OP2 years agoHmmm - odd way of showing with even odder times, 5 hours pervious
I dont know what an OP is (Other Person) and if so how do they make my $55 bid for me
Perhaps the ebay sequence did not show that OP between my $46 and $55 bids but how did the OP know my maximum bid and just bid $1 below it
This whole strange set of issues is research just for my education so thank you to all who tried to explain
No wonder my past bids did not succeed - not bidding at all and one bid just before close (new work - sniping). But why bother, just to get a used item the may only function for a limited time or not at all.
Fortuitously, I was unsuccessful as I researched Logitech possible future support of the on-line database and it is not good with no current updates of device codes or possible shutdown leaving logitech remotes as paper weights. A Sofabaton U2 is more advanced at a similar price on amazon and with a new warranty and no odd bidding results
padi*0409
·2 years agoOP is either the Original Poster or Original Post.
sugar249
·2 years agoWhy are you assuming everything is dodgy, they don't know ypour maximum bid, but guess what they can just put in that number which happens to be $1 difference.
I often win auctions because I put in odd amounts, which trips up people who insist on putting in exact numbers.
dpar3518
OP2 years agoThank you all- a worthwhile research as to the workings of ebay bidding
jope_8462
·1 year agoThe bidding process on eBay is dodgy. I can tell you from experience that if you live outside of the United States and you go up against a bidder from the U.S you will not win.
sandypebbles
·1 year agoInteresting theory
Are you logged into eBay Australia or eBay USA at the time?
Where is the seller and the item
Obviously if it is listed on eBay USA, it will end at whatever time over there (not Aussie time)
Or the person in the USA simply bid more than you bid
dpar3518
OP2 years agoYes 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
·2 years agoIt only happened because someone else bidded in between, but the bid history is showing it in an odd way.
padi*0409
·2 years agoI think that's because the OP has clicked on "show automatic bids" in the bid history Sugar.
dpar3518
OP2 years agoA 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
·2 years agoYou cant bid against yourself. Unless you have 2 accounts bidding.
lezned-toycollector
·1 year agoThat is not entirely true. For example... if you place a bid of $25.02, following which someone bids $25.00, you will be winning the auction with the current high bid amount of $25.02.
If you then decide to increase your maximum bid amount to $30.00, you will still have the current high bid, but the amount will jump from $25.02 to $26.00 - one full bid increment from the other bidder's maximum.
sugar249
·2 years agoSnap, we both had the same thought. LOL...
dpar3518
OP2 years agoAh 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
·2 years agoThats 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)
countessalmirena
·2 years agoOP, 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.
countessalmirena
·2 years agoFarewell and may fortune smile on thee in whatever travels lie ahead.
There’s no fee for joining eBay.
However, it’s probably best that you eschew eBay as its auction format is clearly not for you.
For the benefit of anyone else who may come across this thread in the future…
1. Yes, sniping is permitted. See https://www.ebay.com.au/help/buying/auctions-bidding/bid-sniping?id=4224
2. Automatic bidding may see your bid immediately outbid if someone else has placed an automatic bid with a higher maximum than yours. Your visible placed bid will increase by increments if/when other bids are placed that are higher than the current increment of your automatic bid. See https://www.ebay.com.au/help/buying/auctions-bidding/bidding-works?id=4014
3. The latest time at which bids can be placed is apparently not to the second but to the microsecond, wherein a time not reaching the next second is still contained within the allowed timeframe. In other words, whole-time increments to the second, including the final second in full before the next second is reached.
dpar3518
OP2 years agoWould not want anyone to be mislead by my time sequencing
Ebay prime is $5 per month
However, this timed interval was not a whole timed increment of 1 second after bids closed at 19:00 but 48 seconds more- or so the record shows
From 3 above the final second would be 19:00:00 if indeed the closing time was 19:00
The winning bid was at 19:00:48 but with 2 bidders, the ebay computer can take up to 49 seconds to decide
Discrepancies were not addressed in any of the most helpful replies were:
1 My $46 and $55 bids being recorded as 13:57:54 even though they seemed to have happening after 19:00:47 but should have been reported at some other time within the stated closing time interval of 1 second
2 My screen showing the $33 bid right through to the bid close times of 19:00 or 19:00:48 - which ever is the correct time
3 increments within the band $25 to $99 are at $1 so how did my $46 bid increase by $9 to $55
Obliviously, the $55 bid was in response to something happening between 19:00:47 and 19:00:48
4 the 6***u and 6***2 bid times are incorrect as to date and/or times
A simple solution would be to state the bidding sequence above is incorrect rather than just ignore it. the auction perhaps finished at 19:00:48 so my $46 and $55 bids were microseconds before that OR the bidding sequence is incorrect with my 2 bids being microseconds after 18:59:59 with the winning bid microseconds before 19:00. In other words, the bidding sequence reported can be incorrect due to whatever happens at close time if more than 2 bids.
I looked at a page somewhere which seemed to indicate the snipe may fail because auto was better - just leave it up to ebay
4
sugar249
·2 years agoEither way your highest bid was less than the other bid be it a snipe bid or heaven forbid another human, thats how auctions work, whoever is prepared to pay the highest amount wins
dpar3518
OP2 years agoYes, 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
sugar249
·2 years agoI 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.
countessalmirena
·2 years agoThe close is 19:00, not 19:00:00.
The auto bids will be increased automatically to the lowest bid needed to outbid a previous or current bid, up to the maximum bid by that bidder. In a hotly contested auction, it will look far more confusing than this, as competing bids and auto bids will reset the bids placed and incremental times will scramble to reflect what’s happening/happened.
Auction snipe bids set up with Gixen or similar will have a time (seconds, microseconds) advantage over manual or auto bids on eBay.
dpar3518
OP2 years agoWell, the actual close was after 19:00 namely 19:00:48
The reply does not address my reported 13:57:45 bids
I will not be bidding again as relying on the ebay auto biding creates incorrect timing (can be incorrect by 5 hours illustrating the excessive 'scramble' involved) which means I can never win an auction. How Gixen or similar accelerates my $46 bit to $55 is questionable but there will be no answer from ebay or anyone else and I cannot accept that is fair or just a glitch or normal ebay business fairness and practice. How Gixen or ebay system allows the 19:00 close time to really be 19:00:48 is also questionable given it accepts microsecond bidding. Seems 'sniping' is allowed as fair and reasonable practice.
Gixen has a time advantage over manual or auto bids only if ebay allows that and obviously ebay does if the above reply is accurate. I have also cancelled my ebay membership. $5 for nothing is a waste where I will no longer be bidding. A real fixed price and a guarantee the new not used goods are as described will be sufficient for me from now on.
No solutions and no help in the replies has helped me make a fair and valid decision. But I have learned a lot from the replies above which indicate a 'Gixen' thing exists and that is the solution generally accepted as best ebay bidding - forget the auto thing
sugar249
·2 years agoA****A most probably put in their $56 bid at the last second, and 6****8 had an autobid top range of $55.
So as soon as A****A put in their bid, it maxed out 6****8 and tool A****A as the high bid.
dpar3518
OP2 years agoYour sequencing does not take into account the 'wrong' timing reported and there is no 6***8 bid - it seems there can be more than 1 bid per second and my 2 bids were made 5 hours earlier - the last bid was actually made in the 48 th second so bids can be made 48 seconds after close - also why did my screen show no bidding after my $33 bid which continually showed me winning - indeed the $55 bid was mine and not 6***8 - 6***2 had 2 bids at 19:00:47 and my 2 bids at 13:57:54 (???) maxed out that bid, 47 seconds after closing or 5 hours before closing (take your pick)- no logic there - and why did my accelerated $55 bid max out my $46 bid by $10 when the bid rise was supposed to be $1 - - I understand auto bids are in italics - how did a bidder manage to get a bid at $56 approved at 48 seconds after 19:00:00 close.
padi*0409
·2 years agoWhat was the item number so that we can see the bidding for ourselves ?
dpar3518
OP2 years ago