End of auctions out of sequence

Hi Mel, thanks for posting.
I think it might be worth you dropping us an email with details of that particular auction that you saw this happen on over the weekend. Ordinarily when this crops up, it comes down to a browser issue or something easily fixed from the user's end of things but it would be good to investigate.
Believe me, plenty of people like to wait until the very end of an auction to start bidding! It's actually a bidding method I like to use myself sometimes.

Along the same lines as this, why on earth do closed auctions change from Closed with date and time closed, to closing, with no date and time once 45 days are up? I was wanting to bid on something this morning and wanted to check the delivery time ie the time from closed until buyer placed negative feedback saying delivery took far too long, but couldn't as the listing says Closing. More recent items say closed. This is very unhelpful and it's also not correct. The auction closed, it is not closing.

Why hasnt Trade Me answered Garys question? I also think there is something odd going on regarding Closing times of auction. The auction Closed at and you could see that time it closed there in black and white unyet another bid was accepted while the auction continued on in a closing state for another minute or two. Very odd. I have brought this to the attention of Trade Me b4, to no avail!

Hi can someone please tell me how is it possible to carry on biding on a something if the time is up? Do they have the option to change the times well people are biding to get more money? I think this is ridiculous no other bets past the time should be accepted.

Hi Terina, If any bid is placed within the last two minutes of an auction, the auction will auto-extend by two minutes. It's always been this way. You quite often see auctions go 30-40 mins past their scheduled close time when bidding wars go on.

It does not extend when using the mobile app.. Only if you are using the website.

Mind you the policy could have changed.

Similar problem tonignt, app froze, told me i still had 20 seconds to bid (was counting down in app) placed bid and got told auction was closed.

The seller just lost out on a Higher price, was prepared to go to $5k. Useless, furious!

I have placed numerous bids and received an updated email to say I have been outbid. When i click on place a higher bid the opportunity to place a higher bid flashes for one second then goes to closing,,

I watch others bidding but i cant get in to place a bid?

Just happened to me was waiting on last minute bid 1min 20 sec to go next thing gone.l was prepared to go quite a bit higher  ,very frustrating. Useless system 

I have never noticed this before, when the listing was closing within a minute, it kept me in bidding against another party and I ended up going well over was I’d intended. I personally think this is very questionable. The auction should finish at the time stated and leave it at that not go well beyond to elevate the cost of an item. 
I think this goes well beyond consumer rights!
I will be seeking professional advise over this dodgy behaviour!

Hi Paula. That feature is called Auto Extend.

• Auto-extend
  If any bid is placed within the last two minutes of an auction, the auction will auto-extend by two minutes.

The option for sellers to use Auto extend was started in 2002. It actually used to be 5 minutes extra, but in 2004 after a user poll they reduced it to 2 minutes.

In 2006 it changed slightly in that the 'Auto-extend' option is now selected by default. You can turn this option off if you do not wish your listing to extend.

A few months later in May 2006 the option of not using auto extend was removed, so from that time ie 17 years ago, it's been working the same.

Auctions back when it was an option used to say if auto extend was enabled or not, but now it's enabled by default and no longer an option, there is no need to say this.

There is no reason to say Waiatarua? I’m confused 🫤

The auction I though I won changed its closing date after it said closing from 5.05pm to 12.05 the next day, is that even legal?
Listing #4229297332 if TM wishes to investigate further and I have closing in 24 hours email reminder to prove my case. Looking forward to your reply, Cheers

An auction should not be able to reach 0 seconds in a countdown, refresh then start closing in 1min again!!!!????? Fair enough the auto extend but to watch the clock get to 0 (1 second) thinking winner to another minute????? Confused 🫤

Kanerie, anyone can edit their auction closing time to extend it further or bring it to finish sooner, as long as there are no bids. Once someone has bid, the seller can no longer modify the end time. I often see auction extend by 3 days when they look as though they are just about to close. The way to stop it is to place a bid.

Andrea, Did it actually get to the Closing message, or display 0 secs? A bit confused as you say watch the clock get to 0 (1 second). There are tools people sometimes use to bid in the last few seconds, or even the last second before close, so unless it actually says closing or closed, then it's still open for bidding.

I believed had won an auction last night, it said 'you lead' and it said 'closing', then 'closed'.  I was using iPad. This morning I learnt I was outbid. Thought my iPad was just not refreshing or something.  But, under my items lost, the listing says 'expired', not 'sold to another member'. The listing does not show the usual list of last 10 bids. Just the highest bid amount.  This Auction advertised as $1 res, and the bidding process behaved as such.  

It just happened to me again tonight with the last of this sellers $1 items that I wanted to buy.  It rejected my auto bid offer of $263 red lettering said it had other be above highest bid . It then closed at $258.  again the resultant listing is showing "expired".  Clearly something is going wrong. Tonight I was on iPhone, as website wasn't refreshing the countdown. I reported both listings.