Ebay Time Issue

[wazoo]

I'm not sure if I'm the only one that has noticed this. Have any of you been watching the time as the seconds tick down on a card, and then all of a sudden, a few more seconds (1-3) add back onto the clock? It's the weirdest thing. My computer isn't even lagging when this happens.

[slidekellyslide]

I've seen it happen many times, and not just recently. I saw it happen more than 6 months ago, maybe a year now.

[wazoo]

Exactly. I makes me wonder what's going on, or maybe the timer just gets messed up so it afds the extra seconds to compensate for messed up time.

[t206blogcom]

I've had this happen to me as well and I've lost auctions because of it (thinking I had more time left to bid than I really did).

[markf31]

While you might not notice a lag in your network connection, even the fastest network, running at near prime conditions can and will experience lags. Depending on your computer and connection, there can be anywhere from zero to ten seconds of delay. On my desktop Mac connected via cable modem, I see between zero and two seconds delay, on my slower laptop over wireless, I have seen 4-5 seconds delays. It’s just a fact of the internet, even today with the connection speeds as high as they have become over the years. Ebay’s automatic timer, and your web browser do their best to remain in sync but the fact of the matter is they cannot remain in sync in real time perpetually.

Instead of relying on the timer imbedded in the webpage, which is susceptible to network lag, I rely on the actual time that the auction is listed to end. It’s located right next to the timer (Aug 22, 2012 05:40:49 PDT). At the bottom of every Ebay page is a link for the Official Ebay Time, it will show you a page with the current official Ebay time, a static time from when the page loaded, across all four time zones. I have a small digital clock next to my computer that I sync as best I can with Ebay Official Time about once every other week. If I had to guess, my digital clock is usually within 0.5 seconds of the Official Ebay Time. I ignore the timer on the webpage, and go strictly off the digital lock sitting on my desk.

Granted this is for the rare instances where I am bidding right at the end of an auction. 99.9% of the time I place the max bid I'm willing to pay on an auction a day or two before it’s set to end and let it go. Usually when I sit there and pay attention to an auction is when I over pay for something because I get caught up in the moment.

[zljones]

Yup I notice the flutter for years now. As a sniper bidder I have always had to take this into account, so I snipe within 10-15 seconds before the auction ends, just to be safe.

[wazoo]

Yup. It causes my bidding to be all messed up and i dont have the same advantage.

[ngrow9]

Yup I notice the flutter for years now. As a sniper bidder I have always had to take this into account, so I snipe within 10-15 seconds before the auction ends, just to be safe.

Not to completely side-track the thread, but I've always wondered what the point of snipe bidding is. It seems to me that if you set a max price you are willing to pay at the outset, then there is little benefit to snipe bidding at the end. But I may be missing something. Thoughts?

[Deertick]

I have always found that showing interest early tends to stir the competitive juices, increasing the odds of a bidding war. Placing max proxy does two things. One is that you open yourself up to shilling. The other is it invites the "pickers", legit bidders who try and find what your max is so they can bid accordingly. These are the guys who will make 20 bids in $1.50 increments.

Now if you bid your max too early, you will notice someone else will do the same, be outbid and increase their max. If you are able to be the last one in, it leaves them no chance to rebid. Thus you save money. And win the item.

[zljones]

Not to completely side-track the thread, but I've always wondered what the point of snipe bidding is. It seems to me that if you set a max price you are willing to pay at the outset, then there is little benefit to snipe bidding at the end. But I may be missing something. Thoughts?

Exactly what Jim said in the thread below yours. He hit the nail on the head. I do not want to increase the demand.

[ngrow9]

Makes sense, thanks for the responses.

[doug.goodman]

If you are able to be the last one in, it leaves them no chance to rebid. Thus you save money. And win the item.

Exactly.

A last second bid at your max either wins the item or doesn't. You don't have time to increase your own max, and anybody who you have outbid has no time to bid again.

I only bid early on items that I know will go for more than the early bids as a way of "marking" that as an item that I have particular interest in.

As an example I collect scored scorecards. If a guy has 10 of them in separate auctions, but one of them is Mantle homerun game, or a Koufax game, or something similar, I may bid on that one while putting all of them on my watch list.

Doug