Posted By:
Hal LewisJoe G.
I had the EXACT same problem.
I went back and forth on an item... outbidding the other guy about 1 minute before the "end" of the auction every 15 minutes...
but of course those were all just "false" ends.
THEN...
at 2:52 when the clock tells me that I have 4:00 or so left in which to bid...
the auction closes and I NEVER got a chance to outbid the guy one last time.

I thought when they said that the auction could end at any time, I guess I thought that they would at least close it at the end of the current 15-minute period!!!
My bad.
----------------------------
Then again, maybe they made a deal with the BIG bidders like the one I proposed...
which is to say:
I know you have $500,000 to spend, but you are NOT going to win the Fashion Course ball... so if you want to immediately spend your $500,000 elsewhere then we will close the auction immediately.
If that is what they had to do to end the auction at 2:53 rather than 5:43 am, then I am OK with it!