posted on January 23, 2001 05:32:25 PM
I just had an auction to end. Bidding history shows 3 bids - start price was $35.00 - received one bid for $35.00 (this does not show up on bid history ?) - then the bid history shows this: $45.00 01/23 at 2:49 - $40.00 01/23 at 11:53 - $45.00 01/23 at 11:54. The bidder of the 11:54 bid thinks they won ($45.00), when actually the 2:49 bidder won ($45.00). The 11:54 bidder said when they bid $40.00, eBay told them they would have to "bid higher" (or something like that), so they bid $45.00. Since eBay didn't say anything else like they needed to bid at least $1.00? more to beat the first $45.00 bid, I guess they thought that was enough. I know eBay doesn't show bid amounts until the auction has ended - it only shows bidders - but how would someone know if they needed to bid just a little bit more in order to win a bid? It seems like "something" would tell them that...did the bidder just "miss it" or is does eBay have a "bug" or something? I am new to eBay (am an ex-Yahooer) and Yahoo! worked very simply and you could see who you were outbidding and by how much you needed to in order to win the auction. Anyway, if someone can explain to me how this works, I sure would appreciate it. The "losing" bidder really, really wanted the item - so I told them all I could really do would be contact eBay (don't think that'll do anything) or perhaps they could contact the "winner" and see what they could work out...Any assistance on this would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!
posted on January 23, 2001 05:46:31 PM
Hi...I tried to follow your dilemma, but it has been a long day. Your auction page should have the winning bidder showing (be sure to refresh your page when you bring it up). Whatever bidder shows up on your completed auction is the winner....period. If another bidder has a problem with that they need to go to eBay with their concerns...nothing you can do but sell to the bidder listed as the winner. Hope you could follow that...like I said..its been a long day!!!
Oops...just re-read.... The bidder would have received a message that he/she needed to bid higher....they must have missed it or they are messing with you
posted on January 23, 2001 05:52:11 PM
Yeah - sorry - very confusing to me too - glad there were only 2 bidders! That's what I thought - whoever eBay says the winner is - that's who it is - period. Thanks again!
posted on January 23, 2001 05:54:38 PM
OKAY - so they would / SHOULD have received a message stating they needed to bid at least $1.00 more - correct? Yeah - might just be messing with me -
posted on January 23, 2001 06:04:36 PM
capefeartrading, the person who was outbid should have gotten an email from ebay saying something like: I'm sorry you have been outbid by another ebayer, click here to stay in the running, and they would have posted a link directly to that auction. Also most bidders check their my ebay page, it lists everything you are bidding on, those in green you are high bidder, those in red you are not high bidder.
Ebay would not have sent them an email that said bid $x.xx, they would have just said someone else out bid them, if they told them how much to bid, kinda ruins the whole auction process! Hope this helped!
oops, it has been a long day!
[ edited by waltim on Jan 23, 2001 06:06 PM ]
posted on January 23, 2001 06:09:06 PM
Yes thanks! That tells me that eBay should have told them something to that effect!!! Think they are just trying to mess with my head and it's too late in the day to be doing that! Thanks again all of ya'll! !!!
posted on January 23, 2001 08:38:32 PM
Like the other posters,not sure I am understanding properly. It seems as though the
losing bidder did in fact get the message that
he had been outbid.He then entered a higher bid of the $45.He lost because the winner had also bid $45,but at an earlier time.The rules
state that in the event of "tie"bids.the earlier bid wins.Hope this helps..
posted on January 23, 2001 10:03:30 PM
I believe on the "bid history" page it states ties go to the bidder with the earlier bid time.
Sounds like the person doesn't understand proxy bidding. The proxy system doesn't tell other bidders how much you have to bid to beat the other person, it only tells you how much more you have to bid from the last bid. If it's not enough, it will tell you you've been outbid and you have to renter another bid. Hard to believe they didn't see the "you've been out bid page.
posted on January 23, 2001 11:43:56 PMquickdraw is right although there is one helpful hint no one seems to say much about. If you bid on something, and are outbid by less than the full increment, you will take the lead with one more bid. Say for instance, you bid $45.00 and ebay tells you that you are NOT high bidder and the current high bid is $45.35. At that price the bid increment is $1.00, so since it only jumped 35 cents instead of the full increment of one dollar, that means you have hit the other bidders proxy. Same goes if the current price is what you bid, but shows someone else as high bidder. Someone else bid the same proxy you did, just sooner.
On the other hand, if you bid $45.00 and it shows you were outbid and the current bid is $46.00, there is no way to tell the competition's proxy
Hope this makes sense.
[ edited by BlondeSense on Jan 23, 2001 11:48 PM ]
