I notice that this message now appears on the auction listing during the last part of an auction. I am not sure how long before the end it appears; I know it it at least 15 minutes:

Important: This item ends soon. Since bids are often submitted in the final minutes, refresh or reload your browser to see if you've been outbid

Comments, anyone?

The most imminent auction I have pending is six and a half hours away and I don't see any notice like that yet. I'll keep tabs on the auction more closely than usual to see if and when the notice appears. I think it's a good idea...can't hurt anything, that's for sure.

But do you think it will encourage: a) more sniping and/or b) more last-minute proxy nibbling? People may be more likely to tune in near the end and start upping their bids; at least some of these might not have done so otherwise.

Yes, it might encourage last-minute proxy bid "adjustments." That's what eBay likes to see, after all. On the other hand, it might foster a false sense of security among the current high bidders. We'll just have to wait and see. Five hours left in my next auction and no sign of that statement yet. The high bid has remained the same for about 18 hours now. The closer they wait to auction close the less reaction they'll get to it, would be my guess.

45 minutes left in the auction and no sign of the message you quoted, Chatter. No change in the bid status.

Fifteen minutes came and went and there's no statement like that.

Chatter, no such message appeared at the auction site at any time. Where on the site did you see the message you quoted?

P.S. -- I won with a final bid that was only $10 over the maximum showing.

The notice appeared on the upper portion of the notice, just below the time remaining. The auction from which I cut and pasted the notice had only 15 minutes to go. I have another one ending tomorrow, at which I may be at the computer. We shall see then.

Perhaps you had already bid on the item on eBay, and were signed in.

You get custom notices now at the top of the eBay page when you are signed in.

Were you signed in Steve?
Chatter had you bid on the item on eBay at some point? Were you signed in?

Interesting.

Yep, I sign in on eBay every morning and click the little "Remember Me" box when I do. I was definitely signed in for my auction last evening -- even went to the auction site from "My eBay." No, I hadn't bid on the item beforehand. I almost never do.

I was speculating that eBay must know when an auction snipe service "locks in" on an item. Maybe that's what triggered the notice Chatter saw. But it didn't appear in my auction, so perhaps it's optional with the seller???

You solved it, Sara. The item in question had been "a buy it now" item, so I had made an earlier bid, to knock out that possibility. Like Steve, this condition is the only one under which I EVER bid on an item during the auction time. And I got it for less than the BIN! Anyway, that does appear to be the clincher, having already had the bid there. I am still curious as to how long before the end of the auction the notice appears.

You mentioned signing in. I am always signed in on eBay, at my home computer. I never have to sign in manually.

Chatter writes, "I am still curious as to how long before the end of the auction the notice appears."

I'll try to remember to watch for it the next time I bid "in the open" on something. (Please don't hold your breath. )

Greetings all,
I get bid alerts as pop ups ten min before auction ends, also for items on my watch list.
Unfortunately don't remember exactly how I signed up for them...most likely it's a eBay toolbar option.

robert

AS Rules!!!


robert

We already established that when one has bid manually on an item, during the last part of the auction (though we did not establish at which point) a notice from eBay appears at the top of the auction, stating that the auction is nearly over, be sure to get in your last minute bids, etc.

Here is a new notice. It appeared, in the same place, at the top of one of the few auctions I lost. I used AS but was outbid. Here is what the notice said after the auction was over:


Bidding has ended for this item. You were outbid.

How did this happen? eBay compares your bid to those of others. You were outbid because another bidder placed a higher maximum bid than your bid of US $xx.xx.

How does bidding work? eBay automatically bids on your behalf up to your maximum bid of US $xx.xx. If the item ends for less than your maximum, that's all you'll have to pay. See example.


The last words are a link to an eBay bidding tutorial. This is a good feature of the new layout, I suppose. Perhaps more newbies should check it out, since not all understand how proxy biding works.

Anyone else receive this message? (Luckily I already have the item; this was an extra for my workplace.)

I also get these messages on items when I have sold them. I havent seen that other message though.

Ohhh, I just got a pop up type message from my ebay toolbar....it said something along the lines "Bidding for this item will end in under 10minutes" it was under the Watch Alert on the toolbar, wonder if thats the same thing

OK, I resurrected this old topic to update it.

The only time one would see this message is when you place an early proxy bid, to stomp a BIN. (That, of course, is the ONLY time I ever bid manually.) In this case, it was well worth it to win an item for $27 that had a BIN of $74.99!

This is what eBay shows the first time you go to an auction page after you have been outbid:

You have been outbid by another bidder

If you become the high bidder again and refresh, you get this message:

You are the current high bidder. Important: This item ends soon. Since bids are often submitted in the final minutes, refresh or reload your browser to see if you've been outbid.

I would call these invitations by eBay to snipers, wouldn't you?

Chatter, yes, I would say so. I have, in fact, always contended that Ebay doesn't give a dam* how or when you bid, only that you do! They are a greedy lot!

One thing that Ebay does that angers me, is to force a person, if they want a wrong negative feedback removed, they must pay twenty dollars. I see it as extortion, plain and simple!

Someone I know (not me) sold something. He emailed the buyer mnay times and all were returned as no address there. He sent them to Ebay. The person gave bad feedback. Ebay said yes, you have a ligitimate case to have it removed, but you must go to Safe Harbor and pay twenty dollars. Now, Ebay was notified of the email problem before the feedback was left!

Mrs. M - as far as the $20 bucks goes, do you think this will lessen the affect of feedback? I mean if all members know you can't get it removed unless you pay $20 so therefore I wouldn't even consider those particular fb's as a negative when I was bidding as long as follow-up feedback was left.

I think maybe the validity of feedback will someone be questioned because of it. This may not turn out to be a good thing for ebay.