eBay testing "Extended Bidding"

GabbaGabbaHey

I've not seen any mention here, but it appears that eBay is testing "Extended Bidding" (i.e. extending an auction's end time by 2 minutes if a bid is placed within the final 2 minutes).

It's not clear from the description whether this will keep happening each time a bid is placed (in which case, theoretically, an auction could go on for ever!) or there will be just a single - or limited number of - extensions per auction.

It's initially being trialled in the Trading Cards category, but obviously could be implemented site-wide if the trials are successful.

It will certainly affect those of us Buyers who snipe when buying. I guess it might also affect Sellers who prefer to know exactly when their auctions will end?

https://www.ebay.com/help/buying/bidding/bidding?id=4003

soolin

That looks  like it is on ebay.com which is an entirely different entity to ebay UK, thank goodness I can find no mention on ebay UK as I think it's an awful idea.

There are quite a lot of differences between ebay.com and ebay.uk. sometimes due to local laws but often to user preferences. I'm on a lot of US selling sites - left over from when I traded a lot with the US, and they have a completely different outlook on how they use ebay to buy and sell, interestingly that can even vary from state to state. As much as I found some of their practices strange, it was often say, East Coast V West coast that had the most difficulty with understanding why certain sellers or buyers preferred different options in the other region. Auctions are a much bigger thing out there whereas BINs are mostly used in the UK.

The biggest difference though is that in some States buyers have very poor rights compared to the UK with sellers not even being obliged to accept returns, and buyers having to pay to return faulty items. 

Also if you want to get depressed, have a look at how much benefit and included listings their sellers get for opening a shop at a low dollar price, compared to what our expensive business shop costs and benefits are. 

GabbaGabbaHey

Appreciate your comments about the differences in culture and legislation between .com and .co.uk.

However, if eBay deem the trial a success (i.e. it makes them more money) it's not too far-fetched to think that they might implement this in other markets, including the UK. On the other hand, if they are not happy with the trial, the idea may go away and we'll never hear any more about it.

steveE2

It's already here as a trial

https://www.ebay.co.uk/help/buying/bidding/bidding?id=4003

We're currently testing extending auction durations by 2 minutes when a bid is placed in the last 2 minutes of an auction. This test will apply to select items in the Trading Cards category. Please make sure you're on the latest version of the app to see this feature.

soolin

I'm just pleased I don't do auctions, I hate extended bidding for last minute bids. 

RFW

soolin said:

I'm just pleased I don't do auctions, I hate extended bidding for last minute bids. 

I've been 'attending' a few online auctions lately and they have this feature. It's infuriating having people bidding who think they're sniping. The auction extends by ten minutes if a bid is placed in the last five minutes. For no good reason there are people who bid with a few seconds remaining. In these auctions you're generally better getting bids in early. 

forgotmyname

Yahoo auctions used to do the extended time listings.  Good and bad points, ideal if your the seller and don't mind when
the auction ends but not so fun when you have time contraints and need to get it posted.

Lorian

If I can't snipe I probably won't be bidding at all

savergrant

soolin said:

I'm just pleased I don't do auctions, I hate extended bidding for last minute bids. 

The last time I bid on an auction I won, only to find out the seller had already accepted an offer for the item and sold it. That put me off auctions.

PocketWatchMan

Do people honestly 'snipe' on ebay? wow.  
In my experience anyone who is the least bit serious will bid on an auction, or BIN (or make an offer) very early on, usually within a couple of days max. 
I haven't come across sniping I recon in about 20 years.

Spoonie_Turtle

I did for a while, especially on things that had multiple bids.  (Manually, I must add, never a tool to do it at the last second - those have never felt right to me.)  I don't think anything I've bid on for quite a long time has had any other bids though and now with the best offer option often available, if I'm really keen to get something I'll use that instead.  And other things if I don't mind not winning, I'll put in a bid earlier (and often it's the only bid in the end anyway).