how does AS handle conflicting bids

It's left to chance, both would be sent at the same time. Then on eBay's servers one of the 2 bids would be handled milliseconds faster than the other. The second bid would be rejected by eBay because it would not be at least an increment higher than the bid that just made it in first.

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The second bid would be rejected by eBay

Both bids would be placed, if they were within ebay's increments for the current auction high-bidder's proxy amount. But, the first-placed duplicate bid would win.

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Curious, I'm sure it happens regularly, how does AS handle bids from different users on the same ebay item, possibly even for the same amount, and maybe even with the same lead time? Is there any prioritization within their servers, or is it left to chance?

I myself doubt that this happens often, as there are X thousand AS users, but literally millions of auctions at any moment. What are the chances that two of AS' users would choose the same exact auction out of those millions, AND choose the exact same dollar amount? Most be like winning the lottery.

Crikey - the chances of it ever happening must be minute. ie. 1 in No of Auctions running worldwide x the likelihood of two people choosing exactly the same amount x the likelihood of two people choosing the same lead time x the likelihood of two snipers using the same software. I've done the mathS and the answer is close to 1 in quite a lot!

R2 (failed Statistics module but still got a degree in Computer Science!)

My question wasn't what would ultimately happen, it was whether there was any known prioritization processing done by AS.

eBay has tons of servers that receive different pieces of transactions (e.g., asynchronous, connectionless packets) and process them...however they process them. There are multiple paths from AS to eBay, multiple possibilities for packets to get bumped ahead of or behind other packets going through the same or different paths, routers, switches, etc. That's all hit or miss, and AS has no control whatsoever over any of that.

I was wondering if there was any in-house processing. How many actual servers are there at AS? Are they synchronized amongst themselves? Are the queues (systems like AS don't do anything without queues) independent (parallel), or is there a master queue that feeds the working servers (serial)? And, does AS even check for conflicts?

Note also that even though a user may specify a 7 second lead time, there are a lot of tme slots that are less than 6 seconds but more than 8 seconds out. It is highly unlikely that any two such snipes as hypothesized above would ever even leave AS at the same exact time, even if they ostensibly were dispatched 7 seconds before closing.

This is where AS does control (whether they actively exercise it or not) which request goes out before the other. It seems to me that it ultimately boils down to how the scheduling (queuing) actually takes place. (This is the nub of my question.)

Note that the queuing could be purely random (but seem to me very unlikely for it to be truly random).

Alphabetically (e.g., by user name)?

Seqeuntially (e.g., by user record number in AS's database)?

Sequentially (e.g., by snipe record number in AS's database)?

Does anybody besides me even care?

Yes, it would be seemingly be a very rare event. But the probability of it happening is certainly not zero. And if the probability is not zero, then as time approaches infinity, the likelyhood that it will happen approaches 1.

Maybe I think too much...

Galileo: “Curious, I’m sure it happens regularly, is it possible that the earth rotates around the sun?”

Pope Urban: “I myself doubt that this happens often. What are the chances that the earth rotates around the sun? Most be like winning the lottery. ”

Pope Urban2: “Crikey – the chances of it ever happening must be minute.”

Galileo: “Maybe I think too much...”

I take it that either nobody knows, or else, they aren't authorized to tell...

(Glad I'm not Catholic, living out my days under house arrest would really cause me to think too much.)

Sara answered your question and she works for AS:

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It's left to chance, both would be sent at the same time.

R2

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Originally posted by region2:
Sara answered your question and she works for AS

Of course – the AS programmer(s) added additional software so that the selection would be random. Or, it could be that AS servers are moody (a "chancy" computer).

This thread reminds me of what parents tell their kids when the kids ask a question that the parent doesn’t know the answer.

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Originally posted by User113:
I take it that either nobody knows

Sounds right.

Sara said:

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It's left to chance, both would be sent at the same time.

Which, in the computer world, does not really make sense. Leaving the outcome of concurrently scheduled bids "to chance" inherently means that they are NOT sent "at the same time." Then she deftly changed the subject by expounding on how eBay's servers would handle it, conspicuously NOT discussing AS's servers at all.

I would have to agree with Rick, she doesn't know.

No idea what Rick said as I'm ignoring his posts (try it, it works!) but I have to agree with me, it'll never happen!

R2

I think that region2's "it'll never happen" is in regard to his "I'm ignoring his posts"?

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Originally posted by region2:
I have to agree with me

I can’t tell you how much joy it gives me to see that region2 has finally found someone that agrees with him. Hopefully this new relationship will improve his love life.



Bartender: “Why do you keep pouring drinks on your hand?”

region2: “I’m trying to get my date drunk.”