Auction not awarded
Summary: The discussion concerns the failure to win an auction. insolitifilm started the thread, and heavenwelkin participated with several comments. The main topic seems to be how to handle the situation arising from this unsuccessful bid, although the specific details are not clear from the messages. Both discuss various aspects and possible next steps.
Good morning everyone. I would like to report this situation that arose following an auction.
Basically, even though I was the highest bidder at the last second, the system did not award me the auction because of a phantom bid that supposedly came in at some unknown time.
I’m attaching a screenshot to show that what I’m saying is true.
If this situation has happened to anyone, please report it.
insolitifilm
OP5 months agoWhen time ran out, it wouldn’t even let me increase the bid, but it can’t increase the bid if it’s already timed out. They have problems they don’t want to admit, or that they don’t even know about.
In the next few days I’ll take part in various auctions, bidding at the last minute, just to test it.
insolitifilm
OP5 months agoTech support is mumbling about a system issue they still need to confirm. Tomorrow and in the days after, I’ll call them every day until they have a concrete answer.
insolitifilm
OP5 months agoTechnical support is mumbling about a system problem that they still need to verify. Tomorrow and in the days after that I'll call them every day until they have a concrete answer.
heavenwelkin
·5 months agoFrom the bidders list it turns out THAT YOU ARE NOT THE HIGHEST BIDDER.
By any chance did eBay send you an email allowing you to pay for the item?
If the answer is NO, then it’s a problem of UPDATE / SYNC with the servers.
You should be able to figure out that you’re not the highest bidder until tomorrow....
If tomorrow you still show up as the highest bidder, then it’s a BUG in the system.
In any case, the email telling you that you are the winner and that you have to pay for the item ALWAYS takes precedence.
Best regards.
insolitifilm
OP5 months agoThis is not a question of who won what, but the fact that the system showed time expired, so if when time expired I was the highest bidder, how is it possible that I then wasn’t.
If that had been the case, support would have pointed it out, instead they are reporting something that isn’t really clear for possible checks.
The screenshot photo is not altered.
heavenwelkin
·5 months agoThe issue of misaligned or "ghost" timers on eBay is a classic one that has driven users crazy for years.
You’re not imagining things: it’s a structural problem tied to how eBay handles data between its various global servers and your device.
Here’s what happens "under the hood" and why you see those time discrepancies:
1. The Indexing problem
eBay is not one big computer, but a network of thousands of servers. When an auction ends, the information has to be updated across all databases.
The delay: Sometimes the server that handles search (the one that shows you the list of items) is slower than the one that handles the actual auction.
The result: You see an item in the "Ended auctions" list, but if you click on it you open the item page and find that there are still minutes or hours left. This often happens after updates because the index "refresh" system gets overloaded.
2. Local clock synchronization
The timer you see counting down on your PC or smartphone is not always the real one from eBay’s servers.
The browser loads the page and starts a countdown based on your device’s time.
If your computer or phone clock is off by even a few seconds (or if the browser cache is "old"), you’ll see the auction as ended when it’s actually still active, or vice versa.
Technical tip: For important auctions, use sites like time.is to check that your clock is synchronized to the millisecond.
3. The "Soft Close" effect (dynamic auctions)
Although eBay Italy historically does not use automatic extensions (as happens on other auction sites where every last-minute bid adds 1-2 minutes), there have been tests and reported bugs (including recently in 2024 and 2025) where the time seemed to "bounce back." In reality, it is almost always network latency: you send a bid in the last second, the server receives it, processes it, and "reopens" the timer display to show you the updated new price, giving the impression that time has gone backwards or stopped.
4. App vs Desktop
The eBay app is known to have less precise synchronization than the desktop browser version. App updates often introduce bugs that delay the reception of "push" data (the ones that tell you the auction has ended).
What to do so you don’t miss auctions?
The Refresh button is your friend: Never trust the timer counting down on its own for more than 10 minutes. Reload the page (F5) in the last 2 minutes to force the browser to reconnect to the server.
Use the Desktop version: For critical purchases, the website via browser is generally more reliable than the app.
Check the official time: If you see discrepancies of exactly one hour, it’s often a time zone handling issue (DST - Daylight Saving Time) between the central servers (often in the USA) and the local Italian ones during the clock change periods.
insolitifilm
OP5 months agoAs can be seen from the screenshot, the auction showed it as EXPIRED and with a HIGHEST BIDDER. So where's the catch?
heavenwelkin
·5 months agoBut in the list of bidders I listed, who were you and how much did you bid?
I'm asking you to understand where the problem you're describing is because I didn't understand it.
If you tell me where you are in the bidders' ranking, maybe we can understand each other better.
Regards.
insolitifilm
OP5 months agoi....i insolitilibri (642), from the screenshot (taken by me right after the auction closed) it turns out that I am the HIGHEST BIDDER and underneath it says "time remaining: expired", since it had ended. And it had ended with me as the HIGHEST bidder. So where the hell did this other later bid come from.
insolitifilm
OP5 months agoYes, it's not from this profile but from another one.
insolitifilm
OP5 months agoWe agree, then how can it release the wording "AUCTION EXPIRED" "you are the highest bidder". The system is as leaky as a sieve.
heavenwelkin
·5 months agoYou need to check the bid history to see if someone bid after you at the last second.
This is the bid history
Anyway, with this account it doesn't show up, so you need to check the bid times yourself.
If you didn't win the item, one of these possible situations happened.
1) Someone placed a higher bid than yours
2) Someone placed the same bid as yours but before you
3) Someone placed a higher bid at the last second after yours
Best regards.