Bidding and Auto-extend

Hi Stephen, sorry to hear you missed out. It sounds like the auto-extend feature was kicking in on the auction; if any bid is placed within the last 2 minutes of an auction, the auction will auto extend by 2 minutes. If you're bidding towards the end of an auction, it's best to refresh the page every few seconds until the auction has closed so you're getting the most up to date info. Better yet, you can use an auto-bid to do the bidding for you.

Hi Hamish, what Stephen means is that the screen tickes down and says closing.... and a winning bid, but then after that it changes to another bidder winning. I've also seen this. When it's finished, it changes to Closed, but the problems seem to happen when it says Closing.

I know I have lost this trade but would like to offer the new buyer more than he paid for it,how do I do this?

He is in Christchurch and the bike is in Napier,I would like to contact him before the bike is transported,how can i do this?

stephen. Generally, you can't. Sensible if you think about it. I don't think any of us would want random people contacting us after we won an item and started asking questions or offering more. There would be privacy concerns there.

However if the other buyer happens to have an auction running you can try asking a question on that. Otherwise, you are out of luck.....

why does the bike i missed out on not show in my lost auctions list,i bid on two similar bikes but only 1 is shown as lost?

Hi Stephen, there could be a few reasons that the listing isn't showing on the site now it's closed, including the seller may have withdrawn it or it was a classified listing. It's great to see you've already contacted our Customer Experience team, they will be able to have a look in to the specifics of this for you and lend a hand too.

I keep having this exact same problem ! As a result, lm missing out on listings , even though lm told lm the leading bidder.

The auction closes, then bam ! Somebody else wins the bid. 

Also Trade Me will close the bid BEFORE the stated time, yet AFTER it's closed somebody will outbid me ! !

I can't make any last minute bids because the auction is closed....to me only !

Kia Ora Felicity, I see you found this Link so will address also for other members who may be looking for same information.

You are not alone here, this link is to exactly what you are saying and offers a number of resolves - could not finish bidding 

And your Post for others to view Simon's workaround - Trade Me shuts down the auction before stated end time and bidding before the auction has timed outut ! !

You have not been targeted by TradeMe at all.

Depending on what device and application you're working with the cookies in your browser and/or cache may be interacting with TradeMe slightly out of the time frame for auction closings perhaps.

Another option that has come to mind for you to try is going through a different browser and/or device if possible. A different browser alone may just be of value i.e. Microsoft Edge vs Google.

If trialing given workarounds offered above and within the links you have the same issue it would be best to report to TradeMe - All the Best. 

Same issue here, absolutely robbed. Auction says closing, put my phone down to check on the kid, come back and somehow another bid has been placed and i’ve lost the item. I’ve only seen this particular item come up for sale twice in four years. Absolutley gutted.

Kia Ora William,

Sorry to hear this has happened to you also,

I first reported to TM a very similar incident as this 3 months ago and was requested the following...

1. to ensure I was running the latest updated Browser for my device.
2. to ensure my system has the date and time set to automatic.
3. to take screenshots of my winning bid on listing closing And screenshots of this further bidding - which involved having to capture all listings I had the winning bid on in closing status incase this happened again - Not having the ability to pre-empt the outcome! 

Definitely report your incident to TM to ensure a closer investigation here and ensure you have set 1 & 2 above - A screenshot of your auction listing showing the bid history timeframe, indicating your closing bid and outcome when further bids should not have been possible, including the listing number may be beneficial to the tech team.

To get in touch with TM staff themselves you do so through their 'Live Chat' option by selecting the 'Contact us' link at the bottom of any TM page - Give the landing page a count of 15+ seconds for the Chat Tab to Pop up in blue bottom right of your screen, there is a slight delay in this "Chat" Pop up coming through.

The 'Live Chat' manned hrs Monday - Friday are 8:am - 6:30pm & Saturday - Sunday 8:30am - 4:pm. - Given today being a Public Holiday for Kings Birthday wknd TM staff are possibly working to the wknd hrs.

- Cheers.

Auto-extend didn't kick in on a recent trade when bidding was happening at the end so I probably missed out.

I can't find a setting when making a listing which affects this auto-extend.

It has always worked on my many listings up to now.

Graham, Auto extend is not a selectable option anymore and has been like this for many years. It happens automatically with all auctions.

Kia Ora Graham,

Interesting to hear the auto-extend didn't kick in - if you experience this again it would be ideal to pass the listing number(s) on to TradeMe for investigation - Cheers.

I would have but I can't find anywhere to send it.

Do they look at this Community site?

Cheers Graham,

You can contact TradeMe staff via "Live Chat" for immediate assistance with this &/or leave them a message afterhours.

Kia Ora Graham,

I and other Members have been reporting site issues, also similar to yours, through Post:  New Look Trade me getting more frequent errors

This is a Post which is monitored by TradeMe staff and you can report your trouble with the site and listings through there also, along with any screenshots of errors you may be able to capture - Cheers.

Thanks for the info. I have had a look at all that.

I will post the listing that didn't auto extend here anyway for now and maybe try live chat too. Cheers.

Kia ora Graham, thanks for contributing. 
Just looking at the times on there, the final bid was placed at 20.59, and the auction closed 2 minutes later at 21.01 which indicates that auto-extend did kick in. 

Thanks Lucy.

What you say does look correct when I check back but it is not what I remember happening.

I watched it close, and my clear memory was that the final bid was placed a few seconds before it closed.

I can't be absolutely sure of course as it happened quickly but I have watched many others close, so I am familiar with how the system normally works.

Graham

This happened to my wife and I this week and we are very disappointed. I'd describe it as a bug, not a feature. We feel ripped off since our autobid was used up and the auction was automatically extended 5 times. 

I understand that people were interested in the thing, but they should be bidding higher earlier to save us the wasted time. Not everyone can sit looking at their phones doing microbids. Trademe will be losing buyers due to this behaviour which will be bad for sellers. 

Edward, it can be frustrating when you lose out on something, but if your autobid was exceeded, then think of it from another point of view. The auto extend lets other bidders come in before the item closes as more bids makes the item pop up to the top of several lists and filters that buyers often use, ie closing soon, most bids etc. The higher the bidding goes the better the price is for the seller and Trademe also benefit from a higher success fee. The purpose of the auto bid as a buyer goes, is to set yourself a max bid limit and stick to it. If you'd prefer to watch till the end and bid manually, then you can do that too, but you risk getting caught up in the moment and bidding higher than what you might have first wanted to. Personally, if I want something I'll watch and bid, but if I am not able to be at the computer to bid, I'll set an autobid and won't know I've won until I get an email telling me so later on.

Hi, Same thing happened to me just now. Bidding on my phone, refreshing immediately and several people bidding and auction auto extending properly. Then two examples of 'short extension' when one bidder bid -

... the first extension was 37 secs which I was able to bid on. The second extension was 3 secs which I couldn't respond to and the bidder won the auction. I assume that either they were using some app/software to get around the auto extend or Trademe has a bug they aren't being. Up front about. Either way, bidders miss out. Needs investigating definitely.