quote:The "Time Left" countdown is actually just available as a courtesy on the "My Snipes" page, and has no impact whatsoever on when snipes are actually placed. All snipes are placed by multiple servers in different locations, all of which are calibrated by atomic clocks to match eBay time and ensure the utmost accuracy.
The "Time Left" countdown on the "My Snipes" page, on the other hand, is controlled by a client side JavaScript application. Basically, when you load your "My Snipes" page near the end of an auction, we send the amount of time left in the auction to your browser. The client side JavaScript code then decrements the time left by 5 seconds about every 5 seconds. The reason the time represented by the countdown can differ from eBay‘s countdown is because, due to the way systems running multiple processes handle interruptions, these updates aren‘t always processed the exact second they are requested.
For example, if an update request call were made with 10:00:00 remaining, and it took an additional second to be processed, the "Time Left" countdown on your "My Snipes" page will change to 09:55:55, when the actual time left in the auction will change to 09:55:54.
Therefore, the longer you are watching the time left in an auction on your "My Snipes" page, the more that time left value has the potential to deviate from the actual amount of time left in the auction.
R2