Last minute of bid you REALLY want...

You say you're currently about $100 above the present high bid -- do you mean your snipe is set for that amount or do you have a proxy bid on the item as well? Use your own judgement -- it might help to research the high bidder to see whether he's a nickel-and-dimer or comes in with a big proxy reserve.

So long as the auction isn't ending on the exact hour, half-hour, or quarter-hour you should be OK with a 5-second lead time. Most of the veterans on this Forum use 8 seconds because under most circumstances it holds up even if eBay gets a little busy and it's still too short a time for a counterbid to be placed. Just remember that it's the highest bid that wins, not the last one.

hi there, Snipe is set for that amount...also, what do you mean that it is the highest not the last, if two bidders are automatically updating one another to the last second, would not the last one win, even if the other one is set at max bid..also, when you say proxy bid, not familiar with that term, can you expand on it?
thanks
bob

Technically, it's the highest bid that has been accepted by eBay before the auction closes. The last bid may also be the winning bid, but if you get your max in there and it holds up it doesn't matter what the last bidder does. And if your bid doesn't hold up, well, somebody else was willing to pay more than you were. Another widgit just like the one you were bidding on will turn up on eBay eventually.

The point is that by cutting your lead time too close you reduce the chances of your snipe bid getting through eBay's servers in time geometrically. Yes, eBay uses more than one server to process bids and yes, eBay has a lot of servers...but do you know how many bids eBay has to handle per second? If you've ever been looking around on eBay and it takes like forever to get from point A to point B, you're seeing an example of eBay's servers getting to the breaking point.

A proxy bid is when your bid is higher than the amount needed to be the high bidder of record. Say the current bid is at $50 and the bidder's maximum bid was actually $60, the $10 difference is held in reserve as a "proxy" by eBay so that if and as other bids come in, his bid is automatically adjusted upwards until his max is met. Now let's say you join the fray with a $100 bid. You'll show up as the high bidder with $61; the other $39 will be held in proxy reserve just like the last guy's was.

got it...thanks all for the help..
bob

A related question from a newbie...

Let's say that the current bid is $5 but that person has a max bid of $10. If I come in with a snipe of $15, I should win -- but how much time will it take for the ebay servers to increase his bid up to his max and then place another bid for me? I wouldn't want the auction to end after ebay increases his bid but before ebay places a higher bid on my behalf.

I realize that would be bad luck for me... but I've had my share of bad luck.

EBay considers all bids submitted to their max before "declaring a winner." As part of that process each proxy amount is considered to determine which is highest and, in case of a tie, which was submitted earlier (the one disadvantage of sniping). This is done very quickly, and when the dust settles eBay has found the lucky winner. So, you can be sure that in the situation you describe the other guy's $10 bid will have been considered and your winning bid will be $10.50 assuming nobody else bid. You don't need it because the auction's over, but you'd have a proxy leftover of $4.50 from your $15 bid.

An afterthought: All the eBay activity I described above takes place after the auction has closed, so if your bid got accepted by eBay during the time the auction was open you don't have to worry about the other guy's bid registering and yours not.

quote:

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Originally posted by Steve:
All the eBay activity I described above takes place _after_ the auction has closed.

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Not very comfortable with that statement, nor the previous post. Doesn't sound right. Since I didn't write the code, I obviously can't say for sure.

I will agree that there won't be a conflict between bid place and price increased. There couldn't be, or there would be some very upset 2nd high bidders (aka the "winner") because the price increased for no visible reason.

Steve, I'm not sure I understand. Are you saying that Ebay decides which bid is highest, placed first, etc. AFTER the auction closes? How is this possible when the winner is posted exactly at closing, I believe?

rsmiller40

It happens in microseconds, Mrs. M. It only seems instantaneous. Look, eBay's computers aren't clairvoyant. They don't know the outcome before the auction ends (we snipers keep 'em on their toes that way). It's a matter of a very few microseconds to poll the bids received, compare amounts and, where necessary, the times bids were placed, and declare a winner.

But, is it the microsecond before or after the end is my question?

rsmiller40

I think this is all supposition. Neither Steve, nor myself really knows the sequence of events.

tlhdmd,
The reason I challenged Steve's comment, is that on the surface his comments sounded as if they were factual. They may well be, but until someone can provide something other then conjecture, I'd recommend you take those comments at face value.

Steve,
No offence - but, well - let me just leave it at "no offence".

quote:

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Originally posted by Steve:
It's a matter of a very few microseconds to poll the bids received, compare amounts and, where necessary, the times bids were placed, and declare a winner.

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Was only playing "devil's advocate",Rick.

rsmiller40

Okay, speaking as a clever programmer (toot, toot!):

Whenever someone submits a bid, the current price of the item (and the currently winning person) is computed. This takes a microsecond or ten.

So there's no need at all for eBay to recompute the winning price/person of an auction, since that is always determined once a person places a bid.

So the short answer is, the winner is always determined microseconds after the last bid, and doesn't have anything to do with the auction end date.

Hope that clarifies things!