Ebay Time ?

[Big Ben]

Originally Posted by thecatspajamas

Quick question: When you saw the listing "ended" on your phone, did it show you as the winner? Not just as high bidder with 0:00 time remaining, but actually as the winner?

It did not list me as the winner. The listing on my iPhone app only stated that the auction had ended.

I'll have to remember some of these posts the next time I am using my treadmill!

[teetwoohsix]

It had to be that Russian meteor.

Sincerely, Clayton

[Michael B]

It is quite possible that there is not an automatic refresh with 'smart' phones on the ebay program. To see a good example of this go to your watched items on fleabay. Check the time on an item ending in less than one hour, preferably the item ending first, but do not open up the item. Now look at some of your other watched items. Without doing anyting other than clicking on the items and using your back arrow, return to the first item. You will probably see that the time remaining has not changed. Now go to another function. Check your feedback, favorite sellers, items being sold or some other function. Now go back to your watched items and check the first item and you will see that the time has changed. This is especially true if you have your watched items list opened and not the item in particular. I use a desk top and see this all the time, but I am aware of it so I just click out or F5 refresh.

If this does not solve the problem, perhaps Mr. Atkatz can apply the Lorents Transformation to figure out what is going on. Lorents very simplified - preserves the space time interval between two events. The transformations describe how measurements of space and time by two observers are related.

[Ronnie73]

I believe whats happening is your phone is not updating the page in actual auction time. On a phone, it loads the page and thats it. It does not update unless you refresh the page. The clock still counts down but is not adjusted. Here is something everyone can try if they have two computers side by side. Not phones or ipads or anything that can be used wth their mobile app but two computers. With less than an hour left in any auction, load the same auction on both computers so they are both doing the countdown. Try doing it in the 50 to 59 minute range but also try it with other auctions in other ranges. Once both are counting down, remove the internet connection from one of the computers. The disconnected one will still countdown unless you have a redirect set when internet is lost. If the disconnected computer stays on the countdown page, continue to monitor the differences in the times. I've noticed the last 5 to 10 minutes, the countdown time gets updated more than say at 50 minutes. The computer with the disconnected internet is now acting as if you were watching the auction end on your phone.

Edited to add: Sometimes I see posts where someone wins an auction without knowing it until they get an email or check their buying history. Whats happening is say you wern't watching the same auction on your laptop too and you were never outbid. Your phone would say the auction is over but in reality you won the auction because it still places the bid. All these problems started when ebay added the final hour countdown. The old school way was have a digital clock with seconds next to your computer. Refresh the screen and see whats left and then add that to your digital clock time. Now you now the exact hour. minute, and second the auction ends. Now depending on the computer and connection speed at that time, figure out how many seconds before the auction ends to click the button to get a last second or same second bid. Remember that this is before phone apps and snipe programs. Alot more thinking and planning was involved.

[tschock]

Originally Posted by Ronnie73

I believe whats happening is your phone is not updating the page in actual auction time. On a phone, it loads the page and thats it. It does not update unless you refresh the page. The clock still counts down but is not adjusted. Here is something everyone can try if they have two computers side by side. Not phones or ipads or anything that can be used wth their mobile app but two computers. With less than an hour left in any auction, load the same auction on both computers so they are both doing the countdown. Try doing it in the 50 to 59 minute range but also try it with other auctions in other ranges. Once both are counting down, remove the internet connection from one of the computers. The disconnected one will still countdown unless you have a redirect set when internet is lost. If the disconnected computer stays on the countdown page, continue to monitor the differences in the times. I've noticed the last 5 to 10 minutes, the countdown time gets updated more than say at 50 minutes. The computer with the disconnected internet is now acting as if you were watching the auction end on your phone.

Edited to add: Sometimes I see posts where someone wins an auction without knowing it until they get an email or check their buying history. Whats happening is say you wern't watching the same auction on your laptop too and you were never outbid. Your phone would say the auction is over but in reality you won the auction because it still places the bid. All these problems started when ebay added the final hour countdown. The old school way was have a digital clock with seconds next to your computer. Refresh the screen and see whats left and then add that to your digital clock time. Now you now the exact hour. minute, and second the auction ends. Now depending on the computer and connection speed at that time, figure out how many seconds before the auction ends to click the button to get a last second or same second bid. Remember that this is before phone apps and snipe programs. Alot more thinking and planning was involved.

That's understandable if your laptop (connected) version ends before the iphone (disconnected) one ends, but unless I am missing something, that wouldn't explain why the iphone one "ended" first (which I think, is the original observation). Though I must admit, old age gets me more confused these days.

[dabigyankeeman]

Its caused by a rift in the space-time continuum.