eBay notice during final auction minutes

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.

Opps, meant to say somehow, not someone.....

He is not going to pay to have it removed, but of course it lowers his score. Pretty unfair as an invalid email is a TOS! O well, you know Ebay..after the almighty $$!

Mrs. M. wrote,

quote:

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Ebay doesn't give a dam* how or when you bid, only that you do! They are a greedy lot!

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Truer words were never spoken. My chief complaint is that eBay sells illegal videos and (as far as I have seen) refuses to do anything about it. I have reported this (one seller in paticular) many times. When the sellers feedback dips into the 80's he changes ID's, buys some penny ante crap to get a 100% feedback and it starts all over again.

Gee, Jake, you said that so prettily!!(I know, no such word)
I have seen some that have sold way over 1000 do really shody things and get by with it!

quote:

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Originally posted by jakedduck: My chief complaint is that eBay sells illegal videos and (as far as I have seen) refuses to do anything about it. I have reported this (one seller in paticular) many times.

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Jake - what are you doing to report them. I prolly report 3 bootleg copies a week and get them removed and deregistered?

Lexie, I would appreciate your help in getting this crook banned. My mentally retarted cousin bought a TV series from him on 39 VHS taps that were unwatchable ($224.00). I filed a complaint with paypal also. They told me "we can't take just your word for it" I offered to send the tapes to paypal & ebay but they didn't want them.

I don't remember where I went to file the complaints but this is the response I got back.

eBays response:

quote:

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The form from which your report was received indicates that your reporting a potentially infringing listing or restricted item. If your
email was not to report a questionable listing please go back and select
a subject that is more appropriate to your concern.

We will thoroughly investigate the item number(s) you have reported.
Please keep in mind that the actions taken on a specific listing are
confidential and between eBay and the seller. We will not be able to
keep you abreast of any developments for privacy reasons, but we assure
you that we will thoroughly examine this information.

If you believe an item to be potentially infringing, and it was not
removed by eBay, we encourage you to contact the rights owner and inform
them of the alleged infringement. Rights owners may request the removal
of listings they feel infringe upon their rights through eBay's Verified
Rights Owner (VeRO) Program.

If you would like to see information provided by the rights owners about
items that may infringe their rights and how to contact them, please
visit our list of VeRO Program participant About Me pages.

http://pages.ebay.com/help/community/vero-aboutme.html

If you are a rights owner and would like more information regarding the
VeRO Program, please visit:

http://pages.ebay.com/help/confidence/programs-vero-ov.html

We appreciate your concerns and we thank you for helping to keep eBay a
safe and reputable forum in which to conduct business.

Regards,

The eBay Community Watch Team

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Is he still listing? Currently?

Yes, I believe he is, only with a different user ID AGAIN. This auction # 3368628350 is after an ID change 12 days after I bought from him. The auctions and descriptions were identical, as well as the seller always being from Chicago. This auction # shows a different ID I feel he used for a while 3708953909(auction ends 4-14). I think the winner of this auction may be conspiring with him, as memory serves after I sent a warning to all of his bidders and that winner responded to me his auctions went private. Only unsubstantiated speculation, but something is not right (besides me sending emails to all his bidders, I stopped after you people said I could not do that). Now I think this is him again 4180172569.

Found this page: >Click<

Try Clicking 'Report' at the bottom of page.

Thanks Puppy, I appreciate your help (need all I can get). I used that several times but to no avail. I can not understand why ebay refuses to communicate with me re this problem. Ebay privacy policies are stricter than the new HIPAA regulations. They say any action is just between ebay & the seller. Not fair in my book since I was the one ripped off.

Are you sure it was that particular page? It states right at the top of the page you can only sell recordable media if it is blank, or clearly state that you are the copyright owner!! If you used a different page (like the bootleg page) to report, the reason would not match because you are not the owner of the show. ... Technicalities...

I understand eBay not contacting you, but *should* cancel his/her auction.

I made this transaction on nov 16, 03. Would I report that auction or only current auctions. Have to go pay property taxes now ick, yuck. They're low so I shouldn't complain, but then I wouldn't be me.

If you thought you were buying licensed legal tapes, for an auction already ended and paid for, I would have used the 'Fraud' route at http://pages.ebay.com/help/confidence/isgw-fraud-claim-instructions.html, but if it was in November, it's to late now.

The other report page I gave is for having current auctions canceled. I think they also notify and warn seller.

Jake, I went thru the same thing with a guy last fall copying vhs to dvd. they were crap and I did all the reports to ebay and paypal. You might as well save your time. They won't do a thing. The seller will just change his Id and keep on selling. As long as they change their ID before they get booted no red flag pops up. Grrrrr, still gets my skin up.

quote:

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You might as well save your time. They won't do a thing.

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I wish ebay would just have one place to report problems, then they could distribute it to the right person. Get rid of all these 30, 60, 90 day rules. I think if a buyer is wronged and can prove it ebay should be responsable. My dream for the day!

Dream on, Jake, it will never happen.

I just wondered if you could add any other colors

Most people figure it's not worth the effort. But if everyone would fight back and keep fighting until the problem was fixed just maybe things would change. I must be hallucinating again.