Question from USA bidder - any thoughts welcome

[siddieswans]

I got this message from a USA bidder this morning. I am not sure I understand what has happened - perhaps someone can explain it to me (and then I can try and explain it to her.)

"I'm sorry if this is going to sound like sour grapes but I'm just starting to detest Ebay. I am in the US, I studied money conversions, set my bid and waited. The item was to time out VERY late so I set my alarm. I watched as the auction ended. I took a screenshot as my trust for Ebay has waned. The image says You're the high bidder. It also stated time left is ZERO. I closed my eyes and went to sleep thinking of course I had won, right? Nope...this morning I awoke to I had been outbid. ....... But there is no other way to feel about this keep happening except there is something very unfair I would love to understand. Thanks for listening. Sincerely,

As you can see when her screen shot shows time left as "Ended" there are only 2 bids shown, and she is top bidder at $100. These are the bids shown on the listing, including eBay generated proxy bids. 4 bids, 3 bidders.

Oz2 Feedback score (3180) AU $211.30 9 Jun 2024 at 16:14:54 AEST Australia

USA Feedback score (232) AU $208.80 9 Jun 2024 at 14:21:26 AEST 42071

This is an automatic bid (proxy bid) placed by eBay on behalf of the bidder.USA Feedback score (232)

AU $153.50 9 Jun 2024 at 14:21:26 AEST 42071

Oz1 Feedback score (222) AU $151.00 9 Jun 2024 at 16:14:46 AEST Australia

This is an automatic bid (proxy bid) placed by eBay on behalf of the bidder USA Feedback score (232)

AU $100.00 9 Jun 2024 at 14:21:26 AEST 42071

Oz1 Feedback score (222) AU $99.00 5 Jun 2024 at 13:38:36 AEST Australia

So actually her screen shot does not show the bids generated in (literally) the last minute of bidding; the bid of $151.00 from Oz1 at 16:14:46 that created a proxy bid for her of AU $153.50; and then the bid from Oz2 at 16:14:54 which outbid her top bid of $208.80.  All I can think of is that there is some sort of time lag between USA and Oz eBay which could account for the fact  that while there were actually 4 bids and 3 bidders, when USA showed time Ended it had only registered 2 bids and 2 bidders. She thinks this is an eBay conspiracy, while I think it is some sort of a basic flaw. In any case, if this is a normal occurrence it won't help her in future with last-minute bidding from an International eBay site.  Any thoughts welcome.

[marnotom!]

This bidder hasn’t learned that auctions are won by the highest bid, not the last bid.  If in the first place they had bid the most they were willing to pay, they would have either won the item or lost out to someone who, in their opinion, overpaid for the item.

I’ve thwarted a few snipers even though I placed my bid well before the auction closed because my bid was a few dollars and cents more than the sniper’s bid(s).  

This user may not understand that proxy bidding doesn’t necessarily mean that you’ll pay what you bid for the item.  You’re putting in a maximum bid, not your only bid.

Sorry.  I’m preaching to the choir here, I suspect.

[repentatleisure1952]

G'day again.

Why is a maximum bid not my only bid?

I see no reason why it can't be.

[marnotom!]

I’m sorry, @repentatleisure1952,  but I don’t understand your question.

[marnotom!]

Maybe I should have said, "You're placing a maximum bid, not necessarily your only bid."  If one bids $200 on an item that's only reached $25 in the bidding, the highest bid amount doesn't necessarily go straight to $200.  It depends on what other bidders have placed as their maximum bids.  That US buyer may not understand that, but I suspect most people posting to this thread do.

[siddieswans · Accepted solution]

Thanks to all who contributed. Of course I don't know this bidder, but she has been a member since 1999 so I imagine she does know how eBay auctions work. I got the impression from her message that she was genuinely puzzled about how the screen shot could show time ENDED while her bid was in the lead, when she did not turn out to be the winner. Again I got the impression that the bid she left was her maximum bid - she was watching the item not necessarily to bid again but because "But there is no other way to feel about this keep happening except there is something very unfair I would love to understand."

This  sounds like it has happened to her before and maybe she has fallen foul of the link that twyngwyn supplied about technical problems with last minute bids. Also others supplied useful information about the inability of devices to show last second bids in real time. With my limited tech knowledge it was news to me that the time left would be handled by a different set of code to the bids received. It seems clear as others have said that if she had MANUALLY refreshed her screen AFTER taking the screen shot it would have showed those last minute bids.  There is a long technical discussion of lag time between bids arriving at eBay and being displayed at your device https://community.ebay.com/t5/Ask-a-Mentor/Max-bid-not-refreshing/qaq-p/27575543 which I will also sent to her. I will also mention that until the screen shows you as the WINNER you have not won.

I will send her the bids as shown on my computer which should allay her fears that eBay had some sort of vendetta against her. Also I will suggest that she consider using Gixen as a back up (if she had previously run into those technical problems already mentioned). I KNOW that having bid the maximum we should walk away and not think about the auction result again, but I am guilty of watching the countdown clock while not intending to bid further (on other auction house sites.)  Thanks again for your time.

[springyzone]

I think the woman understands how ebay auctions work & is is well aware she could be outbid at the last second, it's one of the reasons she was up at 1.15am to watch the end of the auction.

Her only concern is that the system was showing her as the highest bidder and also showing the auction as ended. She's genuinely puzzled, she is not being malicious, she's just sharing with you what happened. I wouldn't be blocking her, she is a perfectly legitimate bidder by the sounds of it.

It's definitely a glitch in the system and it has been there for years as I once had it happen to me many moons ago-with an item here in Vic, Australia, so it isn't anything to do with International time zones.

And yes, it is annoying.

Fair enough, the system may not be able to show new bids in real time, it might lag by a few vital seconds, but it should never say ended  till the winner/highest bidder is known and identified.

I think all you can do is write to the woman, show her the bids, explain you think it is a lag in the ebay system and it is affecting others too. 

With luck, she may win another of your auctions.

[siddieswans]

No I did not think she was being malicious. And yes I thought she was genuinely puzzled. And no I would not think of blocking her, unless her response to the explanatory message I have sent is unfortunate, which I do not imagine it will be.  She seems to collect very specific items, so probably we will never meet again, but you never say never.

[marnotom!]

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@springyzone wrote:

I think the woman understands how ebay auctions work & is is well aware she could be outbid at the last second, it's one of the reasons she was up at 1.15am to watch the end of the auction.

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If that's a concern for the buyer, then they haven't put in a proxy bid for the highest amount that they're willing to pay for the item.  They could have done that before going to bed and found out whether they won the item when they got up in the morning.

Some people seem to think that eBay auctions are like "hammer" auctions and the last bid always wins.  It doesn't always turn out that way.